Participants from manufacturing companies throughout the United States and Canada gained insights about lean concepts and application during the AME Southeast Region “Building Bridges” conference in Charleston, SC. “The conference organizers promised personal
attention, plenty of networking opportunities, and a broad spectrum of knowledge would be delivered, and they came through on the promise,” said Gregg Miner, president and COO of Score Business Systems.

Inventory turnover, widely used as a measure of “leanness,” has been tracked for at least 15 years for 1300 global companies. Findings reveal erratic performance and, in recent years, poor results — pointing to weak support in the greater organization. Part of what is needed to get lean back on track involves the human resources organization and its training function. A primary aim is to re-direct lean in terms of its strategic purpose: providing flexibly quick response to customer demand along the value chain. Presenting lean in that customer-focused way paves the way to more effective external collaborations in distribution pipelines. HR can, in addition, help redress four issues that impact lean operationally: 1) a trend away from employee engagement in data-based continuous problem-solving; 2) insufficient job rotation to maintain skills in a cross-trained work force; 3) over-control of lean, with stifling effects on its inherent capacity for self-management; and 4) in performance management, failure to capture the full benefits of team-based peer pressure, especially in lean’s ideal organizational form, the work cell.

How do firms succeed in the face of great rivalry and in uncertain times? Improve, innovate, and invent faster, better, and with more certainty than competitors. Do this across the spectrum of determining what markets need from you, designing products and services to satisfy those needs, and creating systems to deliver those items effectively, and you grab whatever business is available in tough times and score crushing wins in good ones. The real challenge is creating a broad-based capacity for discovery across disciplines and among all ranks. Author Steven J. Spear offers examples of how this is accomplished.