Efficiency is rarely incorporated in design or innovation processes until its too late in the timeline when there is already rework, overengineering, and wasted effort. Design for Lean Innovation integrates creativity and operational excellence by putting “Lean” into the design phase. BMGI India applies this framework to help organizations design and deliver solutions that are innovative, efficient, and customer-valued from the beginning.

What is Design for Lean Innovation?

An approach that incorporates Lean thinking into the design and innovation phases is termed as Design for Lean Innovation. It focuses on delivering a product or a service with the maximum amount of value while waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary level of complexity is lowered or removed entirely.

Core principles include:

• Value-driven design – A value-centric approach focused on customer metrics of value needs.
• Rapid learning cycles – Out-of-the-box feedback loops intended to polish the designs to the lowest possible time-to-market.
• Waste elimination – The prevention of value-adding activities that not only prolong the work, but also, in effect, delay its completion.
• Cross-functional collaboration – Ensuring decision making within the value chain is holistic and not siloed.
• Lean mindset – first, do it, do it right, and do it in minimum time.

 

This manner of working helps to ensure innovation does not impact costs, time, and efficiency.

How BMGI India Uses ‘Design For Lean Innovation’

BMGI India applies Lean principles at all levels of the innovation process. Their methodology usually includes.

• Conducting VOC analysis to find out what really matters to the customer.
• Performing value stream mapping to locate the bottlenecks in the development cycle and any inefficiencies.
• Employing concept selection tools such as Pugh matrices to compare alternatives based upon value contribution.
• Applying minimum viable design (MVD), which focuses on substantiating core beliefs with a lowest possible spend approach.
• Using lean prototyping wherein faster iterations are made with lesser resources.

 

Structured tools mixed with Lean principles are designed to help organizations break away from the self-defeating spiral of redesign, resource-cush R & D, and traditional innovation models.

Case Study: Applying Design for Lean in A Manufacturing Facility

A prominent manufacturing company in India sought to set up a new production facility which would have all the operations optimized from the beginning. With BMGI India, the company cooperatively worked to ensure Lean principles were woven into the facility’s design and operational planning through applying the Design for Lean approach.

Key Initiatives:

• Value Stream Mapping (VSM): Accomplished during the design phase to pinpoint possibilities of bottlenecking and removing activities that do not add value.
• Cellular Layouts: Designed the layout of the facility to enhance smooth workflow and material handling.
• Standard Work Practices: Established consistent processes for each task to maintain quality and uniformity from the start.
• Just-In-Time (JIT) Inventory Systems: Adopted principles of JIT to further reduce inventory and waste.

Outcomes:

• 30% Decrease in Waste: Identifying and removing as many non-value adding activities as possible greatly improved waste reduction.
• 20% Improvement in Productivity: Increased efficiency was a result of positive change in workflows alongside standardized processes.
• Enhanced Employee Participation: Active engagement of cross-functional teams in the design processes brought about enhanced focus on cultivating a culture of continuous improvement.

 

This case shows how significant improvements can be made with efficiency and quality, alongside greater employee satisfaction, through Design for Lean principles, integrated at the planning and design phases.

Why Organizations Adopt Design for Lean Innovation

Traditional forms of innovation can be resource-heavy and slow. Design for Lean Innovation provides an alternative by integrating creativity and efficiency. It is beneficial because it provides:

• Improvement on the speed of development cycles
• Reduction on costs and complexity
• Improved correspondence between what the customers want and the product delivered
• Improvement in cross unit collaboration and decision making
• Focus on doing the right things first with regards to quality, speed, and product value.

Conclusion

Design for Lean Innovation is about being smart from the outset, not cutting corners. Applying the BMGI India Framework of Design for Lean Innovation allows businesses to develop creative, impactful solutions efficiently. Organizations by design are increasingly able to reduce waste, focus on value, accelerate service delivery, and optimize costs for better products.

Source: https://medium.com/@bmgindia/bmgi-india-and-design-for-lean-innovation-how-to-reduce-waste-and-enable-value-creation-d949ed4957dc