6.6 Basic overview of concepts and tools

 It is very difficult to give a complete and precise overview about all of the concepts and tools of Lean: there are a lot of tools, concepts and in some degree all are related and affect each other. The following picture shows only a rough high level picture.

The next picture shows a general overview about Lean concepts, tools and values. Problems are denoted with red boxes while Lean tools and processes that can be used to prevent and eliminate the problems are denoted with blue boxes. Dotted lines represent optional relations, i.e. the usage of tool is depended on the relevant stakeholder(s): For example, the application of

  • 5S prevents problems
  • Value Stream Mapping and Gemba identify problems
  • Fishbone and 5Why analyse problems,
  • Kaizen continuously improves the current situation and eliminates problems,
  • PDCA and Kaizen both help to achieve Zero Defects

if the certain tool applied at all. Straight lines represent essential (not optional) relationships, i.e. different kinds of problems (mura, muda, muri) generates each other, PDCA is used in A3 thinking, A3 is a basic tool in 5S, and so on.

The left side of the picture shows a “bad” state where problems (wastes, bad culture, etc.) dominate while right side shows a “good” state where values dominate.

There are several other scenarios that cannot be shown in only one view/picture, e.g. PDCA can be used for producing a new (improved) value stream map, i.e. PDCA and Value Stream Mapping are also related.

Figure 6.7: Lean Overview