Shifting to lean service: Stealing a page from manufacturers' playbooks

Abstract The “lean” approach—eliminating non‐value activities from work processes by applying a robust set of performance change tools and emphasizing excellence in operations to deliver superior customer service—has become legendary in improving manufacturing companies' operations and profitability. The same principles can, with equally impressive results, apply to many service‐sector firms. Here is how, through a rigorous five‐phase process, an insurance company successfully followed the model—which has garnered similarly positive results in industries ranging from banking to health care. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.