One of the biggest take-aways from my last business was the understanding that building a "Lean" continuous improvement culture is a key ingredient for long-term success.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1131"]<img alt="" src="http://www.symbolbv.com/bestanden/Images%20UK/Lean%20Principles.png" width="1131" height="673" /> Source: symbolbv.com[/caption]

What has become known as the <em>Lean</em> movement developed out of Deming's continuous improvement management philosophies - based on the <em>PDCA cycle</em> (<strong>P</strong>lan what you are going to do, <strong>D</strong>o it, accurately <strong>C</strong>heck how it went using metrics and take <strong>A</strong>ctions to improve the results the next time you plan).

Deming's ideas were wholeheartedly adopted by the Japanese manufacturing industry in the 1950s, and further developed since. The management processes known as <em>The Toyota Way</em> are the most well known of these.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="507"]<img alt="" src="http://n-tono-a-sunshine.typepad.com/.a/6a00e55190509588340120a8d3886d970b-800wi" width="507" height="309" /> Source: Tono Blog[/caption]

Waste reduction is a major theme, and has particular application in manufacturing businesses and any other business that holds considerable inventory.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="291"]<img alt="" src="http://www.leaningforward.co.uk/images/7wastes2.jpg" width="291" height="175" /> Source: leaningforward.co.uk[/caption]

The Toyota Way encourages approaches such as continuous improvement philosophy (kaizen), systematically reducing waste, encouraging continuous flow in work processes (heijunka) and avoiding overstocking by letting demand generate it's own supply (kanban). These ideas were further developed and adapted to a western audience under the term "Lean".

My own experiences with Lean were very positive. The benefits were everywhere to be seen; reduced costs, improved quality and, probably most importantly, an engaged and <em>caring</em> workforce.
<blockquote>to me, that is what continuous improvement is all about.
iN ONE WORD: <strong>Care</strong>.</blockquote>
Anything is possible you can build a business full of committed people who genuinely care; about each other, about their own development and growth, about making customers happy, and about doing things "right". It is the antithesis of the Australian "she'll be right, mate" approach.

One of the best things I did was to enrol all my staff in a formal "Lean Manufacturing" course. This was facilitated by an external coach, who over an 18-month period helped to transform our approach to work. Talk about fostering a "can-do" attitude, I saw formerly disengaged workers come alive with ideas that made their jobs easier, quicker and with better quality results. 

Critical to our success was having a great coach - someone who lived and breathed it. Our coach, Carlos Aguirre, was <em>simply awesome</em>. Carlos had a generous and caring approach, but was extremely challenging and hard on lazy thinking. Almost all of our staff (myself included) had differences of opinion with him during the course, but by the end of it ... we just understood.

All of our opposition to ideas within Lean were based on personal bias or sentimentalism about how we wished things were. Once we had faced the brutal facts we realised there was no other way than to strive to be the best, otherwise our customers would shop elsewhere and our jobs would move overseas.
<blockquote>If there is ever going to be a renaissance in the Australian manufacturing, Lean is the only way.</blockquote>
My view is that irrespective of your industry, there is a lot to be learned from Lean. The power of Lean is that it is a philosophy that values individual and group creativity, hates waste and encourages people and organisations to grow. Who wouldn't want a workplace like that?