Neglect in lean companies

Many companies do not reap the full benefit of organising work according to lean methods. That was the conclusion in an article in the daily paper Børsen on the 3rd of April. The survey behind the article pointed to the fact that management is responsible for creating a culture, which makes it meaningful to work with lean.

However the expression 'neglect' gives rise to some incorrect associations. If you compare employees in a lean project with children, who miss their kindergarten teacher, you are barking up the wrong tree. The Lean way of thinking and the team structure to match is based on precisely the right combination of adults' and the employees' expertise in production etc. with the management's decisions on objectives and volumes. If this doesn't work, it is hardly because the employees are incapable of doing what they should be doing. So - yes, making Lean work is a management responsibility.

So how does one do this - in real life? In our opinion: The implementation of lean requires a team structure to be in place. A structure with the ability to include and channel the dedication and job satisfaction that lean gives people. This applies regardless of whether it is in production, knowledge or service.

But do not introduce a team structure and lean at the same time. That is too much to take on at one timel. Work on the team structure first and then lean, in order for the organisation to be ready to move actively ahead with full focus on the responsibility and tasks in the lean methods.

Another important element in management responsibility regarding the introduction of lean is presence. As responsible executive you must be 100 % present in the implementation process. Scepticism and 'what do we do now' will occur; the plant manager must be prepared to stand up and say: 'Yes we can'.

At SCA Packaging Grenå the lean project is well under way supported by an appropriate team structure. Here are the task and result boards a lot of people use in their work with lean, supplemented by similar boards displaying what the individual teams undertake and achieve. The 'traffic' in front of the boards is a good measure of how deeply the new initiatives have penetrated into the daily work rhythm.