Reference no: EM13245347

When I first started out in Supply Chain years ago, one of my first mentors told me that you can’t improve what you cannot measure. Years later I learned that he stole that expression shamelessly from the Toyota Production System playbook (Liker, 2004). At the time I really didn’t understand the meaning as well as I do years later. I have participated in many improvement projects throughout my career where we did not have the ability to effectively measure the process we were trying to improve. Every one of them ended up as a failed endeavor. One of the main mistakes that companies make when trying to implement lean in their organization is the lack of effective business metrics. If you are unable to measure the speed and quality of a process you essentially have no idea if your changes made things better or worse. In my mind it would be similar to accepting a new job offer without knowing what the compensation is to compare it to your current job. I can’t think of anyone that would make a good decision under those circumstances. QUESTION: How would you advise an organization that was trying to implement lean without the appropriate business metrics to measure success? REQUIREMENT: WORD COUNT: 400 REFERENCE/CIATION: Harvard & minimum