Lean Guys, Not Marketing Guys?

Concrete Heads offer real world lean practice – Manufacturing Computer Solutions news article

I know the British sense of humor is different…. and I get the reference to the term…. but I'm not sure if it's smart for a group of lean consultants to call themselves the “Concrete Heads.”

If you're not familiar, the term “Concrete Head” usually refers to someone who can't (or won't) change from their old ways to lean ways.

For example, “The plant superintendent at my old GM plant sure was a ‘concrete head'.” And he was.

But, anyway, it's strange that the consultants would adopt that name. That's like a group of IT consultants calling themselves “Lousy Coders, Inc.” (or maybe there's a better analogy).

Their press release says:

“Another small lean consultancy, dubbed Concrete Heads (the term of endearment evidently reserved by Japanese aficionados of lean concepts for Westerners who fail to comprehend them) has been set up in the UK.”

So, they understand that “Concrete Head” is a negative term, but they use it anyway. Hmmm, interesting.