A quarter of a century ago, Lean Management achieved its international breakthrough. Lean methods currently employed in approximately 95 percent of industrial companies. And successfully so: In more than 90 percent of companies, this management approach had a positive effect, resulting in significantly improved competitiveness. This are the results of the study “25 years of Lean Management”. For this investigation, the Staufen business consultancy, in cooperation with TU Darmstadt, has interviewed around 1,350 senior managers from German industrial companies. “Over the last 25 years, Lean Management has revolutionized the work in German factories”; Wilhelm Goschy, Staufen AG Executive Board Member looks back. “The overwhelming readiness of industrial managers to answer our questions and to describe their experiences with Lean Management is a clear indication that Lean not only has a notable past, but also plenty of future.” While the focus in the early 1990s had been the replacement of traditional mass production with modern and flexible production methods modelled on the Toyota production system, Lean Management has now become the essential basis for the continuous improvement and transformation of the entire company. This reflects the results of the study: In more than a quarter of industrial companies, Lean principles already consistently applied to indirect areas as well, and in some companies have already become essential components of corporate strategy and organization. The trailblazer sector in terms of Lean in Germany is the automotive industry. In almost four in ten companies in that sector, Lean Management has not only prevailed in production, but also in other corporate areas. Machine and plant engineering as well as the electrical industry have so far greatly benefited from the implementation of Lean Management production and leadership methods. In the judgement of senior executives interviewed, they rank directly behind automotive companies. Prof. Dr.-Ing Joachim Metternich of the TU Darmstadt Institute of Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools (PTW) provided scientific support for the study. The starting point of the investigation was the book “The Machine that Changed the World”, which, 25 years ago, had originally prompted the international breakthrough of Lean Management. “There had been numerous attempts long before the 1990s to make industrial work more efficient and more effective. But only the seminal publication by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones and Daniel Roos gave rise to a management culture that is justified in its claim to have caused a lasting change in the patterns of thinking in factory halls,”, Staufen Executive Board Member Goschy explains. “For that reason, I am particularly delighted to be able to welcome Daniel T. Jones, one of its authors, as one of the speakers at our “BestPractice Day 2016” Lean congress in July.” Request a copy of the study ”25 years of Lean Management“ (in German) at the following contact: Kathrin Kurz, k.kurz@staufen.ag BestPractice Day 2016: Europe’s leading Lean Management congress At the BestPractice Day 2016 to be held from 6th to 7th July 2016 in Darmstadt, companies and leading Lean Management experts will report on their experiences on the road to developing successful value creation systems. A key focus for this year: 25 years of Lean. For more information about the event, please go to:
http://www.best-practice-day.com Press release (.pdf) Press release (.rtf) Download the press graphics (in German)
