1st Edition
Lean for the Long Term Sustainment is a Myth, Transformation is Reality
The average tenure of a departing CEO has declined from approximately 10 years in 2000 to 8.1 years in 2012. Maintaining a customer-focused Lean strategy and continuous improvement culture can become a challenge when management changes often, unless it has become an institutionalized company-branded business management system for the company.
Lean for the Long Term allows readers to benefit from the operating experience and research of the authors who have been deeply involved in leading Lean transformations that last in today’s ever-changing business landscape. It presents a Lean management system model that encompasses leadership, process, and growth as the model to drive business performance.
The authors investigate the fragile nature of a Lean culture and the resulting effects on people and the company when the culture shifts. They illustrate the methods several companies have used to achieve successful Lean transformations that last and also offer guidance on how to build your own action plan based on the best practices outlined in the text.
Until now, there have been few books to supply in-depth discussions on Lean as a strategy and management system. Filling this need, this book will help you to move toward a broader, more strategic use of Lean principles in your business.
The book uses clear language to present insights on how company leaders and Lean practitioners can improve communication. After reading the book, you will better understand how your company operates, how to align your efforts, and how to decide what to do despite the complexity of day-to-day business operations.
Total Business Thinking Required
Leaders at Every Level
The Language Is Important
Learning the Language
Aligning Lean Speak with the Business Speak
Bilingual Language of Business
Your Company?
How Lean Fails
TPS outside of Toyota
CEO Transition and Change
Focus on the Business Model
So What Is a Lean Management System?
Your Company?
Top 10 Contributors to Failure
Top 10 Failure Modes Discussion
Takeaways
Endnotes
Achieving Alignment
How Lean Practitioners and Business Executives Can Communicate
Lean Practitioner Communication Guidelines
Upper Management Communication Guidelines
Common Ground
Top Management’s Job
Setting Long-Term Goals
Policy Deployment Using Catchball Communications
Lean Management System
Takeaways
What the Board Should Know about Lean
Purpose, Authority, and Responsibility of the Board of Directors
So What Do We Want the Board to Do?
Organizational Alignment
Does the Board Set the Company Culture?
Extinction Is an Option
What a Lean Strategy Does
Amalgam Business Context
Takeaway Questions to Consider for Your Company
NCR Timeline
Using Your Lean Culture to Achieve the CEO’s Goals
Worker Engagement
Lean Culture and the CEO’s Strategy
Ford Motor Company
Hillenbrand, Inc
Autoliv
Toyota
Lean Measures Turn into Financial Measures
Management Questions about Continuous Improvement Projects
William Baker’s Experience
Helping Upper Management Achieve Lean for the Long Term
Company Strategy
Mentoring People
Customers
Growth
Financial
Suppliers
Culture
Endnotes
As a Lean Practitioner, What Your CEO Wants You to Know
Introduction
Identify the Customer Segments and Their Characteristics
Customer Value and Demand
Scope the Required Infrastructure
Describe the Future State and Actions to Get There
Results
Takeaways
Lean across the Organization
Bridge to Breakthrough Opportunities
Transforming Marketing and Sales
Streamline Operations and Reduce Overall Footprint
Strengthen Product Development Capabilities
Takeaways
Building Your Plan
Roadmap to Lean Success
Key Drivers of Lean for the Long Term
1. Leadership
Leadership Team
Changing Leadership Trends
2. Focus on the Business Model
3. Lean across the Organization
The Lean Journey—Understanding It’s a Long Journey and There Will Be Culture Change for All
Phase 1: Use of Continuous Improvement Tools and Systems
Phase 2: Lean Management System
Phase 2: Expand Lean and Involve the Entire Organization
Phase 3: Involving the Board of Directors
4. Consistent Communications
5. Lean Infrastructure
Lean Staffing Organization
Insertion of the Lean Practitioner into the Business
6. Development of Culture
Understanding It’s a Long Journey and There Will Be Culture Change for All
Organizational Learning in the Culture
Time Allocation—Your Most Precious Resource
7. Lean Strategy and Interfacing with the Board of Directors
Framing Your Plan
Flexibility Is Required
Checklists
Checklist for Building Your Plan: Lean Practitioner
Checklist for Building Your Plan: Upper Management
Checklist for Building Your Plan: Board of Directors
Index
Biography
William H. Baker Jr., Kenneth Rolfes
Lean for the Long Term is one of the only books that presents Lean as a comprehensive business model and not just a set of tools in a toolbox. An engaging read that will help any company maximize its full business potential. It is a must-read for business leaders, C-suite executives, and board members.
—Luke Faulstick, Co-Owner, President, and CEO, PPI
Despite indisputable potential to transform any organization to great, most Lean transformations fail to get companies to their true potential. Even fewer are able to sustain world-class performance and continuing improvement for the long term. What we know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that leadership matters, and it really matters to Lean movements. Baker and Rolfes take the reader through a myriad of thoughtful analysis and recommendations on how to successfully transform an organization and its leadership, and keep it on a perpetual cycle of improvement.
—Dan McDonnell, VP Integrated Supply Chain, Ingersoll Rand
Finally, we see a book making the connection between what sometimes looks to be two different worlds in the business environment:, the strategy and execution/tactics. This is a topic that has not been openly discussed but definitely a vital one for the long run. A must-read for Lean practitioners, executives, and board members interested in how to address the differences in approach to set the foundation for a sustained Lean business implementation and create value in their businesses.
—Mauro G Gonzalez, Sr. Operations Manager, Littelfuse Inc.
Lean for the Long Term goes beyond the existing literature on Lean tools and philosophy to describe how to create a Lean transformation that is sustainable across the entire organization for the long haul. Of particular note are the discussions on why transformations fail, and implementation strategies from a variety of perspectives, such as CEO, board member, and Lean practitioner.
—Kevin Meyer, Co-Founder, Gemba Academy
A fine review of our Lean journey seen through the eyes of two execs who lived it. Together they cover the operating fundamentals supporting Lean, as well as great illustrations from Lean pioneers.
—Patricia E. Moody, Author and Manufacturing and Supply Management Consultant
This book offers valuable insight to use Lean as a management strategy where it can create a value culture that customers are willing to pay for. Lean is about honoring people, customers, and processes. This book is a must-have for anyone wanting to drive an organization through performance.
—Dale Crownover, President /CEO, Texas Nameplate Company, and Two-Time Winner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
