Lose the semantics – improvement is what matters

Lean is one of a number of improvement methodologies, based on best practice, that have been presented and promoted in recent business and management literature. Others include Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, Business Process Reengineering (BPR), Just In Time (JIT),  Theory of Constraints (TOC), Kaizen and agile, to name just a few. They all have common aims (minimising waste and resources while improving customer satisfaction and financial results) and common origins (the quality evolution in Japan after the Second World War). They all represent ways of achieving more swift and even flow (Schmenner and Swink, 1998) although with varying emphasis. Most improvement methodologies are both complementary and competitive to Lean. They are complementary in the sense that they may be implemented alongside Lean and are competitive in the sense that they compete with Lean in the market for process improvement methodologies.

In this article for example agile is promoted and lean is misrepresented as having served Dell poorly leading them to outsource to excess and to sacrifice their core competencies.

https://www.business2community.com/marketing/agile-marketing-series-lean-manufacturing-and-the-theory-of-capabilities-0462702?goback=%2Egde_4647638_member_233294967 

The attempt to position these improvement methodologies as, in some way, radically different to each other, is little more than distracting semantics. Organisations that have successfully transformed themselves through improvement should be admired and studied with an open mind whatever labels they have used to. For an in-depth insight into on such organisation’s transformation journey, the Chairman of S A Partners, Professor Peter Hines, recently hosted a free of charge webinar at the end of this month (April 2013).

Professor Hines has spent a lifetime exploring improvement journeys in an impressive range of organisational contexts. His research background means that he has a highly systematic approach to synthesising what he has learned over time. This is reflected in the way he presents the improvement stories of the some of the companies he has worked alongside.