Going Lean: How the Best Companies Apply Lean Manufacturing Principles to Shatter Uncertainty, Drive Innovation, and Maximize Profits

280 Pages·2008·1.08 MB·English

by  Stephen A. Ruffa

Going Lean
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Going Lean
How the Best Companies
Apply Lean Manufacturing Principles
to Shatter Uncertainty, Drive Innovation,
and Maximize Profi ts
Stephen A. Ruffa
American Management Association
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Tab l e o f Con ten t s
Permissions vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Solving the Mystery of Success 1
PART I FROM CRISIS TO EXCELLENCE 9
1 Awash in Chaos! 11
2 Shat ering the Illusion of Stability 29
3 Creating a Roadmap for Change 46
4 A New System of Management 64
PART II THE FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS 79
5 Leading through Measurement 81
6 From Supply Chains to Value Streams 102
7 Leveling Process Variation 123
8 To Push or to Pull? 145
PART III IMPLEMENTING LEAN DYNAMICS 163
9 A Plan for Action 165
10 Structuring the Transformation 182
11 Making Lean Dynamics Succeed 196
12 Conquering the Crisis 205
Appendix: Constructing the Value Curve 213
Glossary 219
Notes 227
Index 257
About the Author 265
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Perm i s s ions
GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS are made to the following for
their permission to print quotations, data, or excerpts:
Garrity Tool Company Southwest Airlines
Hibbet Sports T e Washington Post
John Wiley & Sons Ward’s Automotive Group
Retailing Today
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Acknow ledgments
HE PREMISE OF THIS BOOK—that corporations everywhere can
Tinnovate and sustain excellence in the midst of severe, dynamic cir-
cumstances—might seem hard for some to accept. I, too, was startled
when I f rst stumbled across this phenomenon—a measurable reality
within a small but growing number of corporations. Great credit, there-
fore, must go to the ingenuity and perseverance of those at the Toyota
Motor Company, Wal-M art, and Southwest Airlines—f rms whose
powerful examples made this book possible. Recognition must also go
to Hibbet Sports, and the Garrity Tool Company—two f rms whose
examples show the principles of lean dynamics in small, growing busi-
nesses. Special thanks to Marilee McInnis at Southwest Airlines; Joy
McCord, at Hibbet Sports; and Don Garrity, John Entwistle, and Ryan
De Anda at Garrity Tool Company for the information and insights they
provided into the workings of their companies.
I must recognize those whose research, demonstrations, and writ-
ings opened the doors to new ways of thinking about business manage-
ment and set the stage for this project—from W. Edwards Deming, Peter
Drucker, and Genichi Taguchi, to Michael Hammer, Peter Senge, Jack
Welch, and many others. Particular credit goes to Alfred Sloan, the bril-
liant business leader whose writings provided the background and data
that supported my method for analyzing corporations’ dynamic value
creation. I am thankful for the ef orts of those who introduced and dem-
onstrated the concepts of lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, Reengineer-
ing, system dynamics, and other management disciplines, along with
the insights gained from those who applied these methods—both the
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