Lean as a sustainable recipe

Most companies had to come up with measures to cope with the new situation. Many companies resorted to the recipe of exerting pressure on suppliers in order to lower purchase prices. It is also understandable, but less sustainable in economic terms, that many companies are increasingly purchasing in the euro zone. Value creation, jobs, purchasing power and tax revenues are thus shifted abroad. Other companies are shifting their own value creation abroad. "However, Wendelin Wiedeking is supposed to have said when he restructured Porsche at the beginning of the 1990s: "Those who only relocate abroad for price reasons have not taken up the challenge. Many companies have increased working hours.

Lean management strengthens all competitive factors

All of the measures listed so far have the disadvantage that they can usually only be applied once and are based exclusively on the competitive factor "costs". However, there are other equally important competitive factors. These include quality, delivery performance, innovative strength, problem-solving competence and leadership performance. A truly sustainable recipe against the strength of the Swiss franc supports all of these competitive factors. Lean management is that recipe.

Costs - the glass is half full

In Switzerland, an hour's work costs more than in Romania. However, the glass is not half empty, but half full. Because we can do a lot to ensure that a lot of value is added effectively and efficiently in this expensively paid hour and that time is not wasted. This is true not only in the productive environment, but also in administrative processes that employ more people in many companies. Lean has to do with reducing or eliminating waste in all processes and procedures. Removing waste from processes increases efficiency and thus reduces costs.

How good is our IT support? Are repetitive processes automated? Do we have a good command of our IT systems? How big is the bureaucracy we have built up? Do we really need the false accuracy in mutual accounting between departments to control the company? Do we have and live standards? Do we operate multiple machines? Are we already thinking about Industry 4.0 concepts? Are we wasting costs through high changeover times or inappropriate C-parts management? Average is no longer enough today. We strive for excellence.

Quality - no compromises

In Lean Management, quality has the highest priority. No compromises are ever accepted in this respect. Freedom from disturbances, first-time-right, zero-defect principle, order and cleanliness are basic elements of the lean philosophy. Lean promotes the right attitude towards errors and the way in which errors and problems are dealt with.

Switzerland has an image abroad for high quality. We must use and preserve this. Swissness and Swiss Made are worth a lot.

Delivery performance - speed and reliability are paid for

A good delivery performance includes a short delivery time and a high delivery reliability. Lean management has a very direct effect on both aspects. Eliminating waste reduces lead times. Shorter set-up times allow smaller batch sizes with the same economic efficiency and thus lead to even shorter throughput times and, above all, to much greater flexibility and responsiveness to customer requirements. Trouble-free processes help us to meet promised deadlines.

Courier services such as DHL or UPS are showing us how it's done. Customers are willing to pay more for speed, flexibility, reliability and commitment. We have to play this card when we compete with customers in our vicinity against distant competitors or inflexible large companies from the EU.

Innovative ability - short time-to-market of high-quality products

Lean development includes eight fields of action and aims to drastically reduce the time-to-market for new products and services. Innovative strength must not be limited to the development of new products or new services (Doblin Innovation Model). New business models, new sales channels, new structures within the company, new processes and procedures, new networks or additional offers are also required. How can we strengthen our brand and make it known on the market? What can we do to retain our customers in the long term? It will always be difficult for us in Switzerland to be the cost leader, but we are well placed to gain leadership in technology, functionality, service and brand.

Problem-solving skills and leadership as core competencies

Many companies do not take the time in their daily business to tackle problems in a structured way and to solve them sustainably. They limit themselves to fighting symptoms in "fire-fighting actions". Lean management places a strong focus on solving problems sustainably and also provides effective tools for this purpose. This includes visualizing process conditions in real time so that deviations can be identified immediately and countermeasures can be initiated. In the employee CIP, employees systematically address smaller problems from day-to-day business. The PDCA cycle forms the basis for the A3 report for the sustainable solution of larger problems. In Lean projects and Lean workshops, employees are continuously trained in the structured handling of a problem. Thus, problem solving becomes a core competence in the company.

Make leadership performance a core competency as well. The key figures always directly reflect the leadership performance. The tasks of managers differ depending on their level. While the executive board is responsible for ensuring that the company has a clear strategy in addition to its vision and mission, middle management has the task of strengthening the classic competitive factors of quality, costs and delivery performance by continuously optimizing processes. Managers at the lowest level ensure compliance with established standards.

Uncompromising customer orientation

All managers have the following two tasks in common: First, to ensure uncompromising customer orientation in their area of responsibility. Here, not only the external customer must be considered, but also the existing internal customer-supplier relationships.

Those who consistently follow the lean path will reap the harvest.

relationships. And secondly, to challenge, encourage, develop and support their subordinates. "Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others" (John Francis "Jack" Welch). Multi-level shop floor management combined with appropriate visualization, Go, See & Ask, targeted mentoring and the problem solving process are powerful Lean tools that support these tasks.

Blood, sweat and tears

Many companies have recognized these sustainable advantages of lean management over all short-term measures and have started lean activities. The excellent companies started this years ago and were accordingly well prepared for the unexpected step of the SNB.

Nevertheless, it is surprising that not many more companies are jumping on the Lean bandwagon. The reasons are probably that managers shy away from the effort of subjecting their company to a Lean transformation. The effort is indeed not to be underestimated. Establishing a culture of continuous improvement is exhausting and takes a lot of time. It will never become a perpetual motion machine, but requires constant energy invested by leaders. Lean is not a temporary project, but a long-term commitment, philosophy, culture and strategy. Some employees and leaders cannot handle change and will inevitably fall by the wayside in the process.

But those who are willing to accept the challenge and consistently follow the lean path will reap the harvest. Perhaps not as quickly as by pushing down purchasing prices in the short term, but much more sustainably and effectively in the long term, because the lean approach strengthens all relevant and important competitive factors and thus prepares the company for the future and further crises.