Over the past two decades lean practices have evolved considerably. The focus of early lean practices in the 1980s was the elimination of non-value-added activities and resources. More recently, there has been recognition of the significant role people play in achieving lean objectives. Numerous forces, including a large number of global competitors and greater access to global markets; an increasing pace of knowledge, information, and technological advances; seemingly ever shortening product life cycles; as well the recent and continuing global financial hardships have placed a premium on lean practices.
This book promotes a framework of four necessary and interrelated lean system elements: leadership, culture, teamwork, as well as more familiar practices and tools that contribute to the attainment of lean objectives. Over the past 35 years there have been numerous articles and books written about lean by practitioners and academicians alike. Each of these focuses on a small subset of lean such as kaizen, practices, organizational culture, or lean tools. These articles and books examine lean in a variety of environments including manufacturing, service, administrative, health care, education, and others. Yet, none recognizes the importance of a systematic approach to lean and the significant contributions people must make to achieve lean objectives.
This book draws upon my 30 years of working with practitioners and academicians. It incorporates best practices learned from industry applications and theoretical writings. I have drawn much from my own experiences, as well as from authors of numerous disciplines who have shared their experiences. The intent is to offer a comprehensive explanation for all the necessary components of a lean system.
This book presents an organized approach to explaining the elements of a comprehensive lean system. The intended audience is wide, including practitioners in all fields as well as students in academia. Everyone should view himself or herself as a student with this book offering something to reflect upon.
Chapter 1 presents an explanation of the integral lean system elements, the phases that organizations typically go through in lean implementations, and offers a brief tracing of lean historical development. Chapters 2 through 5 each examine one of the respective lean system components, beginning with the most important, lean leadership, followed successively by lean culture, lean team, and then lean practices and tools. Chapter 6 examines total quality management, which is inseparable from any lean implementation. Chapters 7 through 10 examine content that is particularly relevant to the entire body of lean knowledge. Chapter 7 explores how technology is being applied to further the objectives of lean efforts. This exploration considers a variety of industries with numerous example applications and supporting data that demonstrates the benefits of technology. Chapter 8 takes an in-depth look at the application of lean concepts and practices and how these are being extended across the entire supply or value chain. This includes the three common supply chain elements of procurement, transformation, and distribution or logistics. Chapter 9 examines the management philosophies, constructs, or paradigms of “flexibility,” “agility,” and “lean.” Taken as a whole, the preponderance of the research for the three constructs suggests that there are differences among them, yet there exists confusion and inconsistency associated with their use, which leads to difficulty in differentiating among them. Finally, Chapter 10 introduces an emerging concept, lean accounting. This chapter focuses on identifying various metrics that lean practitioners use to assess the firm’s performance and on the accounting practices that underlie the determination of some of these metrics. The content of this chapter is not to suggest a better means of accounting, but rather to identify potential shortcomings of current accounting practices, which may lead to future improvement efforts.
It is the intent of this book to offer a fairly current and comprehensive examination of the current state of lean knowledge. A comprehensive lean model based on a sound framework is offered. A historical timeline of significant lean contributions is identified. The book ends with an extension of lean with a glimpse into its future. This book can serve as a core lean reference book if its intent is achieved.
I want to thank many people who have contributed to the development of this book. First, the Pawley Lean Institute at Oakland University should be noted for offering me an additional incentive to pursue this undertaking. Its founder, Dennis Pawley, has made significant contributions to promoting an enhanced understanding of lean. Second, although too many to mention, I want to thank the numerous practitioners and academicians who have contributed to my current understanding of lean. Most important to me, however, is my family. Without their support, this book would not exist. To my wife Cindy and children Courtney, Robbie, and Charlie, I love you all.
Gene Fliedner