The production of every product and the delivery of every service comprise a number of tasks:

• with added value, in other words delivering something that the consumer is prepared to pay for: assembly, delivery, etc.
• with added expense, in other words increasing the final cost without delivering anything that the consumer is prepared to pay for: transport between warehouses, reworking, scrapped products, stocks, etc.

The purpose of the just-in-time concept developed by Toyota in the 1950s was to deliver the right part, in the right quantity and at the right time to internal and external customers.

Lean Office is an application of this principle that aims to deliver maximum value to the customers of administrative processes, while optimizing the necessary means and resources. Its main lever is the elimination of waste and losses (Muda Hunting).

This waste is usually latent, taking the shape of activities that deliver no added value to the customer and are unnecessary for the proper operation of the organization (lack of efficiency). In this case, the organization suffers from a loss of productivity and aggressiveness. First and foremost, Lean office management focuses on detecting and eliminating all the causes of waste.
Given that less than 10% of the time spent in the administrative support processes of an organization deliver real added value to the customer, and that 30 to 40% are important for the organization to function properly, it is clear that 40 to 50% of administrative processes can be improved.

The main sources of waste that are hunted down by the Lean Office approach are specific to the administrative processes:

• Waiting time
  Examples: time wasted at the printer or the photocopier, time spent waiting for a signature, etc.
• Pointless tasks
  Examples: time spent by people working for contradictory or pointless purposes and the effort required to correct the consequences. Every employee must be precisely aware of their objectives and tasks.
• Non-quality
  Examples: time wasted correcting a document due to a simple technicality, or resending correspondence that was sent to the wrong address.
• Inadequate information and poor transmission of information
  Examples: time spent processing useless information(often found in e-mails) and looking for missing information.

However, the implementation of a Lean Office initiative is not limited to drawing up a list of all the forms of waste. Just like in any team sport, the right vision, a good strategy and the right tactical decisions are not always enough to become a champion. Teamwork, in which everyone understands their role, good communication, a slice of creativity and a true and efficient leader are at least just as important in order to succeed.

Argon Consulting helps its customers in:

• the definition of their challenges and the target: the target performance must comprise objectives that are ambitious but realistic, and in line with the goals of the company,
• the precise measurement of current performance and the identification of areas of under-performance: this precise measurement is used to segment the paths of improvement of the performance of the support functions, to identify and implement indicators that can be used to track progress and share informationabout the performance with the key players,
• the detailed analysis of the causes of under-performance in the support functions: if this analysis is made at the right level and with the appropriate tools (lists of activities, DILO type support, delay ratio,etc.), then it will identify the root causes and the right actions, which must then be prioritized according to their accessibility and their impact on performance,
• the improvement of the performance of the support functions: the selection and implementation of actions will improve results in terms of the added value for customers of the administrative processes. The owners, the timetable, the milestones, the necessary resources, the method, the tools, the risks, the key factors of success and the control and tracking methods must be identified for each action,
• durable deployment:the results achieved will be made more durable by setting up a steering committee for the progressive actions, with progress reviews and the validation of results, by tracking the production of the deliverables, by sticking to the schedule, by adjusting the human and technical resources and by handling any difficulties and risks,
• feedback from the deployment of the initiative: if the initiative is rolled out in successive waves of projects,
• transfer of skills and know-how in Lean methodologies and tools to the customers’ teams.