See? Lean is About Flexibility, Not Low Inventory

http://leanblog.org/audio301

It's great to see examples of manufacturing companies being flexible and adaptive in these challenging times. Lean methods are often providing a huge boost in what can be life-saving efforts.

Lean often gets mislabeled as a “low inventory” system (or “zero inventories”) but that misses the point. We don't just lower inventory at all costs (anybody can make that mistake without Lean) — we have to create systems and supply chains that might possibly allow for low inventory.

.....

But back to the one manufacturing company that inspired this post. It was great to see this article (hat tip to Brad Miller):

How to pivot an entire company in a week–and remain profitable

See more in the blog post (link at top)