Lessons from a Lean Consultant

5. Operator and Supervisor Involvement

Lean manufacturing has been praised as the saving grace that can bring a business to world-class status. But the truth is that it does not come easy. As a consultant, I try to guide my clients along the path of least resistance, but resistance comes at every level. Operators and production supervisors enjoy their established routines and don’t want to change them.

We all tend to resist change. For example, commuters establish certain driving patterns to and from work, and typically they follow the same route every day unless they have errands. Drivers often choose a highway as their regular route because of its higher speed limit. If there is an accident and traffic begins to back up, drivers realize that ...