The concept of waste reduction can and does apply to any process.  Think for a moment how we move and process information in a service environment.  The value creating steps are only those that the customer considers to be of value.

Consider the process of buying a cup of coffee, for example.  Drive to the coffee shop > park your car > walk to the store > get in line > wait for your turn to order > order coffee > wait for coffee > pay for coffee > return to car > drink coffee.

Now, your experience may be different depending on a few variables but it looks basically the same.
Of all of the steps in the process of buying a cup of coffee, only the very last step, the enjoyment you get from drinking coffee, is of value to you.  So in this case, if we were the owners of such an establishment, our focus would be to improve all of the non-value added steps (again, from the customers perspective) to reduce the overall lead-time.

The same logic is applied in the office area.  In any transactional process there is value added activity and non-value added activity.  As Lean practitioner, our job is to identify non-value activity and eliminate it where possible.  In a Lean environment waste is considered to be the enemy, we can’t and won’t stop until it is gone. 

So what is a Lean Office?  A Lean Office means optimizing your way of working in a manner that requires the absolute minimum in resources (human, materials, surface, office machines, IT, etc) to fulfill customer expectations.  This approach, therefore, guarantees increased office output and production capacity, improved knowledge and information flow, raised customer satisfaction levels, reduced errors, and an office that is more streamlined and balanced, thus making your office more agile.

This brings to mind a rather good article published in the April 10^th issue of The Economist magazine entitled “Nomads at Last”.  The article discusses how today’s technology is changing the way people work and live as it relates to business and offices in general.  What do you NEED for your office?  

With Lean, we first need to understand that this is a “mindset” or a way of thinking as opposed to a tool. Many get this wrong speaking of the Lean methodology as “the Lean”, as if it were something that we can buy and apply as we do software.   Once we understand that Lean is a "mindset”, it then becomes easier to conceptualize that it can apply to any type of business or area within a business.  Lean practitioners know that waste is the enemy.  It prevents us from providing the customer what he or she really wants and is willing to pay for.  Where we have a process we have the possibility that waste exists. The challenge is really in understanding first what waste looks like and second how to eradicate it.  Many of the tools used to identify and remove waste from the manufacturing environment can be equally effective in transactional processes.  Certainly the methodology is the same.

1. Define the value from your customers' perspective.
2. Understand your process and identify the value stream.
3. Eliminate wastes.
4. Meet the customer's demand.
5. Make the work flow.
6. Level the work and pursue perfection.
7. Continue to improve.

How much waste exists in your office?  Well typically there are eight wastes in an office environment.  For example, when a quote is received with incorrect or insufficient information, it creates waste called a correction, because additional time is now required to obtain and correct the information.  Another waste is called extra-processing, like creating excessive reports or re-entering the same data in multiple locations.  Underutilization of software systems is another form of typical waste.  Software should be designed to streamline the process.  If your software is not, get rid of it and replace it with something that works for you rather than against you.  Other wastes are overproducing; like creating paperwork in advance (i.e. stockpiling manuals), inventory; which is created when we batch process transactions or reports, waiting for an approval or for information from others, excessive motion of people, and transportation of paperwork.

How can you start to eliminate waste in your office?  The process of eliminating waste starts with mapping the value stream. A value stream is all of the steps, value added and non-value added, which are required to bring a product or service to a customer. Customers can be either internal or external.  After mapping the value stream, you can determine where the best opportunities for improvement are and create a future state or road map for improvements.

Every office has the potential to achieve efficient flow throughout all of its processes. However, doing so requires deliberate efforts and hard work. Start by tackling just a few key areas within your office, those one or two processes that cause continual headaches for you.  Even a small process improvement can yield enormous gains in productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction.  So dream big and start small.  Remember that a journey of a thousand miles begins by taking the first step.