Story About Chinese Companies Learning Lean

Good article here on a group of Chinese executives coming to Canada to learn about lean (talk about a global economy).

The author says:
“Labour cost was not their main motivation, although it was still a factor. Their interest was on the other less obvious benefits. Lean, as they very well understood, is about providing the best quality product or service to the customer at the right cost and the right time, all the while creating and maintaining flexibility in meeting constantly changing customer needs.”

I would still be curious to see how “lean” the best Chinese factories are. Even if they are not concerned about labor costs primarily (as many American companies seem to be), any lessons they can learn about improving quality using lean methods will benefit all of us, as customers of Chinese products. But, it also helps make them more competitive compared to the factories we work in. What do you think?

About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology, focused on improving quality and patient safety, improving access, reducing costs, and fully engaging healthcare professionals. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.