Lean think
Week 7 DB
Dominic Rweyendera
ID: 15785421
According to Journal of the American College of Surgeons “lean” is a management system designed to enhance productivity by eliminating waste”. Emiliani and Stec, (2005) had framed it in different way; they stated that lean management system is a comprehensive system of management that can apply to any form of organizations. For this reason, I think that - lean transformation in any company or organization requires strong management supports and that the same time what can weaken any lean initiatives in company or organization is the results of mistakes made by their managers. For lean to deliver its promise to an organization, top management team membership that organization has the accept the ownership of lean and apply its principles and practices across their organizations.
In their book, “Principles of Operations Management”, Jay H. Heizer, Barry Render and Howard J. Weiss stated that the core components of Toyota Production System (TPS) are: continuous improvement, respect for people, and standard work practice. These core components are the basic foundation of lean operation for which I think had made Toyota so successful in the manufacturing world. It will be a mistake from the side of senior managers in any organization that are practicing lean concepts to overlook the above core components of Toyota Production System. Simply because their actions or simply put – their mistakes will weaken lean initiatives in their respective organizations
While many organizations are focusing on lean initiatives in their organizations, yet the senior management in those organizations is not involved in the implementation processes. Jeffrey and Liker had also acknowledged this accusation, in his great book – The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles, Liker stated that “In most companies where lean is implemented, senior management is not involved in the day-to-day operations and continuous improvement that are part of lean”, (Liker, 2004). This practice is a major mistake. How would you want continuous improvement in your organization but at the same time you don’t respect people (employees) and there is no standard work practice? As Devi Vallabhaneni stated in her book, “Continuous improvement means building an organizational culture and instilling in its people a value system that processes can be always improved”, (Vallabhaneni, 2009)
Finally, Emiliani and Stec, (2005) have ended up by stating 11 major common errors senior management often made when implementing lean in their organizations. The