1. Specify value for the customer. Lean expert James Womak says that value is “meaningful when expressed in terms of a specific product… which meets the customer’s needs at a specific price at a specific time.”
2. Identify the value stream. This is the set of actions performed to bring raw material to a delivered product. At no point should anything happen to the product that doesn’t add value.
3. Encourage flow. A product ought to flow continuously through value-added steps. Production is based on delivering a single product to the customer, rather than compartmentalizing by task and batch.
4. Introduce pull. Production shifts to an on-demand basis. That is, production is governed by customer demand, rather than forecasting.
5. Aim for perfection. Continue to reduce steps, time, information and space needed to complete a product suited to the customer’s needs.
Adapted from Lean Thinking, by James Womak and Daniel T. Jones.
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