Structured lean data

Lean is all about the numbers.  At heart, lean is a quantity control system with the goal to deliver the right amount of product at the right time and right price as required by customers.  Decisions to increase flow, create pull systems or schedule the value stream must be based on a quantitive understanding based on solid and reliable data.  

Lean brings you to very low levels of detail, where changes can be introduced at the source and incrementally.  It's important that your data represent the same level.  For example, isolating downtime or load time from cycle time allows you to separate value-add from waste and then get rid of the waste.  If your cycle times imbed load time or downtime, then it's more difficult to see the waste that's really there and to target it.  A solid strategy for organizations who don't have good data is to begin with what they have and then drill down to the lowest level of details only where bottlenecks are found.

Only then can you can you fully anaylze your situation to make business decisions.