The document outlines the lean product development process, emphasizing the need for speed, flexibility, and waste elimination to enhance efficiency in product development. It identifies eight types of waste and highlights the importance of project execution and visual management techniques, such as the A3 method. The document reiterates that adopting a lean approach necessitates a continual commitment to improvement for sustained growth and customer value creation.

1. Lean Product Development
Process
Tim McMahon
OFS Fitel

2. Exercise
• Stand
• Fold your arms
• Which arm is on top?
• Unfold your arms and refold them with the
opposite arm on top.
• Some will find it easy. Some may not.
• Does the new position feel comfortable?

3. Introduction
• In today’s globally competitive environment
speed is everything.
• Design teams need to be fast, flexible and
highly effective.
• Applying Lean in product development
requires optimizing the growth of knowledge
about the product, customer, and
manufacturing.

4. Definition
• Lean Product Development -
A practical approach to accelerating time-to-
market through aggressive waste elimination
in planning, resource management, design
control, and interdisciplinary communication.

5. 3 Key Elements
• Lean Product Development Process
comprises:
1. Driving waste out of the product development
process.
2. Improving the way projects are executed.
3. Visualizing the product development process.

6. Lean the Process
• By closely examining
the entire product
development process
from a Lean
perspective, the
opportunities to drive
out waste and increase
value become obvious.
• Learn to identify the
Eight Wastes
– Defects
– Over Production
– Waiting
– Non-utilized
Resources/Talent
– Transportation
– Inventory
– Motion
– Excess Processing

7. Defects
• Defects are the result of executed processes
that did not produce value.
– Incomplete information
– Quality is lacking or suspect
– Reworking product of processes
– Ambiguous information
– Inaccurate information
– Missed tolerances or specifications

8. Overproduction
• Waste from producing product that is not
currently needed or product that is not
needed at all.
– Too much detail
– Unnecessary information
– Cost overruns from excessive time
– Overlap of strategic and non-strategic projects
competing for limited resources

9. Waiting
• No value added while people wait for product
to process or product waits for people or
machines.
– Unbalanced workflow with the team
– Time spent getting approvals
– Unavailable information
– Hand offs, where we pass something to someone
else

10. Non-utilized Resources/Talent
• The waste of underutilized intelligence and
intellect are commonly referred to as
behavioral waste.
– Underutilizing people’s knowledge and creativity
– Uneven workflow resulting with some team
members overburdened while others are
underutilized

11. Transportation
• While the product is moving, no value is
added to it.
– Carrying, mailing, or even emailing documents
stops the process
– Electronic system hand offs
– Multiple sources
– Incompatible destinations requiring multiple
transport

12. Inventory
• Inventory is the collection of unprocessed
documents, data objects, and transactions
queued-up between people and processes.
– Collections of unprocessed information and data
– Incomplete content
– Too much information

13. Motion
• Excess movement by people or equipment
only consumes time and resources without
producing value.
– Efficiency of software – number of mouse clicks,
routines, and transactions
– Frequency of searching for information
– Information pushed to wrong people

14. Excess Processing
• Doing more than what is necessary to
generate satisfactory value as defined by the
customer.
– Using software that functions beyond what is
needed
– Product designs or processes that are too complex
– Excessive number of iterations or verifications
– Over-designed or over-engineered product

15. Project Execution
• In a Lean environment, the expectation is that everyone has
two responsibilities.
– First, to run the business on a day-to-day basis.
– Second, to improve the business, or contribute to improving it
continuously.
• Improvement efforts are generally categorized by the scope,
scale, and duration of the improvement task.
– Longer duration, more complex improvement tasks require the
problem solving team to utilize a project.
• How do we standardize, communicate, and visually manage
project management process effectively?
– In the Lean environment that is something called an A3.

16. A3 - What is it really?
• The A3 is a “way of thinking”.
• Complex situations broken into a simple data driven stories.
• It forces you to filter and refine your thoughts to fit on one
sheet of paper in such a way that management has all of their
major questions answered by reading a single sheet of paper.
• It is a way to coach and develop associates by providing a
forum for discussion about the specific point in the story and
the thinking behind it.
• Consensus building tool through the
department/group/company.

17. A3 Guidelines
• A good A3 should “tell a story” about a proposal,
project, problem, or process.
• It balances words with graphics to tell the story.
– Find the most effective graphics to emphasize your ideas,
plans, and/or results.
• Every word or graph on the A3 should mean
something.
• Use underlined or bold text to focus attention on key
points.

18. Characteristics of an Effective A3
• Easy to read
• Involve team members to create
• Data-driven and factual
• Clear objectives and statements
• Analysis of the situation or problem
• Cost evaluation or alternative evaluation
• Clear action plans
• Clear follow-up activities
• Share the lessons learned
– You can solve the problems, but if you don’t share what
you’ve learned, you have missed a key opportunity.

19. General A3 Flow – PDCA
Plan – Do – Check - Act

20. A3 Example

21. Make the Process Visual
• Visual boards displaying necessary
information provide a status at a glance.
• “Stand-up” meetings in combination with the
visual boards allow for optimized
communication.
• Monitor the process with metrics.

22. Flow the Process

23. See the Process

24. Keys to Visualization
• Entire system is visible
in one place.
• Weekly updates and
review at the board.
• Can see WIP in process
easily.
• Individual A3’s provide
specific project detail
on granular level.

25. Management Reviews
• Identifying, qualifying, and funding projects/programs that
address the business strategy.
• Managing organizational resource demand, capacity, and
capability.
• Measuring performance to ensure that projects/programs are
collectively meeting the portfolio strategy.
• Identifying and taking corrective actions on
projects/programs not in compliance with portfolio objectives
and commitments.
• Establishing effective communication and reporting
mechanisms that enable timely, fact-based, decision-making
regarding projects, programs, and the overall portfolio.
• Implementing a process to continuously improve the
portfolio.

26. Monitor the Metrics
• % projects on schedule
• Total value of projects in portfolio
• Total headcount assigned to the
portfolio of R&D projects
• Planned vs. Actual spend
• # projects completed
• # projects added
• # projects in each stage of the
pipeline
– Development
– Test
– Qualify
– Launch

27. Summary
• Remember that the pursuit of Lean is a
relentless journey and requires strong
commitment to change and continuous
improvement.
• A Lean Product Development Process will
drive profitable, sustain growth and customer
value creation.

28. Tim McMahon
http://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyfmcmahon
Lean Manufacturing
Leader
OFS Fitel
Avon, CT
mcmahont@ofsoptics.com
Founder & Contributor
A Lean Journey Blog
http://leanjourneytruenorth.blogs