|
By Larry Cote, President Lean Advisors Inc.
Part 1 of 3
At Lean Advisors, we have been involved with training, adapting and applying Lean since close to its' inception and prior to that using Deming, JIT and the other concepts
or theories that were very prevalent in the 80s and 90s. My career has given me the opportunity to 'see' Lean at work in 100s of organization/companies in a variety of environments including our earlier implementations in manufacturing and then as we evolved (and improved the concept) we adapted it to the service type industries such as healthcare, government, and education.
 Lean (the word) has been around for more than a decade and a half. Every organization, no matter what sector, has one goal 'to do more with what they have and do it better, faster and less cost each and every day'. This goal or vision/direction is admirable and certainly is difficult to argue with, no matter what industry you are in. The onus falls on the leadership to make sure their group succeeds at being the very best. Their challenge, once they take on the role of leader, is not to understand their goal but figure out how to actually succeed in their unique culture and environment. In some ways the goal is easy to identify and communicate but how to accomplish it is the critical decision they must make. They must rely on their past experience, and the knowledge they have gained over their years of experience, and of course listening to others they trust, to determine the path to success. Leaders are inundated with ideas, concepts, programs, and solutions solicited by internal and external 'experts' who all have the 'solution' and will make their journey to success happen. Once they have collected all the ideas and options, the leader then must rely on his/her own knowledge and expertise to make the right decision on how the organization will move forward. Read More... | 
