We are living in the age of creativity. As much as 80% of managers admit that unlocking the creative potential in their organization is crucial to sustain economic growth. Unfortunately, only 25% believe that they are living up to their creative potential. The main reason for this discrepancy is the lack of an efficient innovation strategy. Lean thinking, as developed by Toyota several decades ago, is a philosophy that contains a powerful set of tools that enable more efficient innovation, from ideation to validation. Lean releases wasted time and at the same time provides the necessary framework for left-brain scientists to become more creative. This is a first presentation in a series that discuss the use of Lean thinking in R&D.

1. LEAN innovation
Basic principles of Lean
@Joeri Vercammen

2. Introduction
Innovations in aeronautics! – J. Vaughan (Flickr)

3. “We are living in the age of creativity”
(1) Agriculture age – Farmers
(2) Industrial age – Factory workers
(3) Information age – Knowledge workers
(4) Conceptual age – Creators

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Consider unlocking creativity is
crucial to economic sustainability.
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http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/201204/042312AdobeGlobalCreativityStudy.html

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Believe that they are living up to
their own creative potential.
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http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/201204/042312AdobeGlobalCreativityStudy.html

6. Sunflower - MH Christen (Flickr)

7. Blue broken clock – A. Synaptic (Flickr)

8. Lean provides:
 the tools to release wasted time
 the insights of a structured process

9. Lean basics
Modern Times – CNN

10. Ford Model T:
Any colour you like, provided it is black.

11. 1950 – 1980
Toyota changes its production process:
worker is process owner
avoid waste, low cost, high productivity
Toyota I

12. 1950 – 1980
Toyota changes its production process:
worker is process owner
avoid waste, low cost, high productivity
1980s
More Japanese cars than
American in the US
Toyota II

13. 1950 – 1980
Toyota changes its production process:
worker is process owner
avoid waste, low cost, high productivity
1980s
More Japanese cars than
American in the US
1990s
Womack & Jones
“The machine that changed
the world” Toyota III

14. Lean is ‘hot’
 Lean entrepreneur
 Lean startup
 Lean branding
 Lean UX
 Lean analytics
 Lean talking
 Lean service design
 Lean enterprise
 Lean design

15. “Lean is a philosophy with as goal
to increase productivity by systematic elimination of waste”
It starts with the visualization of a process.
In the broadest of sense, i.e.
manufacturing, service, administration, etc

16. 1 Visualize the entire process
“Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
This is the value stream map

17. 2 Measure
Turnaround time
Process time
Required time
“Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”

18. 2 Measure
Turnaround time
Process time
Required time
“Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
How long does the entire step take?
+ what’s the first time right ratio?

19. Turnaround time
Process time
Required time
How much time is spend on actions that
create true value for the customer?
2 Measure
“Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”

20. 2 Measure
Turnaround time
Process time
Required time
“Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
How much time is spend on actions that are
necessary but not create true value for the
customer, e.g. making reports, invoices, etc?

21. 2 Measure
“Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”

22. 3 Remove all waste
“Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”

23. 3 Remove all waste
“Sample prep”
“Analysis”
“Data handling”

24. 3 Remove all waste
75%
Typically, time reductions up to 75%
can be achieved by applying Lean principles.

25. The 7 wastes (+1)
Wasting time – Mr. Birnbaum (Flickr)

26. Remember Tim Woods?

27. Remember Tim Woods?
Transport
Inventory
Motion
Waiting
Overproduction
Overprocessing
Defects
Skills

28. WASTE #1
Too much transport (product, information)
 Moving products to and from storage
 Transport between workstations
 Moving products and materials back and forth
 Picking up signatures

29. WASTE #2
Too much inventory
 Too much consumables, reagents, etc…
 Multiple locations
 Pending documents
 Open projects
 Unread emails
 Unused/useless data in DB

30. Unnecessary motion of people
 Not everything within range
 Looking in materials/documents
 Looking for materials/documents
5S
WASTE #3

31. WASTE #4
Waiting…
 For the previous process step
 For equipment to be ready/available
 For outpu/results (runtime)
 For approval
 For maintenance, (technical) assistance

32. WASTE #5
Overproduction
 Too much reagents, standards, etc…
 Too much samples
 Too much data
 Making reports that are never read
 Making an extra copy (endless cc-ing)

33. WASTE #6
Overprocessing
 Unnecessary re-analysis/calibrations
 Doublechecks
 Validation
 Over-complicated procedures
 Double documents

34. WASTE #7
Defects
 Instrument failures
 Retesting
 Variation
 Wrong data input
 Missing information
 No procedure

35. WASTE #8
Skills
 Underutilizing skills of people
 Lack of decent training
 Not using people’s creativity

36. Some Lean tools
Old tools – J.M. Rosell (Flickr)

37. Main sources of waste are:
 Waiting
 Overproduction & overprocessing leading to inventory
 Motion

38. FLOW & PULL
A simple way to address these wastes
(similar to the assembly line in a car manufacturing plant)

39. FLOW & PULL
A simple way to address these issues
= make sure that a product never stops from the
moment the production process is launched.
(similar to the assembly line in a car manufacturing plant)

40. FLOW & PULL
A simple way to address these issues
= the subsequent process step signals when
ready to accept new product.
(similar to the assembly line in a car manufacturing plant)

41. [The tools]
PDCA
5 Whys
One-piece flow
Kanban
Takt time
Line balancing
5S

42. Kaizen
Continuous improvement.
Kaizen is derived from two Japanese characters; kai, meaning ‘change’
and zen meaning ‘good’. It aims at continuously eliminating waste from
the value stream. Therefore, it applies the so-called PDCA cycle.

