Jim Manley of the Michigan Lean Consortium brings an experienced eye to lean's journey -from automotive to other realms These are interesting times for lean. On the one hand there are few businesses that have anything to do with manufacturing that don't have some knowledge of, and don't pay some lip-service to, the practices that came out of the Toyota production system (TPS). On the other hand, there are companies that have made a good-faith effort to change to a lean culture, only to find themselves unable to sustain the effort. Companies that are bringing in lean tools - kaizen, gemba, and on - all of those exotic-sounding Japanese terms - likewise find that after eliminating some waste in their processes - the low-hanging fruit - efforts often stall. And the term 'lean' itself is still routinely seen, with some justification, as a code word for increased workloads and ensuing layoffs.
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