Lean Misconceptions ― Why Many Lean Initiatives Fail and How You Can Avoid the Mistakes

It has been reported that about 70% of initiatives fail to achieve desired results. The cause is an unrealistic expectation regarding effort and results and a focus on short-term improvements over long-term capability building. Too many consultants and organisations focus on the tools and the results they can achieve without considering the long-term implications. Success relies on focusing both short-term gains and long-term culture change – using the tools as the mechanism for change versus the objective of the change. Section 1 is about continuous improvement -- why companies do it, the various methods and where they came from, and why they are all too focused on production performance versus organizational capability. Section 2 is about the tools and how they support the underlying principles necessary to achieve long-term capability change/building. The final section is a summary of what readers should do with the new knowledge gained from reading the book – not a checklist or a recipe for success but a call to action to challenge their thinking on Lean, on performance/continuous improvement and to challenge each other, their peers, seniors, subordinates to focus on what matters.

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.