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Lean & 5S' in Construction #22 May 2006

May 15, 2007  |  from Lean & 5's

***************** Office Efficiency and Waste in Knowledge Workers Work
Daniel Markovitz, a Lean consultant, reports helping reduce the waste in knowledge workers' behavior. In one project the workers gained nearly 10 hours per week for value added work. What would an additional 10 hours do for you office admin, estimators and engineers?
Dan feels that “Lean work habits are critical for knowledge workers, because the multiple value streams flowing through them create a constant tension. Without lean habits to guide their work, the critical flow of information in the value stream clogs up. Think of the information bottlenecks in the form of backlogs on their desks, or the hundreds of unanswered email in their inboxes. Think of the enforced waiting throughout a department when decision-makers read but don't act upon a request. Think of the unnecessary motion of managers searching for documents amidst the masses of paper piled on their desks. Each of these wastes undermines the gains made by any improvements in the design of a company's business processes.”

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Filed: Lean-Construction