If I ask you to apply lean and its practices in your service sector organization, would you accept it readily?
I bet, no!
“Lean is not for service sector! It is only for the manufacturing industry.” This is the most common misconception among the people involved in the service industry. People might say service sector and the organizations have a very complex situation and would not benefit by the lean practices.
But think about it.
Service sector and its work culture are very complex and that is the most important reason why lean and its practices should be ingrained in the service sector. With complex structures and variables and long cycles in place, lean philosophy and its tools turn out to be a perfect solution that can help the organizations achieve their targets and goals and thrust their numbers in the green zone.
It is claimed that more than 40% percent of capital in the financial services sector is spent on wasteful activities that in no way adds value to the services provided to the customer. Similarly, in other sectors, due lack of proper knowledge and training, capital and resources are wasted in non-value adding processes.
One should understand that lean is not only about manufacturing. It is more towards standardization. Lean focuses on creating more viable and standardized work processes to eliminate problems and inefficiencies that affect the working of the organization. It helps in improving the critical thinking ability of the team members so that the problems can be solved efficiently and more value addition can be done in the work culture.
A classic example of lean methodology creating a difference in the work processes and numbers is WIPRO initiating lean practices back in 2004 and achieving tremendous results from it. According to a research report, WIPRO first launched the lean initiative in the year 2004 and was able to achieve more than 10 percent improvement in efficiency of the work processes in every 8 out of 10 projects. Inspired by this, the IT sector giant then rolled out more than 603 lean projects in the organization by the end of the year 2006. While most of the companies think that lean is for manufacturing and struggles in implementing any other improvement processes, WIPRO set an example for the other.
The goal of lean and its tools is to eliminate the waste, open up the work processes and reflect improvements in the usual hierarchies of the organization. Lean helps in unlocking the hidden potential of the manpower and the controls and optimizes the processes so that the organization can get the most optimum benefits. Despite being stereotyped to the manufacturing sector, lean is undoubtedly the most impactful and revolutionizing methodology to inflict excellence and development in any organization hence, must be ingrained in growing sectors like services. Team Faber Infinite has been working with organizations across sectors on lean management and has delivered tremendous results. To get more information about our offerings contact us at consulting@faberinfintie.com
Written & Compiled By Faber Kishlay & Faber Mayuri
