Manufacturing and service related businesses are heavily dependent on office and administrative processes, which can add up to 60% of all costs associated with meeting customer demand. Applying lean techniques to the office must begin with a new definition of waste, backed by a set of techniques designed to eliminate waste and streamline nonvalue-adding activities.
In Creating the Ultimate Lean Office, the definition of waste in the office goes one step further than the lean manufacturing definition, because any office activity that adds value or is necessary to perpetuate the business is considered waste if it is still manually performed although it can be cost-effectively automated. The technique employed to eliminate this waste of manually performing required activities is referred to as administration automation. It permits users to design processes to meet the needs of their environments, which are then automated without, in the majority of cases, changing source code.
• Introduces the challenges of attempting to apply current methodologies to create a lean office. It then provides the foundation and framework necessary to understand lean office tools that can eliminate waste and elevate the administration office from simply performing tasks to performing strategic-level activities.
• Describes in detail the system enhancement options that you can employ in automating the newly created lean processes developed by the business process improvement team.
• Specifies the "Seven Steps of Administration Automation" and explains in detail each of these steps necessary for creating a lean office with illustrative examples.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1 : Achieving A Lean Office Through Administration Automation
Chapter 1 : The Lean Office
Chapter 2 : Administration Automation
Chapter 3 : Automating Administration Processes
Part 2 : System Enhancement Options
Chapter 4 : The Bolt-On System Enhancement Option
Chapter 5 : The Extension System Enhancement Option
Chapter 6 : The Supplier Modification Enhancement Option
Chapter 7 : The Custom Routine System Enhancement Option
Chapter 8 : The System Enhancement Selection Process
Part 3 : Seven Steps of Administration Automation
Chapter 9 : Step 1 : Improvement Driven by Strategic Objectives
Chapter 10 : Step 2 : Selecting The Team and Putting Primary Measurements in Place
Chapter 11 : Step 3 : Determining Root Cause Issue(s) and Understanding Affected Process(es)
Chapter 12 : Eight Key Questions
Chapter 13 : Step 4 : Developing The Solution
Chapter 14 : Step 5 : Preparing for Implementation
Chapter 15 : Step 6 : Approval and Secondary Measurements
Chapter 16 : Step 7 : Implementation
Conclusion
Index
About The Author
