science

Lean services

Lean services is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lean services rather than just read about it. In short: Lean services is the application of lean manufacturing production methods in the service industry (and related method adaptations). Lean services have among others been applied to US health care providers and the UK HMRC.

Key takeaways

Lean services belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lean services to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lean services from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lean services is the application of lean manufacturing production methods in the service industry (and related method adaptations). Lean services have among others been applied to US health care providers and the UK HMRC.

History Definition of "Service": see Service, Business Service and/or Service Economics. Lean Services history, see Lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing and Services, contrasted by Levitt; "Manufacturing looks for solutions inside the very tasks to be done... Service looks for solutions in the performer of the task." (T.Levitt, Production-Line Approach to Service, Harvard Business Review, September 1972).

Method Underlying method; Lean manufacturing. Bicheno & Holweg provides an adapted view on waste for the method ("waste", see Lean manufacturing, waste and The Toyota Way, principle 2):

Delay on the part of customers waiting for service, for delivery, in queues, for response, not arriving as promised. Duplication. Having to re-enter data, repeat details on forms, copy information across, answer queries from several sources within the same organisation. Unnecessary Movement. Queuing several times, lack of one-stop, poor ergonomics in the service encounter. Unclear communication, and the wastes of seeking clarification, confusion over product or service use, wasting time finding a location that may result in misuse or duplication. Incorrect inventory. Being out-of-stock, unable to get exactly what was required, substitute products or services. An opportunity lost to retain or win customers, a failure to establish rapport, ignoring customers, unfriendliness, and rudeness. Errors in the service transaction, product defects in the product-service bundle, lost or damaged goods. Service quality errors, lack of quality in service processes. Shillingburg and Seddon separately provides an additional type of waste for the method:

Value Demand, services demanded by the customer. Failure Demand, production of services as a result of defects in the upstream system.

Criticism John Seddon outlines challenges with Lean Services in his paper "Rethinking Lean Service" (Seddon 2009) using examples from the UK tax-authorities HMRC.

See also Lean construction Lean government Lean Higher Education Lean IT

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lean services

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lean services claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lean services before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lean services ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lean services

In research: Lean services appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lean services in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lean services is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Customer service, Lean manufacturing, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lean services outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lean services in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lean services means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lean services out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lean services in simple terms?

Why does Lean services matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lean services?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lean services.