Hank's Story: How the Visual Workplace Answers Questions
Achieving a lean workplace is a handsome piece of work, and the results-and gains-are equally impressive. Liberated from its former burdens, the company is free to innovate and grow. This is the promise and the actual reality of a lean conversion. What enterprise would not be overjoyed to achieve it?
Yet that self-same enterprise often does not realize-and therefore does not prepare for-the erosion of those gains. Unless specific other steps are systematically undertaken, those hard-won results will deteriorate. It will take a while. Since it took 3 to 5 years to convert the production system over to lean, it can take about that long for the gains to evaporate. But it could take less, even as short as a year. Either way, evaporate they will. The heart aches, and the pocketbook weeps to see it all go away.