As is the case with any lean implementation in a traditional environment, culture change is the most difficult obstacle to success. A company can hire consultants, develop work teams, and begin lean initiatives, but if it only talks the talk, the initiative soon becomes just talk.

The transformation to a lean enterprise isn’t easy. Senior management must lead the process while being driven by the employees. Goals must be established up front, so everyone is working toward the same goals. The difficult part is that the lean initiative isn’t like algebra; it’s the geometry you always tried to avoid.

Consider the following:

Our favorite algebra equation is: X+Y=Z

The area of a triangle is: ½ B x H

Think of algebra as traditional corporate metrics—apparently simple, straightforward, industry-accepted, black-and-white. Terms such as absorption, capacity, and cycle time should come to mind. In this environment, we set goals that require machines to run constantly to absorb minutes, regardless of the fact that needed product cannot be run on those machines. This translates into running products that aren’t needed, consuming valuable material and increasing finished-goods inventory to reduce variances in metrics.

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