Lean is the way for business startups

We have seen many articles about the Lean manufacturing process started by Toyota.

What is just starting to gain traction is using the Lean priciples in non-manufacturing processes. Think of a business process in the same fashion as you would a manufacturing process. It is simply a bunch of activities put together to create a defined result.

There are two major differences between a manufacturing process and an office process.

1. A manufacturing process uses machines to perform the activities. An office process typically uses people, supported by software.
2. Waste is typically obvious in a manufacturing process. You find it in poor quality products, in wasted materials, etc. In an office environment, you find it in two places: Wasted time and bad data. You don't see wasted time; it doesn't accumulate. You don't see bad data until you try to make decisions; you end up with wasted time.

While some large companies are staring to use Lean principles in the office, it is seldom looked at in small businesses.

I thought the following article was interesting because it talked about Lean in new business startups.