Top ten ways to make money out of lean

Here are the top ten ways to make money out of lean, based on a very unscientific and incomplete survey of several sources.

This may be of use to you but I’m more of a Theory Y (or even Z) man myself! Theory Z being

William Ouchi studied management practices in the United States and Japan and developed Theory Z. Theory Z combines elements of both U.S. and Japanese management styles and is sometimes called Japanese Management. It assumes that the best management style involves employees at all levels of the organization. Specific characteristics included in Theory Z are long-term employment, less specialized career paths, informal control, group decision making, and concern for the individual rises above work-related issues. This theory satisfies both lower order and higher order needs.

Looking out for employees’ well being satisfies the lower-level needs. Incorporating group processes in decision making satisfy middle-level needs and encouraging employees to take responsibility for their work and decisions satisfy higher-level needs. Many firms are increasing productivity by placing more emphasis on group decision-making and teams. Firms are also showing more concern for family-related issues like childcare, flexible work schedules, and telecommuting.

So then, here it is:

1. work in healthcare
2. live in eastern Europe
3. work for a large company
4. provide proof of metric improvement (see point 10)
5. focus on leadership and culture change
6. understand lean accounting
7. aim for middle to upper-middle management level positions
8. have customer focused supply chain expertise
9. have distribution and warehousing expertise
10. keep a weekly diary or log of your lean accomplishments and be prepared to sell your achievements to prospective employers