Lean manufacturing has become the byword for efficiency across industry. But how many companies, particularly in the UK, are simply paying lip service to lean principles? Colin Herron argues that less talk and more graft is needed. THE HEADLONG RUSH into lean has resulted in many misapplications of lean tools/ techniques due to inadequate understanding of the purpose of the tools. I constantly get phoned by people who it appears have lifted up a manual at a bookshop and want to do six sigma, or lean six sigma, or TQM (total quality management), or TPM (total productive maintenance). The misapplication of lean tools takes different forms. One key misapplication is the use of the wrong tool to solve a problem. A second is the use of a single tool to solve all problems. The third is to use the same set of tools on all problems. Because a consultancy is good at one tool, they will try and crack every problem with it. But they won't.
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