An Anonymous UAW Retiree Who is a Passionate Fan of Lean & TPS
Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond
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Show Notes
Episode page: leanblog.org/40
Here is LeanBlog Podcast #40, an interview with a retired UAW/GM employee who wishes to remain anonymous, at this point. We have traded many emails over the past year, about Lean, and I'm impressed with this individual's true passion for Lean and Toyota Production System concepts.
We both agree that the “root cause” of many Lean struggles comes back to management's inability to create trust and to give up some control to the employees who actually do the work.
The intent here, from my perspective, is not “management bashing,” but rather to illustrate that there are some on the UAW side who “get it” and success is going to require true cooperation and sacrifices on both sides.
LeanBlog Podcast #40 Key Points & Key Words
- “Quality Network” – GM and the UAW
- GM had been working with Lean methods since the early 1990's, but not associating it with “Lean” (Toyota) until this decade
- The need for trust and culture change — changing the “them vs. us” attitude