Lean for the Long Term Sustainment is a Myth, Transformation is Reality

Total Business Thinking Required
Leaders at Every Level
The Language Is Important
Learning the Language
Aligning Lean Speak with the Business Speak
Bilingual Language of Business
Your Company?

How Lean Fails
TPS outside of Toyota
CEO Transition and Change
Focus on the Business Model
So What Is a Lean Management System?
Your Company?

Top 10 Contributors to Failure
Top 10 Failure Modes Discussion
Takeaways
Endnotes

Achieving Alignment
How Lean Practitioners and Business Executives Can Communicate
Lean Practitioner Communication Guidelines
Upper Management Communication Guidelines
Common Ground
Top Management’s Job
Setting Long-Term Goals
Policy Deployment Using Catchball Communications
Lean Management System
Takeaways

What the Board Should Know about Lean
Purpose, Authority, and Responsibility of the Board of Directors
So What Do We Want the Board to Do?
Organizational Alignment
Does the Board Set the Company Culture?
Extinction Is an Option
What a Lean Strategy Does
Amalgam Business Context
Takeaway Questions to Consider for Your Company
NCR Timeline

Using Your Lean Culture to Achieve the CEO’s Goals
Worker Engagement
Lean Culture and the CEO’s Strategy
Ford Motor Company
Hillenbrand, Inc
Autoliv
Toyota
Lean Measures Turn into Financial Measures
Management Questions about Continuous Improvement Projects
William Baker’s Experience
Helping Upper Management Achieve Lean for the Long Term
Company Strategy
Mentoring People
Customers
Growth
Financial
Suppliers
Culture
Endnotes

As a Lean Practitioner, What Your CEO Wants You to Know
Introduction
Identify the Customer Segments and Their Characteristics
Customer Value and Demand
Scope the Required Infrastructure
Describe the Future State and Actions to Get There
Results
Takeaways

Lean across the Organization
Bridge to Breakthrough Opportunities
Transforming Marketing and Sales
Streamline Operations and Reduce Overall Footprint
Strengthen Product Development Capabilities
Takeaways

Building Your Plan
Roadmap to Lean Success
Key Drivers of Lean for the Long Term
1. Leadership
Leadership Team
Changing Leadership Trends
2. Focus on the Business Model
3. Lean across the Organization
The Lean Journey—Understanding It’s a Long Journey and There Will Be Culture Change for All
Phase 1: Use of Continuous Improvement Tools and Systems
Phase 2: Lean Management System
Phase 2: Expand Lean and Involve the Entire Organization
Phase 3: Involving the Board of Directors
4. Consistent Communications
5. Lean Infrastructure
Lean Staffing Organization
Insertion of the Lean Practitioner into the Business
6. Development of Culture
Understanding It’s a Long Journey and There Will Be Culture Change for All
Organizational Learning in the Culture
Time Allocation—Your Most Precious Resource
7. Lean Strategy and Interfacing with the Board of Directors
Framing Your Plan
Flexibility Is Required
Checklists
Checklist for Building Your Plan: Lean Practitioner
Checklist for Building Your Plan: Upper Management
Checklist for Building Your Plan: Board of Directors

Index

Biography

William H. Baker Jr., Kenneth Rolfes

Lean for the Long Term is one of the only books that presents Lean as a comprehensive business model and not just a set of tools in a toolbox. An engaging read that will help any company maximize its full business potential. It is a must-read for business leaders, C-suite executives, and board members.
—Luke Faulstick, Co-Owner, President, and CEO, PPI

Despite indisputable potential to transform any organization to great, most Lean transformations fail to get companies to their true potential. Even fewer are able to sustain world-class performance and continuing improvement for the long term. What we know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that leadership matters, and it really matters to Lean movements. Baker and Rolfes take the reader through a myriad of thoughtful analysis and recommendations on how to successfully transform an organization and its leadership, and keep it on a perpetual cycle of improvement.
—Dan McDonnell, VP Integrated Supply Chain, Ingersoll Rand

Finally, we see a book making the connection between what sometimes looks to be two different worlds in the business environment:, the strategy and execution/tactics. This is a topic that has not been openly discussed but definitely a vital one for the long run. A must-read for Lean practitioners, executives, and board members interested in how to address the differences in approach to set the foundation for a sustained Lean business implementation and create value in their businesses.
—Mauro G Gonzalez, Sr. Operations Manager, Littelfuse Inc.

Lean for the Long Term goes beyond the existing literature on Lean tools and philosophy to describe how to create a Lean transformation that is sustainable across the entire organization for the long haul. Of particular note are the discussions on why transformations fail, and implementation strategies from a variety of perspectives, such as CEO, board member, and Lean practitioner.
—Kevin Meyer, Co-Founder, Gemba Academy

A fine review of our Lean journey seen through the eyes of two execs who lived it. Together they cover the operating fundamentals supporting Lean, as well as great illustrations from Lean pioneers.
—Patricia E. Moody, Author and Manufacturing and Supply Management Consultant

This book offers valuable insight to use Lean as a management strategy where it can create a value culture that customers are willing to pay for. Lean is about honoring people, customers, and processes. This book is a must-have for anyone wanting to drive an organization through performance.
—Dale Crownover, President /CEO, Texas Nameplate Company, and Two-Time Winner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award