Lean is a strategic initiative that requires at least three to five years for any organization of size. It is a lifestyle change, not a diet.
That lesson came the hard way for the bosses of the head of lean implementation at a large European manufacturing and engineering organization. Contrary to his advice, senior executives just agreed to purchase the services of a consulting firm to implement lean.
What they bought were a series of quick and simple kaizen events in which the participants would do A3 problem-solving, and the consultants guaranteed quick financial results. The executives were assured that it would require no burden on their part, just verbal and financial support (for the consultants) and the consultants would handle everything else.
These executives were led to believe that they would then be "doing lean," Toyota Production System and all that good stuff.
Quick and easy solution = quick and easy sell. Unfortunately, more and more executives are being duped into what is essentially a scam.
