ABSTRACT

The ultimate goal for Lean implementation is that Lean become embedded in the culture and defines the way the organization behaves and practices every day. The Lean behaviors and habits of continuous improvement come from years of practicing the application of improvement tools with the employees taking the lead in creating improvements on the various systems of the organization. Upper management involvement goes well beyond the set-up of the Lean program. The executive level in the company should use Lean tools to demonstrate their own adoption and support of the Lean system. They need to make connections between functional leaders when value streams cross multiple boundaries. On the leadership team, various “in process” metrics can be displayed to show health. These show how well the value stream is performing against its targets. Trend line charts work well for this purpose. These trends are reviewed frequently on the leadership team.