Business Daily.
.
The Property Pack
A+ R A-

Why Hire Lean Consultants In Australia?


Maximise customer value for minimal waste—this is what it means to be a ‘lean’ organisation.

Since its introduction in the late 20th century, lean thinking has been a priority endeavour among businesses worldwide. It’s not just about waste reduction or improving business processes per se; lean is a mindset, a way to update a company’s old principles to suit modern needs. Aside from saving time and money, it also inspires team members to work toward lean principles.

While it’s easy to define the makings of lean thinking, outlining the necessary solutions is on an entirely different level. A business is a well-oiled machine, and fixing any well-oiled machine is a job for an expert—in this case, a lean consultant.

Below are some good reasons to have a lean consultant lead your lean thinking effort:

Biases in Business

Most business owners might not realize it, but leanings in their favour influence their assessments and decisions more often than they think. These biases can either be intentional or unintentional, both having severe repercussions in the long term. You’d want to make decisions based on facts, not emotions or shared beliefs.

Cognitive bias is one of the most prevalent in business decision-making. It refers to a business’s inability to arrive at a concrete conclusion, either due to a lack of data brought about by an inept system (processing error) or contradiction to the owner’s purviews (belief perseverance). Experts know such a bias exists, yet there hasn’t been any concerted effort to eliminate it. (1)

Perhaps, it’s impossible to be unbiased because it’s human nature. The limitations of the human brain in processing data, up to just 40 bits processed consciously out of the 11 million total bits, means people can only know so much wilfully. The rest ends up as a jumbled mess of separate concepts and ideas woven together, a breeding ground for biases. (2)

While biases are inevitable, it doesn’t mean you can’t mitigate their effects. Lean consultants like those at TXM and other consultancies are human and, as such, are just as susceptible to biases. However, having more people involved in decision-making means you can get different perspectives. Lean thinking is most interested in making decision-making less autocratic.

An Example’s Departure

In Australia, lean thinking has grown into a sizeable community due in no small part to a certain brand: Toyota. As a matter of fact, the origins of lean thinking go back to the 1980s when James Womack, the father of lean thinking, learned about Toyota’s highly efficient production system.

In 1994, the company opened a manufacturing plant in Altona, which produced 80% of the world’s Camry and Aurion models. Along with the plant came its brand of lean thinking that made it successful on the world stage. But dwindling trade opportunities in the 2010s forced it to shut down in 2016, ending Toyota’s 54-year manufacturing presence in the country. (3)

Naturally, it was a staggering blow to Australia’s lean community, as it lost a major example of lean thinking in action. For lean organisations, the Altona plant was the source of a popular and acclaimed lean-based philosophy called the Gemba walk. This principle urges business leaders to tour the production floor to determine activities that are generating waste. (4)

For today’s institutions, lean consultants are the next best source of lean-based philosophies. Their recommendations for companies go beyond removing all sources of business wastage. They’ll also suggest fostering closer ties with the team members on the floor, like how the Gemba walk encourages asking around and inspiring team members.

Need to Adapt Quickly

In business, nothing is certain and stays the same forever. The ongoing pandemic has taught companies that, forcing a myriad of prevalent changes across the business world. Even ideas such as lean thinking are no exception to change.

Just-In-Time (JIT), another lean-based philosophy, has been popular among retail businesses since its introduction in the 1960s. However, the pandemic has thrown the delicate balance of supply and demand off, causing shortages of almost everything in the first several months. It became clear to experts that they needed to rethink JIT, if not lean in general. (5)

Lean consultants are constantly learning new things, even advising businesses on the changes in consumer behavior due to the pandemic. If you want to adapt to the new normal, you’ll need to consult an expert on the steps to take.

Conclusion

Overall, lean consultants are an indispensable part of a business’s progress. They uphold the idea of maximizing value for minimal waste by being meticulous and flexible. In the end, the decision to take their recommendations lightly or seriously is in your hands.


Sources:

  1. “How Cognitive Bias Affects Your Business,” https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/022015/how-cognitive-bias-affects-your-business.asp
  2. “Think you’re not biased? Think again,” https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/think-youre-not-biased-think-again
  3. “Toyota closes down Camry factory in Altona ending 54 years in Melbourne,” https://thewest.com.au/news/australia/toyota-closes-down-camry-factory-in-altona-ending-54-years-in-melbourne-ng-b88618543z
  4. “The post-Toyota future of the lean community in Australia,” https://planet-lean.com/post-manufacturing-lean-management-australia/
  5. “The Just-In-Time supply chain theory has conquered the world — but has it gone too far?” https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-11/supply-chain-just-in-time-theory-coronavirus-may-prompt-rethink/12529506


Business Daily Media