Lean and Innovations Are Basic To Profitable Growth

Lean and Innovations Are Basic to Profitable Growth – Just Look at the Boeing Model

Successful companies such as Boeing, continually reinvent themselves by focusing on solving newly identified problems, or opportunities as we suggest at Leanovations, with lean or innovative solutions. Lean and innovation not only provides companies like Boeing a competitive advantage, but also helps them meet strategic challenges such as confronting accelerating rates of overall change and globalization.

Boeing rolled out their new 787 “Dreamliner” passenger jet on July 8, 2007 - “7/8/7”, which has many analysts believing this will begin a new era in air travel. Boeing’s 787 is an example of a company focused on finding better ways to delight customers and exceed their expectations. Continually assessing and enhancing products and services that customers need today and transforming them into what customers will require in tomorrow's business challenges to quote Leanovations, is called “Transforming Tomorrow Today”.

Years ago, Boeing embraced lean manufacturing, which is about eliminating waste with the goal of creating value. Eliminating waste does not just aim at reducing costs, but is also important to improving quality, safety and responsiveness to changing market requirements. Innovation is defined as, the process that transforms ideas into commercial value. Successful innovation requires the ability to break into new business arenas that are ripe for growth. Innovation includes not only new offerings and new businesses, but also extends to new management methods and other aspects of growing a business. As an example of Boeing’s recent innovations, the 787 jet is the first large passenger jet to have more than half its structure made of composite materials instead of aluminum sheets, which is revolutionary. Because of the composite materials’ lower weight, the plane will use 20% less fuel than similar size jets. The Dreamliner will require less maintenance because it has fewer parts and will experience less corrosion. It is estimated about a 30% reduction in maintenance expenses will be realized.

Boeing also continues to use innovations to enhance their lean manufacturing processes, using composites on the 787 airframe has a number of manufacturing advantages. They are able to build large subassemblies, in such places as Italy and Japan, and ship them to the final assembly facility. This essentially means having the major subassemblies coming together in final assembly. It will now take the final assembly process 3 days, compared to a month under the old traditional process.

Lean and innovation are equally important business disciplines for sustainable growth and enduring success in today's fast-changing business world. True lean and innovation comes as the result of meshing between three critical concepts: knowledge, process, and leadership. Growth through innovations along with a lean system to eliminate waste in production does not have to be a highly complex system involving numerous processes, approaches and models. Just look at Boeing and their “787 Dreamliner”, a new passenger jet ready to usher in a new era of air travel. Analysts are saying the innovative approach and lean production process for the Boeing 787 will be the basis for all future aircrafts.