First off, even a Lean Assessment should be a Value-Adding experience for your company. It's not enough for a couple of consultants to drop-in, take a look around, and then send you a report that tells you what they observed and what to do.

Most of the time you'll pay for a Lean Assessment, (though probably at a reduced rate,) so you should still expect some tangible return on your investment beyond a report. Your assessors will be looking for waste. When and where they find waste, in its many forms, and how to eliminate it should be an expected deliverable.

The following is a very brief overview of some things you should look for when hiring a consultant to assess the opportunities for Lean at your company. This also applies to the progress you have made so far if assessing for benchmarking purposes.

This is NOT an exhaustive list by any means, but it is a good start.

Although a good assessor should make the process flex to the specifics of each company, I have outlined some of the common items you should expect during and after a typical 1 - 5 day assessment.

The Lean Assessor Should Do the Following (at minimum):

1. Meet with you by phone or in person to discuss some of the specific information you wish to collect during the assessment process. Although the consultant will have his or her own approach and measurement systems, there may be data important to you that are not generally gathered. You'll get far greater benefit by mentioning your specific metrics up-front.

(At Each Plant Being Assessed)
2. Speak with a senior management team member regarding the assessment process by phone and arrange for a "process expert(s)" to guide them throughout your company during the visit. It is wise for you to mention the visit to the management team, express your support for the process, and ask that they be as helpful as possible.

3.Once on site they should hold a brief introductory meeting with at least one member of the senior management team to discuss the process, resources needed, and assure them that they will do all in their power to be helpful etc. This is also a great time for your consultant to ask senior managers where they believe the greatest needs for improvement are. Most seasoned managers probably already know where most of the opportunities lie and can be very helpful to the consultant and get him to better understand their concerns. This is true even if opportunities that are more significant are found elsewhere during the assessment process.