Build a Lean Infrastructure

Success at continuous improvement requires having a Lean infrastructure in place.

This comes in two basic forms. There is the traditional view of infrastructure—the physical systems that support an operation.

There is also the intellectual Lean infrastructure. This is the collection of knowledge, tools, documents, training materials, and the like that support continuous improvement efforts.

Physical Lean Infrastructure

Your Lean infrastructure should support the types of tasks you’ll need to do at the rate you’ll need to do them. It should be available to any person who needs those resources.

For example, companies with a sophisticated approach to Lean will likely be building custom workbenches to support their operation rather than just ordering stock benches out of a catalog. These workstations will likely be on wheels and might be adjustable to match the height of the operator. To build those benches in a timely manner, there must be parts, tools, and space to work all available.

Now, those resources may be specific to one team. Maybe facilities does all of your bench building. Or, perhaps the bench building workspace may be available to anyone making improvements. The important part is not who actually does that work, but that the people who will be doing it have the right tools for their job.

Other examples of Lean infrastructure:

• Rooms set up for kaizen activity
• Kaizen team workshops
• 5S carts
• Kanban carts
• Kaizen kits (tools/materials to support kaizen teams)

Intellectual Lean Infrastructure

In addition to the physical resources to do tasks, there is also a set of intellectual resources that frame up your Lean infrastructure.

This would include your training materials, though many of those items might actually be physical (i.e. online training, Books, or things like our Lego Training Kits).

Much of this type of resource, though, will be stored on your network drive. It includes policies, best practices, documented improvement processes, historical documents (i.e. old report outs), training materials, videos, forms & tools, etc.

The important point is to make sure teams do not have to reinvent the wheel every time they do a project. They should have access to a wealth of information that is well organized and easy to use.

Do not confuse company organization with infrastructure. The way you manage your teams is something entirely different, though these organizations will need to create their own physical resources to support improvement efforts.

For example, you may create a resource team, as I recommend. This is an organization. They will need a place to work. That work area will be configured with the necessary tools, materials, and equipment to support a variety of likely tasks. That collection of physical items and the space to use and store them is part of your Lean infrastructure.