Big Data in a LEAN Environment
LEAN is a business organization philosophy based on process optimization under a concept of continuous improvement. It began to be applied in the automotive sector with the aim of producing increasingly better and lower-cost cars.
It is evident that if our washing machine breaks down while running, we have a problem, but if our car breaks down, we have an accident.
The benefits of this organizational approach are so clear that over time, it has been introduced into other industrial processes, with the aim of improving quality and avoiding unnecessary waste that does not add value to the product.
| Currently, the LEAN concept is applied to improve any type of process, whether industrial, logistical, administrative, or commercial. In all of them, we can apply LEAN tools, which are oriented towards process monitoring so that we can detect inefficiencies and apply solutions, in an endless cycle of “Plan, Do, Check, Act”. |
It is in this process monitoring that “Big Data” analysis tools can help us. We are increasingly working with larger volumes of information, which come from multiple sources or databases (internal and external).
These tools allow us to process information in real-time (not just visualize it), and through predefined algorithms, they can alert us to what is about to happen, even if it has not yet occurred.
For example, they can predict the demand for a specific item for a given period, taking into account internal factors such as our sales history or external factors, such as the predicted weather.
They can also predict when a process will be blocked or when a machine will fail, by analyzing various variables that occur at that moment.
Could we predict which team will win the league or which candidate will win the elections?
We could certainly get close, although the important thing is not to know what will happen but to have information sufficiently in advance to achieve the desired result “Without surprises”.
Here are a couple of examples:
1) MoneyBall: Trailer for a film, based on real events, in which a baseball team with no budget manages to stay among the best thanks to statistical analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4R3m4ybDz4
2) Demand prediction in a chain of pharmacies thanks to the use of Big Data: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW8MjxQbtfY
Do you want to know more about LEAN? LEAN: Trend or NECESSITY