Lean approaches in a knowledge worker environment

Abstract

Most of us are familiar with the concept of Lean (a way to do more and more with less and less). The principles have been applied by the Japanese as part of the Toyota Production System from as early as the 1950's. Subsequently many have applied this in different environments and in combination with other philosophies. It was thus only a matter of time before the application of Lean principles in enterprise environments became a reality. This paper looks at the origin and definition of Lean and then secondly to its application in the knowledge worker environment. The application of Lean principles in a knowledge worker environment (using the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in general and specifically the Defence, Peace, Safety and Security (DPSS) operating unit as reference), is further investigated from both a knowledge economy (the generation of knowledge) and a knowledge-based economy (the application of knowledge in innovation) point of view. The quantity, quality, and accessibility of information as well as the processes that produce such knowledge are of utmost importance and a close look is taken at opportunities to eliminate waste. The well-known and rather infamous seven deadly wastes are addressed in this context. An approach for optimising capacity to handle complexity and to manage risk in a wider domain, other than expanding the resource base, is motivated. The commercial equivalent of this is profit based on reduction of cost rather than increasing selling price.The importance of teamwork in a multidisciplinary environment and the required work integration and information flow is also discussed together with the concept of pull of the correct information at the correct abstraction level at the right time. The requirements for the effective application of Lean within DPSS given the bigger context of the CSIR and Armscor are finally alluded to.