By Dan Medley

 There are many ways to define innovation. One common definition is “the implementation of a new or significantly improved idea, product, service, process or practice that is intended to be useful.”

 From a consumer perspective, innovation drives the development of new products or services that are substantially improved in technical or functional characteristics or ease of use.

 For example, innovation could be a new dishwasher that holds more dishes, uses less energy, operates more quietly and fits in a smaller space; or, an improved instant tea that has better taste and less caffeine.

 New products play a very important part in supporting American manufacturing. To manufacturers, however, there is another type of innovation that is equally important--process innovation.

 Process innovation means improving the way a company produces or delivers a product or service. Improvements in process innovation often enable a company to make products that meet or exceed customer expectations for quality, cost and speed of delivery.

Lean Enterprise
 One proven means of process innovation is for a company to embrace the principles of Lean Enterprise and create a corporate culture committed to continuous improvement of its operations.

 Lean Enterprise is a systematic method of identifying the waste or non-value-added activities in a company’s processes and finding ways to eliminate those  activities.

  Lean Enterprise emphasizes always meeting or exceeding customer expectations and defines waste as any part of the company’s process that requires time and resources for which the company’s customers would not want to pay.

 Building up a large inventory of parts is a good example of an activity that does not add any value to the finished product.

 It is wrong to assume that companies embracing Lean Enterprise are simply doing so to find ways to eliminate employees. As a matter of fact, many “Lean” companies actually increase their workforce, because the dedication to continuous improvement makes the company more productive, more profitable, more competitive and more attractive to existing and new customers.

 One of the first and most fundamental steps in becoming a Lean Enterprise is a technique called value stream mapping. A value stream map is a graphical representation of all the activities, both value-added and non-value-added, that are required to bring the product from raw material to the customer. Value stream maps chart the flow of both materials and information. A current-state map details the present and a future-state map represents ways to improve processes.

Kaizen Events
 Based on the future-state map, a company conducts a series of Kaizen events, which are very intense, focused approaches to solving a specific problem or eliminating a specific non-value-added activity.

 Other continuous improvement, Lean Enterprise activities include Workplace Organization/5S, Pull/Kanban, Point of Use Storage and Cellular Flow Manufacturing.

 Workplace Organization/5S is a method of creating an organized, clean and efficient workplace that reduces non-value-added activity while improving safety, quality and efficiency. The five “S’s” are sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain. Often companies add safety as a sixth “S.”

 A Pull/Kanban system controls inventory amount and movement, authorizes production and provides visual control of operations, based on customer demands.

 Point of Use Storage means keeping an inventory of supplies and equipment in specified locations in a facility near the operation where it is to be used.

 Cellular Flow Manufacturing is part of efficient plant layout and dictates the use of cells, which are logical, efficient and usually physically self-contained arrangements of machinery, tooling and personnel, to complete the production process.

 Lean Enterprise has its roots in the early American automotive industry. It was further developed and fine-tuned by the Toyota Motor Co. between 1949 and 1975. American companies have been embracing Lean Enterprise principles since the early 1990’s, and it continues to be an effective means of creating true excellence in manufacturing and of keeping existing customers and attracting new ones.

 Many companies succeed by developing new and improved products or by finding better ways to make those products. But the companies that truly achieve world class manufacturing status are ones that combine both product and process innovation to create a culture dedicated to continuous improvement and eliminating activities that are not of value to customers. This is the kind of culture that almost always guarantees success despite outside marketplace forces.

Dan Medley is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Missouri Enterprise. You can reach him at (800) 956-2682 or .