The point of LEAN

Zurich Global Corporate UK and HMRC share their insights on the continuing popularity of Lean.

Through some of the most conspicuous modern success stories, including Tesco, it has also been reaffirmed that the drive for efficiency isn’t the whole story. Greater efficiency has led to greater productivity, but also greater clarity of purpose. When properly applied, Lean-thinking tears down traditional hierarchies and puts supplier organisations at the command of the customer. The result is a cultural shift that is not only better for customers, but also more profi table for suppliers and more enriching for the workforce.

But this kind of change cannot be achieved overnight. While many organisations have achieved some early successes through Lean, the majority still struggle to create Lean programmes that sustain their initial momentum. Is it time for a new sense of purpose? Never since the term ‘Lean’ was first used in a book called ‘The machine that changed the world’ in 1990 has it been more widely discussed. One recent Google search found two million entries for ‘Lean manufacturing’, 405,000 entries for ‘Lean thinking’, and 602,000 entries for ‘Lean Management’.

This article exhibits display respondents’ views about how Lean is more than just a cost cutting exercise for manufacturers and how Lean thinking impacts product development, supply chain and customer relations.

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