​Lean in Toyota versus Lean in Higher Education 

18 February 2020

This week Steve Yorkstone caught up with Peter McArdle and Michael Luff from the Toyota Lean Management Centre. 

While Toyota is the birthplace of lean, Peter and Michael were chatting with Steve about the difference and similarities between lean in the industry where it was born and how it is applied in contemporary Higher Education.

One of the debates in this area is the "customer" discussion. Lean in industry focuses on delivering value for the customer, but perhaps universities don't have customers in the same way as a car manufacturer does. 

My reflection is that this discussion, whether we have customers or not, is a bit or a red herring. In fact, it doesn't matter what we call the people we do things for, it's still important to meet the genuine need. And then, of course, in Japanese where lean was born the word for customer isn't a simple translation, as it could also be interpreted as as "honoured guest".

Another distinction is the workplace. Where a car is made looks very different from our campuses. 

But to this, Michael talked about the importance of spaciousness​ on the factory floor. Around the production line, there needs to be enough room to move around the equipment, materials and people in order to make improvements... Just practically.

Now of course our work isn't (for the most part!) on a factory floor, but the "workplace" for us is maybe in the conversations we have. So perhaps it's also important for us to create the spaciousness that allows improvement to happen in how we work together. 

So perhaps, despite the difference in industries, spaciousness is just as important for improvement for all the people we serve, too, whoever they are! 

Find out more about Peter and Mike at the Toyota Lean Management Centre here: https://tlmc.toyotauk.com/