The challenges of Lean implementation

Despite Lean's enormous popularity, the results for the successful implementation of the methodology are, at best, irregular. What are the challenges, why are companies failing to achieve Lean success?

The focus on tools that do not focus on creating a culture of trust and transparency, will most likely make those tools fail. Training employees through just a few training sessions, then identifying losses and understanding the root causes, generating ideas on how to reduce or eliminate them, is a significant first step toward changing the workplace culture.

Resistance and rejection also create barriers in the way of change and that is essential for a transformation, where staff believe that the methodology is just another project that will eventually be abandoned. It takes time to learn the theories and concepts needed to sustain the transition. Working with employees, involving employees to eliminate unnecessary work, will result in a better understanding between the employee and the superior, more confidence in the methodology and much lower resilience.

Without the full support of management, efforts will never reach their full potential. Leaders must be steadfast in their pursuit of continuous implementation and improvement. Supporting top management must turn into a total commitment to Lean theories, concepts and tools, and the commitment must be cascaded to all employees of the company.

It is perceived that there is an end to this, but the charm of Lean is that it is never complete, it is a journey, not a destination. It is always focused on learning, sharing and continuous improvement. Teams will often step off the accelerator when they get results and they do not set new goals.

Each of these elements can represent a distinct challenge that must be overcome in order to achieve a truly efficient Lean production system. Understanding these issues is a key element in developing your own implementation plan.