In a world where sustainability and efficiency are increasingly critical for the success of businesses, many companies have become interested in lean manufacturing as a way to cut costs, save time, and increase productivity.
What is Lean manufacturing?
Lean manufacturing is the application of “lean” practices, principles, and tools in the curation, development, and manufacturing of physical products. In this context, “lean” means either sustainable, low-waste, climate-friendly, or otherwise materially innovative.
Maximalist production practices have hurt the ozone layer and caused changes to our climate; maximalist processes are also costly and usually wasteful. As businesses try to save money and save the planet, the appeal of lean manufacturing becomes clear.
However, lean manufacturing isn’t just about material processes, though that’s where the phrase began. Lean manufacturing also represents a mindset of selling, operational execution and customer support that challenges companies to be streamlined and less wasteful in all ways they create value.
In this context, lean manufacturing extends to defining waste as “anything that doesn’t add value to the customer.” Maybe this means streamlining processes or products themselves, or points of service—really, anywhere money, time, or relationships are invested. If there’s clear value being created, that item needs to be re-evaluated as waste so that resources can be spent elsewhere.
Lean manufacturing is a mindset and a way of doing business as much as it is a way of managing production. When companies focus on finding ways to “lean out” their processes, they may find that they have a lot of money or time that they can put to good use elsewhere. For too long, businesses have fallen prey to the belief that “more is more”—maximalism has instead proven costly, unwieldy, slow, and inefficient—all things a small business cannot afford to be.
In a world where only one in ten startup companies makes it, the companies that succeed have set themselves apart by making savvy choices about their company philosophies, and unsurprisingly, the most efficient and streamlined companies are regularly the most successful. These companies are no strangers to innovation, including the use of software and automation to enhance their practices. By involving automation in your administration, operations and manufacturing processes, you stand a better chance of standing out from the rest.
Lean manufacturing software? Say More!
Automation continues to give thoughtful businesses the edge—including in the process of going lean through lean manufacturing software by Flowlens. Our software can help automate your company’s audit of its own practices. Below, you’ll find a list of the advantages of such software:
- Flowlens integrates user-friendly CRM, MRP software, and Service tools to address inventory issues, boost cash flow, cut down on wasted time and energy, and do away with cumbersome spreadsheets.
- Flowlens’s software enables companies to log sales enquiries and follow-ups efficiently, so you don’t miss a beat or waste an opportunity. Clients want and need to trust their suppliers; you want and need to earn that trust by never letting them slip through the cracks.
- Flowlens also supports the elimination of material waste by avoiding overstocking and helping to manage your product curation by minimizing stock.
- Flowlens streamlines quotations can generate invoices and quotes quickly and speeds up your approvals process.
- Flowlens keeps all your information updated in real time, and easily accessed through dashboards and reports.
Want To Learn More?
To learn more about Flowlens’s Lean Manufacturing Software and how its MRP system works, you can schedule a guided video tour of what we have to offer. Let us help you stand out and stay successful!
