En cette période de temps difficile pour les entreprises manufacturières, les « coach » et consultant en « Lean » et en amélioration continue se doivent d’aller au front et continuer à porter voix à la culture « Lean ». L’objectif ultime du « Lean Thinking » est créé de la valeur dans les sociétés à l’aide d’une vision à long terme. Il ne faut pas que les entreprises prennent des actions à court terme face à la possible récession qui risque de frapper nos voisins du sud.
Voici un petit résumé de l’appel à tous de Jim Womack :
“I think of these gyrations as another form of mura, the term used by lean thinkers to describe short-term variations in demand not caused by a change in the long-term desires of the consumer. I call them the “big mura” in contrast to the “little mura” seen in most value streams every day when lagging information flows, big batches, and process instability cause “bull whip” effects all the way up each stream.The total amount of inventories needed to support a given amount of sales to end customers has been falling and the recession of 2001 was milder than many expected it to be. But we still have gyrations in the economy and as I write it appears that we are heading into another, beginning in North America. But what will actually be happening in most cases is that companies will simply be creating less value with proportionally fewer people.Then, when the recession is over and orders surge, they will rehire employees to behave just as they did previously. I wish I could count on all managers to behave like lean managers. I am therefore hoping that members of the lean community will speak out loudly whenever they see activities being labeled as lean that are only mean.And I would love to hear about positive examples of organizations with lean management that are taking the long view by finding ways to protect employees in the current downturn while laying the ground work for success in the next upturn.”
