Holistic Approach of Lean Thinking in Learning Factories

To provide a better understanding for this approach, an interactive two-stage training environment was designed to highlight the advantages of Lean Production and Lean Administration methods. The first stage challenges the participants with a situation that is characterized by aninefficient production environment and limited administrative features. The aim is to improve the current situation through the utilization of the lean methods learned during the first stage training session. Within the second stage, the administrative features are being extended, which initially still exhibit wasteful characteristics. It becomes obvious that the advantages of an optimized production are not fully realized due to inefficient administrative processes. This clarifies the principle that productivity improvement activities should always entail an integral optimization of business processes. Therefore, the participants subsequently learn how to transfer and apply the methods of Lean Production in administration as tools to not only optimize their production but the entire organizational structure.