Comments on Lean Blog: Toyota Thinking is Hard to Copy

Having spent 6+ years learning and implementing Le...

2007-07-09T08:17:00.000-05:00

Having spent 6+ years learning and implementing Lean, I can say that if a person believes Lean is "doing EXACTLY as you are told", that person has not been exposed to the true philosophy of Lean. He or she has only seen the portion management wanted to utilize (which would be horribly ineffectual, by the way.) It's a shame, as that person is always the one going to other workers and other companies complaining about how Lean doesn't work or respect people...

Wow, Eric, where does that cynicism come from? Do...

2007-07-09T07:25:00.000-05:00

Wow, Eric, where does that cynicism come from? Doing exactly what you're told? That's not "lean." The Lean approach values the idea of doing things a standardized way, but the employees doing the work have a hand in creating that standard. That's different than a manager telling people what to do. Employees also have a responsibility to improve the standard work -- to "do what you told yourself to do" while also figuring out how to do it better.

Now, plenty of bad managers have probably implemented "lean" as "do exactly what you're told." Lean shouldn't be oppressive. If it is, it might be L.A.M.E. ("Lean as Misguidedly Executed"), as I've called it here.

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You know..I dont believe this idea that Lean/TPS c...

2007-07-09T00:52:00.000-05:00

You know..I dont believe this idea that Lean/TPS cant be accomplished by American workers. Frankly I dont think LEAN places a value on thinking. I think it places a value on doing EXACTLY as you are told. That may be the problem with American workers, who think their own ideas are more valuable than the companies (unless properly motivated.)