Womack
Goal is to satisfy consumption
- lean production works in every company, industry and country where it is seriously tried
- customer experience is deteriorating
- consumption should be easier due to better cheaper products; instead it takes growing time and hassle to get our products to work together & properly
- making consumption more satisfying; the next challenge for business
5 trends confronting buyers
1) choice requires more decision time; more channels to obtain with; customized
2) mass production decreasing; more activities & decisions to make
3) shift form service to self service economy; needs capital goods to manufacture our own value; ex. PDA replacing secretary
4) households changing which causes time & energy pressure for consumers
5) internet growth blurring distinction between production and consumption, drawing customer into the process; ex. Customer has to check if it is making its way to their house
Chap 1
- obtained, installed, maintained, integrated, repaired, upgraded & recycled
- claiming more of the customers unpaid time & blurring line between consumption and production
6 Principles of Lean Consumption
1) Solve my problem completely
2) Don’t waste my time
3) Provide exactly what I want
4) Deliver value where I want it
5) Supply value when I want it
6) Reduce the # of decisions I must make to solve my problems
- today the product is not the problem
- consumers Gemba – path they take to solve their problem
- identify each step
- is each step necessary? Ask for each step
- remove unnecessary steps
scheduling an appointment = making an order
line = queue
Typical Experience: Parts Unavailable when consumer and vendor are strangers, when failure to describe the nature of the problem up front, or share any data on the products ‘as is’ condition
Time is not time and value cannot be accurately estimated by time simply using a clock.
We do not measure it all the same way.
For example, Time spent waiting for a train on a dark platform in a dangerous area is perceived as longer than it really is. Time on train dozing / reading is perceived shorter than it really is
- trains should run more frequently as opposed to faster, or security in waiting area should be increased to save time as perceived by the traveller. And the person making the decision should be basing it on the user’s needs and experiences.
- Steps that seem unnecessary, whose outcome is uncertain seem to take longer; hassle time; unhappy face
- Steps that seem to create value and where a successful outcome is assured seem to take less time; happy face
- Successful consumption process seeks to minimize hassle time
Chap 2
- walk through 2nd Gemba to see what firm is actually doing to serve its customers
- how ppl feel about the process determines how well they do their jobs, and how well they deal with the customer
- identify interconnection points between the consumption and provision streams where the consumer and provider directly engage each other; often the point of greatest dissatisfaction on both sides
- for steps from employees point of view – identify hassle time; unhappy face and fulfilling work experiences; happy face
- a failure in any one step disrupts the entire consumption process
- the best approach is to prevent any failures form happening in the 1st place
- the lean help desk encourages the customer to say a lot more about the problem, even though this may take considerably more time, and also develops linkages that trace the problem back to the source where it can be eliminated