Lean and Green. Two fashionable and topical concepts that are seemingly unrelated. In reality, however, this need not be so, as we could learn at the seminar held by Hammel & Hochreiter and the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, which drew significant interest.
The topic was only superficially about manufacturing; this became clear relatively soon in the course of the presentation given by CIB Bank’s representative.
The CIB Group’s SME Regional Director Róbert Szerdahelyi approached LEAN management from the perspective of a lender. He was surprisingly open about the fact that for a bank it is not primarily ‘LEAN’ that is important, but rather the customer’s mind-set, and the market environment in which the business operates. “Although as a financial service provider we sell banking products and services, an SME relationship manager must be able to put himself in the shoes of not only the owner, but also of the chief financial officer, and in many cases the production manager too, as for a bank, the most important thing is that its partner conduct its operations efficiently and profitably over the long term. This way of thinking is the most important factor in the long-term building of trust, which represents the most important foundation stone of the relationship between an SME customer and the Bank”, he pointed out.
The presentation given by Péter Fejős, interim partner at Hammel&Hochreiter was truly inspiring. He offered expert insight into the close relationship between LEAN and GREEN philosophies, whilst drawing attention to the close connection between production methodologies and the finite resources of our planet. His highly relevant points were exciting, surprising, sometimes even startling. He concluded his remarks by saying that “It is not tools that LEAN offers, but a toolkit that can enable us to work better and smarter, rather than work more.” Although LEAN manufacturing was first introduced by Toyota in the 1930s, and was initially adopted primarily by manufacturing companies, it has since been introduced in Germany at the German Federal Army, and in the health service. It has become more and more obvious that it is a philosophy that can be widely used in most sectors of the economy.
Naturally, when adopted, even LEAN does not bring about change overnight. The processes require attention, so that every day an improvement is made, however incremental: eventually, the results will start coming. LEAN is about eliminating losses, and its most valuable element is leveraging the creativity of workers. It is the people who work at the company whose experiences and ideas are the most valuable resource a company has for improving its performance.
We must remember not to harm nature in the manufacturing process. Reduction, re-use and recycling need to be a priority. „Hungarian enterprises need to focus on how to gain a competitive advantage by making better use of natural resources. We have known ever since the film „Interstellar” came out that finding another inhabitable planet is extremely difficult, so, we better take as good care of this planet, as possible,” Péter Fejős said.
József Fenyvesi, managing director of Gedia Hungary Ltd.’s manufacturing facility in Tata, Hungary, spoke about the differences between the manufacturing philosophies in Japan and Europe. Gedia Hungary Ltd., a manufacturer of light weight car body parts responsible for the safety of automobiles, is the supplier of choice of leading car manufacturers. His comparison of the German and the Japanese approaches to a technical task was very illuminating. Whilst Germans tend to try to improve efficiency by using the most advanced technology and thoroughness, the Japanese seek to attain high efficiency through the simplicity of processes. In Europe, production culture is project based, whereas the LEAN philosophy calls for a consistent and gradual approach in building and operating an organization. According to József Fenyvesi, „once you have seen how LEAN works, you will not want to consider any other methodology.”
Csaba Oláh, senior LEAN manager at LEGO Manufacturing Ltd., presented the effects of the LEAN methodology at LEGO through an interesting case study. LEGO, which remains a family owned business to this day, adopted the LEAN philosophy when it was hit by a deep crisis. After operating at a loss for eleven years, management decided to introduce the Toyota approach in 2005. It proved to be a good decision, the unfavorable trend was reversed, and the company has had double digit growth in turnover annually, ever since. “The introduction of LEAN culture starts with change management. People and the organization needs to be prepared, because the adoption of a new production methodology is a long term commitment. At LEGO, the preparation of the organization for the coming change alone took an entire year,” Csaba Oláh said. As he explained, the transition cannot succeed without continuous support from, and personal example set by, the head of the company. Equally importantly, success also hinges on efficient two-way communication within the organization, as well as transparency, standardization, sustainability, which foster a climate where problems are quick and easy to solve.
LEGO also had some good news for the followers of the GREEN philosophy. In 2014, for instance, the company re-used 91% of its waste. And, the company has made a commitment to use 100% renewable energy by 2020.
