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LEAN SERVICES

What is this practice and how effective is it?

Lean services apply the principles of lean to service organizations ranging from call centers to hospitals. However, unlike manufacturing, where processes can be standardized, service organizations need to absorb much more variety, and therefore standard processes and tasks are less useful. But as we will point out, there is just as much waste in services, and managers need to learn how to identify and eliminate it.

Alternative names and related topics: value analysis; value stream mapping; white collar productivity; just-in-time for the office

Over the past twenty years or so, large services organizations such as retailers, banks, telecoms, professional services firms, and government ...

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