Value chain is a concept made popular by Michael Porter in his 1985 best seller, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. According to Porter, It is the internal linkages between core and supporting processes and external linkages with customers and suppliers. In practice, value chain is the elimination of waste and creation of a lean system.
In this assignment, you are required to prepare a formal report for your organisation or one with which you are familiar (previously worked at, researched case study) and:
1. Critically evaluate the use of lean production and/or lean services in your chosen organisation
2. Discuss and recommend how waste is/can be managed along your chosen organisation's value chain
3. Evaluate the impact that your recommendation will have on your organisation's resources, and justify how your recommendation will ensure increased competitiveness, long term sustainability and corporate social responsibility
4. Using Porter's value chain as a template, create a framework that will assist a newly employed first-line manager in your organisation with the following:
a. Identify the types wastes in both primary and support processes
b. The ‘danger signals' of each waste
c. How to respond to the ‘danger signals'
5. Structure, writing style and reporting on actions clearly and competently.