Classroom/ Online: Yes/ Yes
Scheduling Date(s):
1) 25 Nov 2026 (classroom)
Note: Please click specific date for detailed venue and course fee etc.
How to Develop and Implement Lean Business Process
Often it is perceived that Lean tools & techniques are applicable "Only" to manufacturing function & operations in general in a company. And support organizations & office functions in a company such as HR, Finance, Supply Chain, IT etc that provide necessary functional support to manufacturing function may not participate in overall company lean initiatives as much as it is needed to ensure right value flows to customer on time. This is either due to misconception (that Lean thinking is not applicable to support organization or office functions), or due to less than desired awareness on how to apply lean initiatives to support organizations to make an effective companywide lean transformation. In fact, it is extremely essential for support organizations to embrace lean thinking and apply lean tools and techniques both inside support organization and in support of Operations lean efforts so that entire company sees a true, meaningful and sustainable financial benefits both in terms of revenue & in terms of cost. And support organization and office functions not embracing lean may either lead to sub-optimized benefits of Lean in operations or in many cases, conflicts with Operational lean efforts.
This workshop is designed with real case studies in a hands-on manner intended to impart necessary skillset to office executives and support function managers who want to embrace lean journey & learn various applicable lean tools & techniques, want to improve their existing business process, learn to overcome barriers & challenges and sustain the gain. The workshop facilitator brings real case study with success stories and failures as part of workshop learning.
This workshop is designed with real case studies in a hands-on manner intended to impart necessary skillset to office executives and support function managers who want to embrace lean journey & learn various applicable lean tools & techniques, want to improve their existing business process, learn to overcome barriers & challenges and sustain the gain. The workshop facilitator brings real case study with success stories and failures as part of workshop learning.
Objective
- Benefits of embracing "Lean business process". What is in it for employees and what is in it for company.
- How Lean Business Process can help Improve company top line (Revenue) & bottom line (Profit)
- Comparison & Contrast between Traditional Enterprise and Agile Enterprise.
- What are Lean Metrics & how to link these to company strategic metrics of Quality, Cost, Delivery and Revenue.
- How to Converge / complement lean metrics of different organizations and functions in a business enterprise to meet common vision and goal
- Frequently used tools & techniques in transforming complex business process into Lean Business Process and how to apply these tools & techniques in different scenarios, especially in an office set up or Non Manufacturing set up
- Mapping, enabling, optimizing Company wide "flow" of value using visual mapping tools & developing current state & future state
- How to apply Lean problem solving thinking and tools to simplify a business process
- Tips & Tricks of implementing Lean Business Process (from real case studies) and how to sustain the Lean Business Process
- How to create the mindset & culture of "Continuous Improvement" across all levels of employees in a company
- Change Management techniques to overcome the barriers while implementing the lean business process
Outline
- Introduction to Lean Business Process - Benefits / Best Practice
- Organization review - Traditional vs Agile Organization
- Traditional Metrics (KPI) vs Lean Metrics (KPI)
- Lean Business Process - Tools & Frame work overview for an office or service set up
- Myths & Truth about Lean Business Process & Practice
- Work place organization for Lean Business Practices in an office with Hands on exercise
- Hands on "Lean Mapping of value & waste "to help Business Process Simplification in an office set up
- Lean techniques for Business Forms Simplification in a digitalized office set up with Hands on Exercise
- Gap Analysis, Closure Techniques, Error proofing, Risk Assessment & mitigation techniques between current state & future state with hands on exercise
- Lean execution techniques to move from Current State to Future State
- Tips for Sustaining the Gain after lean improvement
- Overcoming challenges & barriers during Lean Journey
- Employee engagement techniques during Lean Business process implementation
Who should attend
- Leaders / Lean Practitioners who are looking for tools & techniques on how to achieve Service Excellence / Office Process Improvement
- Department Heads / Support Organization leaders who want to simplify their business process, Office process & employee efficiency and effectiveness
- All Lean practitioners who want to extend their knowledge and skills beyond Manufacturing lean practices and learn more about implementing lean in Non manufacturing environment (eg: Office set up, service functions, support organization) and cover the Overall enterprise wide business improvement
- General Managers / Managing Directors who want to improve efficiency and enhance productivity in various business functions of their company in a synergized and non-conflicting way thus reduce cost and improve profit margin
- Leaders / Project Managers who are considering "Business Services Consolidation" via simplification & collaboration
Methodology
Intensive Hands On / Interactive / facilitated workshop
Profile of Ramesh Rao
Ramesh Rao is a Singapore-based business transformation consultant and adult educator with more than 30 years of international experience across Asia, Europe and the United States. He leads a specialised consultancy providing advisory services, training and coaching for enterprise transformation, financial turnarounds, process optimisation, sustainability and ESG implementation, and change management.
His corporate career includes global finance controller responsibilities for a US multinational semiconductor company, overseeing a USD 500 million budget and partnering with senior leadership across geographically dispersed finance organisations. Earlier regional operations and engineering roles covered multiple Asian factories and vendors. His functional experience spans product and service design, process engineering, supply chain, logistics, quality, customer and vendor management, and finance.
His consulting work integrates Lean Six Sigma, Design Thinking, Agile, project management and data analytics. Assignments include hands-on RPA and AI-enabled workflow automation for finance, HR and planning processes, alongside leading teams designing and installing smart factory solutions across Asia. His project management experience includes new product introductions, programme implementation and facilities projects. He has served manufacturing, banking and financial services, retail, hospitality, healthcare, education, government and nonprofit organisations.
Ramesh holds academic qualifications in engineering, finance and supply chain, and professional credentials covering the methodologies above, including Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, digital transformation, Industry 4.0, sustainability, generative AI and agentic AI. His adult education qualifications include the Diploma in Adult and Continuing Education (DACE) and Advanced Certificate in Learning and Performance (ACLP).
He has delivered more than 2,000 training sessions and workshops, including over 200 Kaizen and value-stream improvement workshops. Alongside his consultancy, he serves as an adjunct at Singapore Management University and Singapore Institute of Technology and delivers WSQ/SSG-accredited programmes through Singapore training providers. His teaching and coaching cover operational excellence, statistics, financial skills and leadership for multinational enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses.
