The lean enterprise

The Japanese automotive industry is based around principles of 'lean thinking', and attaches great importance to reducing waste and focusing on chose activities which add value for the customer. There has recently been interest in applying similar principles in service industry environments, including communications providers. This paper discusses the application of lean principles to BT, and describes some of the lean tools and techniques that are being used to transform BT. These include value stream analysis, a tool for exposing waste, and root cause analysis, which is a method for pursuing perfection. The use of new technologies as enablers for lean practice is also discussed.