Does allocating overheads add value to my business? 
 
The answer of course is, "It depends." When this scheme was originally created it probably worked. Importantly, product lines within companies were fairly homogenous. Today, companies are making very different types of products in the same facility.  If you think about accounting activities from a classic industrial engineering definition of "Value Added" they do not add value.  The cost of doing accounting falls into a necessary but minimize the cost category.  The attached article gives more information on this subject.  I could have easily written ten pages and included spreadsheets, and more examples.  It seemed like that might be overkill so it’s limited to two pages.  If you take the time to read it please let us know your thoughts.  We can be reached at jon@rainmkrs.com or called directly at 847/251-3327
 

How does Lean Manufacturing differ from other improvement initiatives?
 
In some ways it differs significantly and in others it is fairly similar to the variety of improvement initiatives that have been launched over the last twenty years.  Conceptually TQM, CQM, JIT, EI, CI, 6Sig, SPC, TBM, DFM, TEI, ABC, ABM, QC, VE, CE, and today LM at their core differ very little. What you call it does not matter because all of these initiatives focus on getting work done faster, cheaper, better, adding more value, eliminating waste, reducing non-value adding but necessary work, improving the skills of employees and achieving more organizational alignment.