Horses for courses with Lean Manufacturing

While at my son's football training tonight, I got talking to one of the grandads who was a shop-floor supervisor in an SME manufacturer.

He was talking about the NVQ training he was doing in Lean Manufacturing at work and how it all related to the big automated car manufacturers and was not relevant to his company.

This is such a common story where trainers provide generic and often inappropriate training, particularly where government funding is involved and 'bums on seats' means money.

The truth is that introducing some Lean techniques can be incredibly profitable for this type of company, if they are introduced by a consultant/trainer who takes the time to understand the business and its needs.

Someone I have aways admired for his ability to do this is Andrew Nicholson of Nicholson Consultancy. Take a look at Andrew's new blog.