Criticisms of Lean

Lean faces a great deal of criticism, despite the numerous examples of its successful usage across a broad range of industries. This criticism is, in large part, justified. When I first began my writing career, I came across a disturbing figure in my research. There was limited hard data as to the effectiveness of Lean, but one of the few data points I did find said that 76% of attempts at continuous improvement failed to deliver on the initial promise.

Fast forward a decade, and a similar number recently came across my radar from another study. It said 70% of companies reporting that they started Lean efforts within the previous 2 years had failed to break the 5% improvement barrier in regard to cost cutting. (AlixPartners, 2011)