- Falling behind your competition in delivering product to customers quickly?
- Taking too long to get to market with new products?
- Overly complex - has too many people struggling to get everything done?
- Not stretching enough to use technology and the Internet effectively?
- Tying up capital in inventory while still not serving the customer well?
- Having difficulty deciding between core competencies to keep in-house and what to outsource?
- Still treating suppliers as adversaries, not taking advantage of their expertise?
How Lean is your Enterprise?
Rate your company by completing the table below. Use this scale:
- 5 Very lean - Innovator, across all industries
- 4 Above average
- 3 Average - Some lean techniques, but a follower rather than a leader
- 2 Below average
- 1 Poor - Little or no evidence of lean initiatives.
Example
The spider chart below shows a company with strong order fulfillment and supply chain, but weak contact with customers and product development.
| "In the late summer, Lloyd Ward, chairman and CEO of Maytag, that old-economy
icon in Newton, Iowa, set off on a corporate pilgrimage to Round Rock, Texas,
home of that new-economy icon, Dell Computer. They talked about speed and
flexibility, and how to get a corporate culture to shift from problems to
possibilities. They discussed the Internet, supply chains, and how to fill
an order in five days….It has a strong brand name - remember the Maytag
repairman?-and wonderful appliances. But those appliances can take half a
decade to develop - an Ice Age in the Internet era. Lately it has missed
some important changes in its markets."
- Can Michael Dell Escape the Box?, Fortune, October 16, 2000 |
If you want help interpreting your assessment, click here.