Evolution of lean management

Lean Manufacturing began to gain widespread fame in the 1980‟s. It is now 2011 and the game has shifted. In this new knowledge based economy, where outsourcing is endemic, companies compete on an indefinable level. What makes great companies great? One of the most successful management systems some of these companies use is that of Lean management. Whilst Lean has evolved greatly, often in a rather chaotic and unplanned way, a more interesting thing has happened. The Lean management system has taken the best bits of other western management philosophies and formed it into one all encompassing one. Lean practitioners have modelled these best practices, and further developed it and combined it with the original Lean way of thinking. So what other western management philosophies has Lean built on and incorporated at some level? Some include but are not limited to: 1. The Theory of Constraints (Lean and Though-put Accounting) 2. Six Sigma (Lean Sigma or Lean Six Sigma courses are being advertised everywhere) 3. Change Management (Kotter‟s 8 Step Change Model) 4. Business Process Reengineering 5. Belbin Team roles (Lean Implementation Groups) Most of the above philosophies all share one thing in common, the central idea of continuous improvement. What I hope this paper will show is firstly how applying the tools in one corner of the business will not result in bottom-line improvements. It may also lead to a bottle neck somewhere else in the system. It may throw the ecology of the system out of synchronisation. Essentially local optimisation is not the way forward. A joined up systems view must be taken into consideration and implemented. On another note most Lean initiatives still fail. When it comes to Lean Management we cannot let this happen. Companies need to find a better way to communicate the need for change. I believe a lot of progress has been made in terms of “Respect for People” but we can still do better. I hope to highlight a few ways in which I have been shown to better tailor my communication in an effort to get better buy in. I will also elaborate on how I have personally applied Lean tools, Lean management and superior communication to reverse a 5 year downward trend in terms of contribution margins at ETL. This is an extraordinary turnaround, one where the problem was identified on a lower level 3 years ago and where the resistance to change and continuous improvement was very strong (possibly due to traditional accounting methods amongst other things). Through a brief focus on the importance of communication at a very tactical level it will also help to highlight techniques and concepts which you can use to heavily turn the odds in your favour when it comes to Lean transformations. Most importantly this study should ultimately highlight the key points in the transformation of Lean from what Womack refers to as the “tool age” into the 21st century Lean Management era.