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From the lens Value Stream Mapping & Kaizen.

  • GedB Jan 6, 2010 @ 8:18 am | delete
    No, improvement programs are all about increasing value.

    Value can be increased by reducing costs, but it is rather limited because you are reaching for the lower limit: zero. The gap between where your costs are and zero is finite, and you can never reach zero itself. Returns are dimiinishing, as it gets harder to squeeze extra savings out.

    Increasing value is much better, because the upper limit is infinite. There are always way to increase value.

    Apple and the iPhone are a good example. For years manufacturers had been working to reduce costs with impressive results, but here in the UK good handsets are available for free, with a games console thrown in, and where can you go from there?

    Apple instead increased the value delivered by the handset to the user. Then they added value as an handheld internet device. Then they added value as a gaming platform.

    There is always more improvement available when seeking to make things better rather than cheaper.

    Use Value Stream Mapping to understand how value is delivered and then eliminate waste to improve agility and responsiveness (with saving money as a nice side effect).

    Once the processes are cleanly aligned with the customers needs, with no waste generated friction to slow you down, you can set about finding new ways to deliver value.
  • Ralf Lippold Nov 22, 2008 @ 11:05 am | delete
    to create value (for the whole system)

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