Roberto Priolo, editor of the Lean Management Journal, explains how the publication is taking lean practitioners back to school and round the world to seek knowledge and understanding of continuous improvement.
The year has started with a bang for Lean Management Journal. The February issue sends lean practitioners back to school as articles explore different forms of training and analyse how best practice can be taught.
We learn about the Lean Academy at Airbus – a bespoke internal training system which is developing thousands of lean workers at the aircraft manufacturer’s Broughton site. It also links to an international network of Airbus academies which together ensure consistency in the way improvement is understood across the company.
But reliance on internal education structures alone can lead to missed improvement opportunities and a stagnant understanding of lean. Therefore LMJ’s exploration of multicompany and cross-sector benchmarking activities is a real eye-opener.
In the February issue Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands shares its experience of visiting paint manufacturer AkzoNobel’s Sassenheim plant. The article highlights different and valuable perspectives on common problems. It introduces the idea of multi-company collaboration in lean learning – a very successful approach in India where the Clusters Initiative is doing wonders for local SMEs, helping them accelerate lean education for their staff and fast-tracking the creation of more competitive operations.
In February readers also hear from lean guru Daniel T Jones who shares his views on the most important issues facing the lean community, from supply chains to IT to horizontal integration.
“The article introduces the idea of multi-company collaboration in lean learning – a very successful approach in India where the Clusters Initiative is doing wonders for local SMEs” – Roberto Priolo, Editor, Lean Management Journal
Looking ahead to the March issue, there’s a lot in store.
The theme will be ‘lean across borders’ – all about how multinational organisations can ensure their lean programmes are delivered in a consistent and effective way across cultures and nations. Deploying a global lean programme is no easy task. Cultural differences and HR regulation can confuse its adoption and varying speeds of progress create obstacles to ‘big picture’ improvement.
Mauro Pino, head of World Class Manufacturing at Chrysler Group, will explain how the car manufacturer has introduced Fiat’s production system in its plants and what challenges Fiat/Chrysler encounters as it tries to progress its lean journey internationally.
We will also hear from Brenton Harder and Peter Watkins, two of LMJ’s editorial board members, on the experience of implementing lean globally at Credit Suisse and GKN respectively. Logistics company Panalpina will further add to the issue by discussing its own challenges with the global roll-out of lean.
A newly introduced section in the journal called The Healthcare Watch will feature a case study from a hospital in Florence, the first in Italy to ever deploy lean. Maria Teresa Mechi will give LMJ readers insight into where the Trust is in trying to infect other hospitals around Tuscany with news of the benefits it has gained through the adoption of lean practices.
We’ll also analyse a lean programme in a call centre and travel down under, to look at how Australian companies have been implementing the methodology.
The LMJ Annual Conference will take place on May 21-22 in Birmingham. I encourage all practitioners interested in learning more about lean and challenging what they already know about using it to take part in the event.
Finally, a tempting promotion is now available to all readers of The Manufacturer. Subscribe to Lean Management Journal and receive a complimentary Priority Pass card which grants you free access to airport lounges around the world. More information available at this address.
2013 will be a big year for the journal – subscribe today and see for yourself!
To find out more about Lean Management Journal visit www.leanmj.com or email the Editor: [email protected]
