Lean Austria

This week I had the opportunity to attend a one day seminar/company visit about organisation of production. In general it was a really interesting day. Senior management openly reported on their efforts and success regarding the implementation of lean manufacturing, i.e. the effective introduction of cellular manufacturing and teams.

The tour of the plant however was ambivalent. On attendee (an experienced plant manager of another company) very politely asked, if there were any benchmarks of the productivity per area?

With hindsight, the observed inventory may not only be caused by huge demand. The applied MRP production planning logic inevitably produces such effects, especially under changing conditions.

To prevent leaving a bad impression, I should say that neither my company nor I has any relationship with that company regarding these topics.