Lean Misconceptions

Cordell Hensley started his career in the U.S.M.C. as a helicopter mechanic and crew chief. After 11 years of working with TPM, 5S, visualization, standardized work and many other Lean tools he left the Marines & moved to the UK, where he joined Toyota in their engine factory in Deeside in North Wales as a Group Leader in production control. He began identifying a culture where ideas could be trialled and learning took place continually.After spending 8 years in manufacturing, working in automotive, returnable pallets, electrical steel and finally potato chips, culminating with the establishment of the logistics function in PepsiCo’s Skelmersdale UK crisp factory, he left to become a consultant. Cordell has been providing continuous improvement consulting for industrial and transactional organisations for 8 years. He’s worked in Automotive, Food, Light & Heavy Industrial Goods, FMCG, Pharma, Defence, Machine Shops, Aerospace MRO, Construction, Investment Banking, Call Centers, & Higher Education. Cordell obtained a BSc in Business Management from the University of Phoenix in 2007, A Professional Certificate in Project Management from UoP in 2008 and an MBA from Manchester Business School in 2012. He continues to support the MBS Global MBA with final project supervision. When not working, Cordell enjoys sailing, chess, reading and the occasional pro-bono consulting engagement with local charities through the Cranfield Trust. He lives on the Wirral peninsula near Liverpool in the UK with his wife and 2 daughters.

• Preface; Chapter 1: Misconceptions; Chapter 2: Why And How Do Companies Start Doing Continuous Improvement (CI) Activities?; Chapter 3: Where Should We Focus; Chapter 4: A Brief History Of Lean; Chapter 5 Dynamic Organizations; Chapter 6: The Principles Within Lean; Chapter 7: Making Problems Obvious; Chapter 8: Solving Problems; Chapter 9: Share; Chapter 10: Show; Chapter 11: What Next?; Appendix; Bibliography

"Many, many companies either fail with their Lean effort, or at least fail to achieve their desires. Yet the really good exponents continue to thrive, and the more others try to copy them, the bigger the gap seems to get. Many authors have covered this, but many seem to ‘miss the mark" as they still focus on tools, often offering new ‘silver bullets’. Others focus on avoiding tools, focusing instead on Principles / Systems Thinking, etc. Cordell weaves a thread between these two camps, not seeking to elevate or undermine either, but instead highlighting the importance of an organisation's willingness to ‘learn’ as the real issue. He tells us that we should call problems, problems (contrary to fashionable thinking) and use the solving of these problems to actually learn something valuable. He tells us that business leaders need to become ‘coaches’ to help their people do this, and to share and build on this learning continually. And he provides some sounds advice on how to go about doing this. Cordell makes a compelling and powerful case about how we should all remember our role as ‘learners’ in life. Business leaders who want to succeed in improving their business, irrespective of whether or not they have a ‘Lean programme’ would be well advised to read this book!"- Nigel Waring, Owner, TPS Coaching