Supply Chain Brief

Camp published a new book titled Sustainable Lean: The Story of a Cultural Transformation , and I talked to him about some of the topics addressed in the book. Most Lean initiatives begin with noble intentions but often plateau or fail to maintain the gains. It’s commonly known among consulting circles that 80% to 85% of all first-time attempts at a Lean transformation fail, and I asked Robert: Why does this occur? Making a decision to launch a Lean transformation is a strategic decision. Mostly, leading Lean is about a personal commitment to change. MORE >>

'The banking industry comprises many accounting, regulatory, process, and management challenges, and because its customer-satisfaction and efficiency rates are ripe for improvement, many feel Lean improvement initiatives can transform these financial institutions. book published just this month titled Lean for Banks: Improving Quality, Productivity, and Morale in Financial Offices , authored by Bohdan Oppenheim and Marek Felbur ,shows how Lean and Six Sigma can significantly improve the efficiency of bank operations. Fortunately, an excellent solution exists: Lean Thinking. MORE >>

'In my last blog post , I wrote about how visibility into real-time manufacturing intelligence can let management improve and enhance Lean programs. Better, faster access to information allows management to act with greater efficiency, which contributes to improved Lean performance. If management decisions affect Lean performance, and if there are metrics that can be tracked, compared, and improved upon, then in theory, couldn’t we use this information to continuously improve the actual management processes? In other words: Lean management based on continuous improvement. MORE >>

Kull published a book titled People, Process, and Culture: Lean Manufacturing in the Real World. He asked: " People, Process, and Culture: Lean Manufacturing in the Real World shows there are many interesting effects that a country''s culture has on Lean. So they all could be impacting how effective Lean practices are, all at the same time. That is, we allow all nine dimensions of national culture (as described in the GLOBE international study HERE ) to simultaneously try to predict if Lean practices will be effective in a country. Wincel and Thomas J. MORE >>

Manufacturing enterprises have invested heavily in Lean practices for many years, wringing the inefficiencies out of every operation in the production process. But there is one area in the Lean revolution that often is not considered—not because it doesn’t matter, but because it has been so difficult to deliver a solution. Applying a Lean Approach to Management. And this is where Lean systems can fall down. Besides, without a manufacturing intelligence system, Lean organizations are only Lean when nothing unexpected happens. That neglected area? MORE >>