ABSTRACT
Lean is far more likely to be successful if guided by appropriate business leadership and clear performance targets. Business leaders must create and communicate a strong, clear vision of what lean will look like in their operations. Lean has a much better chance of becoming part of the manufacturing culture if that level of empowerment can be achieved. The role of the leader changes from directing work to be done to one of coaching others in a learning environment. There are specific business processes that must be well-executed in order for operations to have appropriate targets against which to execute. Several operational targets will lead to better business results if the targets are set differentially based on some type of product segmentation. Product segmentation can be based on total volume sold, on total dollars of sales, on variable margin, on margin contribution, or on some parameter related to strategic importance of each product to the business.
