Lean manufacturing and lean supply chain

Lean manufacturing is a very popular concept. But words like lean enterprise and lean supply chain are capturing the industry by storm. What is the reason for this shift from manufacturing focus to a wider focus? 

As a lean manufacturer you are good as the weakest of your suppliers in becoming truly lean. For an example if you have hundred items going in assembling one finished product, you are only good as the weakest supplier who is not supplying you on time as per the required quality standards. Most of the wastes are generated in the interfaces between supplier to manufacturer and manufacturer to the customer and so on. 

Suppliers, manufacturers and customers and even other influential bodies like government agencies are links of a single supply chain. The total strength of the chain will be as good as its weakest links strength. Best performance can be achieved only if we optimize the strength of this chain. 

While it is important to understand the ideal lean supply chain scenario and the advantages it can bring, it may be impossible to make all the suppliers and customers and others involved in the process lean over night. So do not fall in to the trap of waiting till all the others become lean to start your lean journey. You should not plan the ideal JIT system based on assumption. The system must be optimized to get the best outcome from the lean implementation with the resources available. Unless you start using lean to its fullest effect, trying to convincing your suppliers and customers to follow lean will off tack your efforts. Once your system is matured, you can extend your lean efforts through the supply chain. 

Continuous change is a basic lean concept. A lean supply chain can be achieved with small, step by step approach over a period of time. Simply although it is very important to extend your lean efforts throughout the supply chain, it is a step by step process which starts from you with lean manufacturing.