22 UPWORD www.winnipegconstruction.ca FOREWORD WCA EDUCATION DESIGNED WITH YOUR GOALS IN MIND REGISTER AT WWW.WINNIPEGCONSTRUCTION.CA Isn’t Lean Just About Doing “Good Business”? By Carla Ciepliski, President, Ternion Results Inc. L ean is not a verb, it is actually a proper noun. It is a name given to a philosophy, a business system and a methodology that was inspired by Toyota, anointed by a team of scientists back in the 1970-80s. It has been adapted for every industry and sector since, with a universal focus on building a continuous improvement culture, grounded in respect and creating value for the customer. That’s right…value. Yes, we use Lean to eliminate waste, create efficiencies and make huge gains in productivity, but this must always be in the context of delivering value, not only to your end customer, but all “customers”in your supply chain.We use this basis to engage employees and make work better, to ensure good performance in executing this “value” every day. In Canada, Lean has just begun to influence the construction community. It was only in the fall of 2015 that we became 10th in the globe to engage our own Canadian chapter of the Lean Construction Institute, where inspired leaders are coming together to share current best practices and innovate within the industry (http://www.lcicanada.ca/events/).And while the number of projects leveraging Lean and using more collaborative contracts has increased significantly across Canada, this movement has only just started. Construction has a very complex supply chain, which makes delivering value to the end customer very challenging, as competing interests can get in the way of doing “what is best for the project” and “what is best for the end user” (building occupants). This is why Lean Construction is focused on project design and execution that engages all stakeholders through systems and techniques to improve collaboration and the achievement of a target value for the customer. But how do we think about Lean inside our own companies? We have multiple projects to deliver, many customers with more demanding and complex needs in all directions of the supply chain. We have internal processes and systems to execute, talent/resources to manage, employees to train, cash flow to balance and the bottom line must work! If we don’t figure out how to leverage Lean internally, aren’t we putting ourselves at risk given that the industry is moving in this general direction? Many companies are starting to realize how critical this is, not only to compete, but perhaps to survive in this environment. Here are five overarching main principles to adopting Lean internally for your enterprise: 1. CONFIRM your value offering (proposition) to your customers and ensure connection with the business purpose. This gives the “why” for all employees and provides a compass for improvement efforts across the company. 2. UNDERSTAND the work activity that supports your processes/ systems to deliver the value. Capture it, make it transparent and structure it to suit your business so that it can sustain. 3. FOCUS on flow and seamless execution, waste elimination and a more disciplined approach for each process. This involves problem solving and innovation within. 4. SYNCHRONIZE and sequence your work to ensure you are meeting customer demands within the entire business and operating system. 5. BUILD an engaged culture of continuous improvement, collaboration and performance. To take full advantage of Lean internally, it requires inspired individuals and leaders to navigate an iterative, principled path. It is very much a journey without end. Lean is even more than doing “good business.” It is the journey of building and growing a best-in-class,sustainable business.