Google Trends: lean manufacturing, toyota production system, lean production, lean enterprise
There's a new Google tool that lets you see trends in search activity over time and against other search terms. Click on the link above and you'll see that “lean manufacturing” is probably 2-3x as popular as “lean production” and both terms are much more popular than “Toyota Production System” or “lean enterprise.” I would have expected TPS to be a more popular term.
Whoa, surprise, “kaizen” is an even more popular term.
What lean terms can you find that are more popular? What random phrases can you find with similar popularity to lean? American Idol is WAAAAAY more popular, of course.
If it's encouraging, lean manufacturing is more popular than “China manufacturing“
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However, “outsourcing” vastly outdoes “lean manufacturing.”
I’m not surprised that the most hits are coming from Asian countries and Mexico.
What does this tell me? First, U.S. lean consultants should start marketing to get gigs in Asia. Second, Asian countries and Mexico are making us look like small potatoes in the manufacturing sector.
I would not use Google hits as evidence on the death of American manufacturing. Point in fact is that the US manufacturing industry is still quite strong, still producing a significant amount of output, despite sensational news accounts. Don’t give up hope, but don’t hope either – just do!