Article at a glance:

First National Toyota

US banks can dramatically increase their productivity by embracing the lean manufacturing techniques pioneered by industry giant Toyota Motor. Through lean manufacturing, improvements in quality and efficiency become a continuous pursuit that reduces costs and waste, rather than a series of one-off initiatives—thus, both processes and outputs benefit. Although the banking world appears to be quite different from manufacturing, lean approaches can be highly beneficial in operations such as check processing, loan application and approval, and call centers.

The take-away

Lean manufacturing techniques can contribute major gains in processes, lead times, and output—all while lessening costs—at banks and financial institutions. Banks should act quickly to implement these techniques and set a course towards continuous productivity improvement.