I have something else to add to my earlier post on the state of lean through the eyes of an Industry Week survey. My point is this: we don't know what to call this stuff, and at the same time, we spend too much energy trying to rename it.
I'll be straight: I think when John Krafcik coined the term “lean,” it was a mistake. I couldn't have done any better, but lean is all about LESS, when lean is about less of some things and more of others. Because of the connotation of the word takes us down the road of less people, less other stuff, it is often misunderstood and misapplied. That being said, it's what we've had for almost 20 years. It's not realistic to think that all of industry will come together and make a uniform AND simple decision to change the word.
When someone asked me when we were starting the Lean Learning Center why we didn't use a different term, considering how many bad versions of lean were out there, and my response was that it is more important to shift the understanding of lean to something more productive.
I don't mind a little disharmony in what terms we use. My big problem is making up new ones, such as Lean Sigma and the latest one I heard, “Kai-Sigma” which is some play on combining kaizen and six sigma. That one actually got me mad. Let's focus on ideas, not words. OK, end rant, on to more productive things.
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