Like it or not, no matter how well your lean journey is going, it’s not good enough. Just when you embrace lean and get your organization squared away, competitors from overseas or across the street will embrace lean and erase your competitive advantage. What can you do? Keep getting leaner!

I received a call recently from an official with the National Research Council of Canada. They asked me to give a presentation on lean manufacturing and lean practices. The request in itself was not unusual — until I learned that the audience would be a delegation of Chinese executives, industry leaders and university administrators. The smallest company represented had 15,000 employees.

My initial reaction was surprise. When I asked why the Chinese would be interested in lean, the response was exactly as I should have expected — they were here to study our methods to see how they could be successfully applied in their environment.

It was with some apprehension that I agreed to do the presentation. Despite every word having to be translated, the meeting went well. The visitors were attentive and took notes throughout. The address wrapped up with a discussion that shed more light on why they wanted to explore the benefits of lean. Labour cost was not their main motivation, although it was still a factor. Their interest was on the other less obvious benefits. Lean, as they very well understood, is about providing the best quality product or service to the customer at the right cost and the right time, all the while creating and maintaining flexibility in meeting constantly changing customer needs.

Even with 10 percent economic growth year after year, China has serious challenges in remaining competitive over the long term. Their economy is, at best, fragile, and growth must be carefully nurtured. They recognize that they must control their need for raw materials and energy. There is also real concern about the potential damage created by their tremendous growth and industrialization. They know that they will have to evolve to meet the increasingly customized needs of client markets. These needs cannot be met by simple mass production techniques and low wages if they want to sustain their competitive edge.

To read the rest of Larry Cot้'s article, click on the link below.

http://www.advancedmanufacturing.com/Sept04/leanJourney.htm