Leading Lean: Right Tool, Right Problem, Right Thinking
Lean success at companies today is not hindered by a lack of tools, nor the capability of the tools they have. What is really behind companies that succeed at sustained lean implementation is the level of thinking driven by lean principles and rules. Thinking is powerful in changing an organization. Thinking drives behaviors. Behaviors drive action. Action drives results. No tool can fix poor thinking.
To illustrate this point, consider the kanban card, a major tool in many lean transformation efforts since the 1980s. The concept is pretty simple. A downstream process uses parts from an upstream process. As each part is used, a kanban card is removed and sent back to the upstream process. When a predetermined number of cards accumulates at that upstream process, production replenishes the stock used by the downstream process.