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Philip Atkinson addresses the key issues that relate to culture change and 'Lean manufacturing.' He discusses the inability of most organisations to create the culture that will sustain Lean and any other programme of organisational improvement. Failing to plan for change equates to planning to fail. Currently, too much attention is focused on the technical aspects of Lean, rather than the ability to create a self-sustaining Lean culture, where change is seen as the norm and where resistance to change is never an option.
Organisations stand little chance of implementing 'Lean' unless they have paid at least equal attention to creating the right culture, and the conditions and circumstances which can become the foundation for implementing change. Just imagine what you could achieve if your organisational i culture actively welcomed change. Consider how easy it would be to install the training, the techniques, the methodologies and the common language that accompanies any Lean strategy, if staff at all levels chose to perceive the change as an aid to their work, rather than as a hindrance and distraction from their daily, weekly and monthly targets.
What will Lean deliver organisationally?
It's best to ask the question - 'what do we want our business to look like after we have implemented Lean?' How many layers of managers will exist? Which key processes will be critical to operating across the organisation? How will we be focusing all our attention on the 'vital' processes and cutting through red tape, duplication, rework and non value added activities? What development is required to support managers in working in the new organisation? How can we ensure that cross functional working is valued as highly as a technical proficiency? How can we destroy the 'silo mentality'? What mechanisms can we use to reinforce the importance of working across boundaries?
Misconceptions about Lean
* Lean is often perceived as a 'toolbox' of concepts and methodologies that are forced on, rather than tailored to, an organisation.
* Lean is not a cost reduction exercise to take unnecessary costs out of an organisation. If this is the only objective, then 'Lean' will never take its rightful role as a strategy of competitive advantage.
* Lean techniques often do not permeate the processes and functions that...