Lean Strategy’s Future with Art Byrne

I asked a question to writer of Lean Turnaround book, Art Byrne about lean strategy’s future. I informed him about publishing his answer. I will share both emails as picture. He just answered me after one day and he didn’t write a slipshod answer. Contrary, he explained in detail. I think it is an incredible devotion. I am very happy. I hope that we meet one day and converse. I am sharing both mails’ picture now.

My concern and question was actually this: You know that industrial engineering is a job that it has many branches and it is very flexible. Most of my friends fronted to trend topics as big data, automation, and IOT. The number of students who want to work in production field is very few. Besides topics’ being trend, there is another reason in this situation. Technology companies search many engineers, they commit that they will improve the engineers from zero, and the salaries are fat. I had a lecture called seminar in the forth year of university. Engineers or managers from different sectors came to class every week and they introduced their jobs and sectors. People come from technology side said that there is a huge gap in qualified manpower area and this gap will never fill in the next years due to technology’s parabolic increase. However I chose to production field and especially lean production because I like it more. But if technology becomes widespread in factories, is making a career on lean manufacturing sensible?

This was my personal opinion when choosing to specialize in lean manufacturing: Predicting the increasing speed of technology is hard. There is a huge gap between my current life and 10 years ago. Even if we dream that all factories happen dark factory in the future, dark factories also will use lean manufacturing again in the beginning. I thought that I can work in the beginning of the company, in the lean design of factory and I go to the another factory because I will be an expert only in this area. Lean will never end because lean eliminates waste. Dark factories need huge investments. The more savings in this big investments, the better. An investor wants to build technology on a factory without wastes. Hence lean must be basis for all factories, technologic or not. Despite all this, there are many conversations about big data, IOT, and others and person thinks that whether I choose the right thing. Art’s mail made me relieved more because if a person who worked in different companies, in different sectors for 30 years on lean manufacturing and has updated information says these, we are on the right road.

Let’s interpret Art’s mail. I didn’t read his second book, Lean Turnaround Action Guide. I added it to my list. I will read after I finish Turkish lean books. Saying the “…technologies you mentioned may sound very sexy…” is sarcastic. Everybody speaks about these topics nowadays and they seem cool. Eliminating waste is not cool like others but results are. Traditional companies mean that companies do not implement lean manufacturing. He thinks that only traditional companies will implement technology which need such big investments, lean companies do not. Traditional companies do not eliminate wastes totally and their technologies will be constructed on wastes. Wastes will be locked in the system. Another example like this is from service sector. Companies in service sector are willing to computer systems and they don’t hesitate to spend money. He refers also in his book to this issue and we also face with this in real life. In fact, lean strategy can be used also in service sector and it is cheaper than computer systems. We know that Toyota doesn’t like so much computer systems. Of course, all companies include Toyota use technology today, but lean companies like Toyota just use in the necessary areas and prefer cheaper ones. Because the first solution is not technoloy. There is a good part in Art’s book relevant with issue. “… This is a thing that you want to embed to your all colleagues’ value system: Idea of investment costs are big probably is a failure of imagination. This must be absolutely your last station, not first station.” Lastly, there is a personal caution in the ending of the mail for that I said searching job. It is a very thoughtful and sincere behavior.

Students who want to make a career on lean and colleagues who continue their careers with lean can be comfortable. I hope that writing is useful also for people who want to continue to road with lean but have doubts.