Lean Management Concepts and their Practical Implications in Unilever

Operation Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
1. Overview of the company........................................................................................................1
2. Lean management concepts.....................................................................................................2
3. Suggestion for concept in Unilever........................................................................................5
4. Case analysis............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
LIST OF TABLE

Introduction
Lean management is a widespread approach which enables an organization to deliver the
value to the end users and supports the concept of continuous improvement and changes to
acquire efficiencies and quality within the business. The current assessment is been carried out
with the intention to explore the area of lean management and its benefits within the organization
It would include a detailed description of the concepts of Lean management and its practical
implication within the organization. The operations of Unilever, which is a leading
manufacturing company, is headquartered in London, UK would be evaluated in the assessment.
It would further suggest a specific concept which could help the company in its operations.
1. Overview of the company
Unilever is one of the oldest multinational companies located in London, UK, Rotterdam
and Netherlands. It is been listed as the seventh most valuable company all over the world. The
company includes a wide range of products and services such as cleaning agents, food and
beverages and personal care products. Unilever is the largest consumer goods company based on
revenues around the world. The company is been organized mainly into four divisions such as
foods i.e. production and sale of snacks, margarines, soups, sauces and spreads; Personal care
which includes sale of deodorants, oral care products, skin and hair care products; Home care
such as liquids and capsules, powders, soaps and other cleaning products; and refreshments i.e.
productions and sale of tea-based beverages, ice cream and weight management products being
sold in developing markets.
The company is the leading supplier of the products and cover nearly about 2 billion
consumers a day. It has more than 400 brands including Lipton, Dove, PG Tips, Persil, Ben &
Jerry’s, Knorr, Magnum, Domestos and Lynx. This is also a dual listed company which consists
of Unilever N.V., based in Rotterdam and Unilever plc, based in London. It approaches different
customer segments for different product range making specific segmentation of the market. The
major customer group of company is middle level income people. The organization is developing
and offering the high quality and low cost goods and services to attract and retain these
customers from large retail market. It has been found that the company had invested an amount
of nearly about €1.04 billion in research and development so that to explore the areas of new
1

market and establish itself effectively. The international competitors of Unilever are Procter and
Gamble and Nestle and even face competition from local market brands over specific product
ranges.
2. Lean management concepts
Lean management is basically referred to as a technique being developed with an
objective of reducing the process waste. It enhances the value of the products to the consumers
without making any compromises with the quality. The basic idea behind lean management is to
make the most of customer value while minimizing the waste. Lean enables the business to
create more values for customers with fewer resources (Bauer et al, 2018, p.147-152). The basic
concept of lean manufacturing involves the never-ending efforts made to eradicate or minimize
waste in different processes like manufacturing, design, distribution and customer services.
Lean management is been used by numerous organizations in their operation with the
intentions to enhance the value out of customers and establish themselves within the market.
This activity is been carried out by using different techniques such as total quality management,
flow charts, total productive maintenance, workplace redesigning, etc. It mainly focuses upon the
delivery of value to the customers (Berger, Yokoyama and Rodriguez, 2018, p.90-103). The
method also aims to enhance the performance of the business by developing value to its
customers as well as the employees. The major concepts being practiced within the lean
management regime are:
Value Stream Mapping
The concept of value stream mapping is been applied for analyzing the present stage and
designing the further stages for the series of activities which carries the products and services
from the beginning to the client. The value stream mapping is basically a flowchart method
which is been used to illustrate, evaluate and improve the actions required within the delivery of
products and services. This concept reviews the flow of steps in the process and information
from the initiation to the delivery to the end users (Seth, Seth, and Dhariwal, 2017, p. 98-419).
This method is been used in supply chain, logistics, healthcare, product development, software
development, administrative and office processes.
2