The benefits of implementing Lean can be broken down into three broad categories; Operational,
Administrative, and Strategic Improvements. Even to this day, most organizations that implement Lean do so for
the operational improvements, primarily because of the perception that Lean only applies to the operations side
of the business. However, from our experiences, Lean’s administrative and strategic benefits are equally
impressive. Some of Lean’s benefits are summarized below.
Operational Improvements
The NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership recently surveyed forty of their clients who had
implemented Lean Manufacturing. Typical improvements were reported as follows:
• Lead Time (Cycle Time) reduced by 90%
• Productivity increased by 50%
• Work-In-Process Inventory reduced by 80%
• Quality improved by 80%
• Space Utilization reduced by 75%
Administrative Improvements
A small sample of specific improvements in administrative functions is (based upon personal
experiences):
• Reduction in order processing errors
- Streamlining of customer service functions so that customers are no longer placed on hold
• Reduction of paperwork in office areas
• Reduced staffing demands, allowing the same number of office staff to handle larger numbers of orders