Jane Mobilia-Witte, Global Materials Manager The Antioch Company

Abstract. Lean concepts are used all over the world in manufacturing and distribution. But what about the office areas- the administrative types, the sales and marketing people, not to mention legal, purchasing, engineering, and others? These are prime areas for process improvement and positive bottom line impacts. At The Antioch Company, we developed a simple approach to improving office processes. We conduct Lean events in the office to improve processes, communication, lead times, awareness and much more. Through individual successes, it evolved into a company standard for continuous improvement. This presentation will give attendees an easy to use method to strategically analyze administrative processes, eliminate waste and increase overall communication, effectiveness and awareness. The lean event is a logical, meticulous way of identifying inefficiencies and eliminating waste. Each lean event involves participants from the process being examined, customer(s) and objective employees. Together, the group discusses how tasks are completed, defines who’s responsible for the actions at every step, identifies wasteful activities to change or eliminate and creates the framework for the future state. Both the current and future state versions of the process are mapped