43. Plan
Do
Check
Act

44. Plan
Do
Check
Act
What’s going?
What are the facts?
What could be done?

45. Plan
Do
Check
Act
What’s going?
What are the facts?
What could be done?
Put the plan into action.
Measure the result.

46. Plan
Do
Check
Act
What’s going?
What are the facts?
What could be done?
Put the plan into action.
What happened? Measure the result.
Was it what was expected?
What should we do differently?

47. Plan
Do
Check
Measure the new process
Make sure change is permanent
Act
What’s going?
What are the facts?
What could be done?
Put the plan into action.
What happened? Measure the result.
Was it what was expected?
What should we do differently?

48. 5 Whys
Question-asking technique to determine the root cause of a defect.
Ask five subsequent questions in response to an observed defect.
The answer to each question forms the basis of the next question.
The last answer points to the process failure that needs to be addressed.

49. One-piece flow
Approach to prepare each product individually rather than in batch.
By working this way, turnaround times are reduced significantly and the
impact of errors on the process is less significant because only ‘one
piece’ is involved rather than a batch of pieces.

50. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Assume a process that consists of three steps.
Each step takes one minute to complete.
This is what happens in function of variable batch size.

51. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Batch size, # 1st sample, min All samples, min
10 21 30
5 11 20
2 5 14
1 3 12

52. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Batch size, # 1st sample, min All samples, min
10 21 30
5 11 20
2 5 14
1 3 12
! Faster turnaround !

53. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Batch size, # 1st sample, min All samples, min
10 21 30
5 11 20
2 5 14
1 3 12
! Faster troubleshooting !

54. Kanban
System that matches inventory with actual demand.
Kanban is a visual technique that applies cards to signal when new
product is required. It is true pull, since the trigger to start production
send to the previous step in the production cycle.

55. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
1 2
Kanban 1: Analysis ready, trigger sample prep
Kanban 2: Data handling ready, trigger analysis

56. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
t0: No production
1 2

57. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
2
1
t1: Kanban 2 triggers “Analysis” based on customer demand (= pull)

58. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
1
t2: Kanban 1 triggers “Sample prep” (= pull)
2

59. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
1 2
t3: Kanban 1 returns to “Analysis”

60. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
1 2
t4: Kanban 2 returns to “Data handling”, Kanban 1 triggers “Sample prep”

61. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
1 2
This process is continued until all “Data handling” is finished.

62. Takt time
Production time needed to meet customer demand (= pull).
If a customer needs 10 units per week for example, then the average time
to build a single unit must be 4 hours (= takt time). Production must be
(slightly) faster than takt time, so that it can meet customer demand
without over or under performing.
Available time
Required units
Takt =

63. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
In the previous slides is was assumed that
each process step takes the same amount of time.
In reality this is rarely the case.

64. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
More appropriate is, for example:
Sample prep: 120 min
Analysis: 60 min
Data handling: 30 min

65. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
120
60
30
Or graphically,

66. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
- Example 1 -
Demand: 10 samples in 3 days (= 21 h)
Takt = 2.1 h
120
60
30

67. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Takt
120
60
30
- Example 1 -
Demand: 10 samples in 3 days (= 21 h)
Takt = 2.1 h

68. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Takt
Overperforming
120
60
30
- Example 1 -
Demand: 10 samples in 3 days (= 21 h)
Takt = 2.1 h

69. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Takt
- Example 2 -
Demand: 20 samples in 3 days (= 21 h)
Takt = 1.1 h
120
60
30

70. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Overperforming
Takt
- Example 2 -
Demand: 20 samples in 3 days (= 21 h)
Takt = 1.1 h
120
60
30

71. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Takt
- Example 2 -
Demand: 20 samples in 3 days (= 21 h)
Takt = 1.1 h
120
60
30
Underperforming

72. Line balancing
Leveling the workload in a value stream.
Lean balancing applies takt time calculations to remove bottlenecks
and excess capacity from a process.

73. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Takt
Let’s return to Example 2
Demand: 20 samples in 3 days (= 21 h)
Takt = 1.1 h
120
60
30
Underperforming

74. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Sample prep is the bottleneck
Takt
120
60
30
Underperforming

75. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Possibilities?
Takt
120
60
30
Underperforming

76. “Sample prep” “Analysis” “Data handling”
Possibilities?
Map the value stream of the “Sample prep” process
Remove waste
Transfer workload to “Data handling”
Increase capacity
Takt
120
60
30
Underperforming

77. 5S
A method to organize a clean & efficient workplace.
It involves a sustained hierarchical organization of all the tools and
products that are needed to get a job done.

79. Summary
Thinking differently – M. Cardus (Flickr)

80. Lean provides a strategy to release time that is
otherwise inevitably lost in inefficient procedures.
It provides crucial insights into how things are done.
It is the ideal starting point
to provoke more effective innovation.

81. Contact
j.vercammen@is-x.com