A Lean implementation in your business: let’s begin the journey

Why consider a Lean implementation and how will it impact your business, or more importantly, your profit margin?

Ask yourself  “Where are you now and where do you want to be?” 

This sounds like a fairly straightforward question. However, this is usually hard for leaders to answer. They usually haven’t thought about it enough to say it in a sentence.

Given a crisis, this is would be a great question. But what about if you’re in a boom? Well.

Do you want to build in more capacity (at the lowest possible cost)? Do you want to be more productive with your current business? Do you want to get the best margin from the clients you choose to take on? Do you want to be in a position to decline politely and pivot your business to the high margin clients? 

Now you might be asking yourself  “Where do I start with Lean- how do I really begin?” 

Consider what do you really want to do. Is your answer to this “To reduce operating costs. To gain customers”? These are the answers everyone provides. So what are you really after? 

Let’s answer that for you

You want to achieve a reduction in operational expenses. You want to hold your margins and strip the waste out of your operation’s expense. These are good options. Let’s make your business more viable. 

You want to:

• Draw in new and repeat customers.
• Differentiate your business from your competitors (it’s easy to get lazy and not bother with this in a boom, which leads to the next point..) 
• Maintain business on the downswing and be the one who is reliable and reputable 

 

Lean is a journey

It’s important to understand; Lean is a long term approach. It’s a journey: 

• You don’t need to do Lean and conquer it
• Lean is an ongoing cycle of improvement (the process of Lean doesn’t end)
• You just need to beat your competition, get the edge (and keep improving to stay ahead of them when they get the edge!)

So now you know what you need to do. Sounds pretty straight forward right? But did you know that as many as 50% of Lean implementations are unsuccessful due to business leaders underestimating the commitment? 

Now is where the challenge really begins. It’s all about the culture.

Want to know more? We can help.

We have programs and consultants who specialise in your Lean journey.

Part two of this article is here.

Book a discussion to see how we can help.

Check out our programs here.

Take a look at our profile of Chris Goddard, who provided the big ideas and inspiration for this article. Chris resides in New Zealand and helps businesses all over New Zealand and Australia.

Watch this conversation take place on YouTube.