Lean Management Transforming Industry

11 Pages 2633 Words

on the challenge of Lean Management and are reaping the benefits (Poppendieck, 1).

The Japanese are masters at establishing a competitive position in an industry. Their overall focus is in the cycle of improvement (Suzaki, 239). In this cycle of improvement are the tools, the support, and the results to improve any process. The objective is to have improvement activities become a way of life, for all employees. All employees are encouraged to participate in the process improvements, and are trained to do tasks formerly reserved for engineers or skilled technicians (Poppendieck, 5). Providing the leadership, tools, and environment for continuous improvement have made the Japanese very competitive.

Leadership:
To facilitate the lean journey to success, a complete understanding of the characteristics and methodology of lean by senior management is essential. Making lean a way of life throughout the firm requires senior management support. Once understood and supported from the top down, any firm in any industry is ready to begin the lean journey. The Path-Goal theory of leadership is an effective type of leadership in a lean environment. “The Path-Goal theory of leadership suggest that the primary functions of a leader are to make valued or desired rewards in the workplace and to clarify for the subordinate the kinds of behavior that will lead to goal accomplishment and valued rewards” (Griffin, 309). This type of leadership promotes change and rewards employees for initiating change which is vital to a lean environment. In order to successfully implement lean principles, leadership must have the support of a skilled workforce, rather than subordinates simply following orders.

7 Principles:
The lean firm consists of seven primary characteristics. This includes visual control, 5S, demand-pull, lean daily management, total productive maintenance, value stream mapping, and metrics. These characteristics are the b...