• Lean radically impacts every person in every function of an organization, and literally changes the
organizational culture. The change causes discomfort, and many companies are not able to cope with this
magnitude of change.
• It takes years to fully understand and implement lean throughout a large organization; frequently longer than
the life expectancy (i.e., turnover cycle) of U.S. managers and decision makers. One manager might decide
to implement lean, just to have his/her successor scrap the program.
• Finally, many of the concepts we learn in Lean are different than managers, accountants, and other decision
makers were taught. Some of the more interesting ones that we've encountered (and, address in our own lean
implementations) include:
Concept Traditional Organization Lean Organization
Inventory An asset, as defined by accounting
terminology
A waste – ties up capital and
increases processing lead-time
Ideal Economic Order
Quantity & Batch Size
Very large – run large batch sizes to
make up for process downtime
ONE – continuous efforts are made
to reduce downtime to zero
People Utilization All people must be busy at all times
Because work is performed based
directly upon customer demand,
people might not be busy
Process Utilization Use high-speed processes and run
them all the time
Processes need to only be designed
to keep up with demand
Work Scheduling Build products to forecast Build products to demand
Labor Costs Variable Fixed
Work Groups Traditional (functional) departments Cross-functional teams
Accounting By traditional FASB* guidelines “Through-put” Accounting
Quality Inspect/sort work at end of process to
make sure we find all errors
Processes, products, and services
are designed to eliminate errors
*Financial Accounting Standards Board
Concluding Remarks
Lean is becoming the next "quality" or "eBusiness" practice area. In the 1980s, companies with superior quality
were able to more easily enter new markets and command higher prices for their products and services than
companies with inferior quality. Now, "quality" is the price of admission for entering the business environment.
eBusiness was the 1990s equivalent; an eBusiness strategy and presence is required in many markets. Today,
many large manufacturers are demanding that suppliers adopt lean practices. Lean organizations are able to be
more responsive to market trends, deliver products and services faster, and provide products and services less
expensively than their non-lean counterparts. Lean crosses all industry boundaries, addresses all organizational
functions, and impacts the entire system – supply chain to customer base.