Sunday 25 January 2009

Works Management Magazine Jan '09

Annie Gregory interviewed me for the January '09 edition of Works Management Magazine on the topic of the next steps for Lean. Here is the intro to the piece from Annie:

"Joined-up thinking

Once the basics are in place, what’s the next logical step for lean?
As Annie Gregory discovers, the lean path runs best when it heads
straight for your customers’ door"

In the article I was quoted as being a committed advocate of pinning lean’s second steps to the voice of the customer (VOC). “Especially in difficult times, the pursuit of lean should mean more than just removing waste. Pockets of lean good practice need to extend to the customer, so that not only is the stream focused on delivering the right value but that customer sees your value stream as being better than their other choices.”

I also point out that it is relatively easy to copy products but incredibly difficult to emulate the things that make a value stream special.

Click on the link to find a PDF copy of the mazazine and read the full article.