The Hollow American Economy

[Erik Nikkanen]

Mr Nikkanen - While much of your comment is true, your statement "Lean has not made any company grow and prosper" is simply not true. Hundreds - perhaps thousands - of companies are growing and prospering as a result of lean.

My point was that they are not succeeding because of Lean. A company must have some product or service that customers want. Lean just helps reduce their costs. No amount of Lean will help a company that does not supply a need.

Toyota did not become successful because of Lean. It became successful because of the reliable design of their cars which customers were willing to pay a premium for.

Now if you want to attribute all their successful efforts to Lean, then it becomes a circular argument.

Business success is determined by a lot of complicated variables. Less efficient companies can succeed because they come out with better products and the right time, which could be more by luck than by careful planning. Efficient companies can flounder because they did not develop products fast enough which the market wanted.

There is no recipe for running a successful business. Lean can be very helpful but if people are trying to tell people that Lean is the way to success, I think that is wrong on many levels.

Just because companies are doing well and they have been working on a Lean approach does not mean that they will be successful in the Future. Toyota lost money last year. Is that also because of Lean?

The book, "Good to Great" implied that there were a few companies, that showed above average results for a long time, had some kind of common characteristics that resulted in their Greatness. A few years after the book, most of those companies were out of business, disgraced or had severe problems.

Business is complicated and no simple plan will guarantee anything. If a company spends too much effort on Lean, they may be missing issues that are much more important to their businesses.

Sorry but I still think my statement is still valid.

[gordo]

A couple of quick responses to some of the posts here:
Gordo - Yes Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans did invent an incandescent bulb and yes they sold the patent to Edison. However, a number of people pre-dated them (Jobard in 1838, de Changy in 1856, Starr in 1845 and Swan in 1860) in developing incandescent bulbs and the design they sold to Edison was not commercially viable. The filament was the key and the bulb that went into widespread production had a filament entirely of Edison's invention. That said, Woodward and Evans certainly advanced the state of the art and are rightfully among Canada's finest inventors.

My correction was to your statement: "Thomas Edison came up with the idea of a light bulb..."

Which is incorrect as you've now further clarified. I only made the point because, from a Canadian perspective, IMHO, it reflected an all too common attitude expressed by our friends south of the border that often raises the hackles of your friends around the world.

best, gordo

[mattf]

Thanks, David, for posting my article and for your supportive comments.

Bill:

Thanks for coming over and supporting your article. I thought of it as a great read and an important insight into the manufacturing world today. The struggle for short term gains and longevity within the market is constant. Sadly, many companies out there do not have the capacity to understand anything other then the short term. Hopefully the uptick of the forum will pickup with more input from many lean leaders.