Lean is a structured approach to delivering operational improvement in quality, cost and delivery by focusing on customers, processes, culture and active management. People working in a Lean environment focus on understanding what value is being added at every stage, doing things right first time and eliminating waste.
By adopting a Lean approach, organisations can achieve increased customer satisfaction, higher productivity, reduced costs, elimination of waste and a continuous improvement organisation.
At PA we have developed a set of flexible methodologies for delivering Lean to a wide variety of clients across both the private and public sectors.
Case study: HM Revenue & Customs - Rich pickings from Lean methods
HMRC identified the processing of self-assessment tax returns as a prime target for efficiency improvements. There were 25 million of these each year, with a high error rate and lengthy processing times.
PA set up small teams to trial Lean at a number of sites. The trials were a dramatic success and were used to prove Lean would work in HMRC. The project is now being fully rolled out and implemented across the self assessment tax return process and is starting to realise the significant benefits outlined in the business case: a minimum 30% gain in productivity, a reduction by a half in the time taken to process a tax return, and real improvements in the quality of the work being done. This has enabled HMRC to achieve some of its operational targets for the first time and staff and managers are now actively engaged in the new ways of working.
A full copy of this case study is available here.
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