After ten years leading LEA (and another ten years leading LERC before that) it is time to pass the baton and redefine our mission. At the LEA Summit in November last year we announced that Dave Brunt would assume responsibility for leading LEA as our new Chief Executive. Daniel Jones will continue to actively support LEA as Chairman and Senior Advisor, but with more time to mentor, reflect and write on the progress of lean and future challenges.
Dave worked very closely with Dan over the last twenty years on all kinds of assignments. Dave organised the last UK Lean Summit and is part of the core team that has been rethinking the mission of the Lean Global Network. His pioneering work mentoring Toyota car dealers in Portugal, Norway, South Africa and elsewhere helped them win the Lean Prize in Norway and is finally being recognised by Toyota itself! He is the author of Creating Lean Dealers and a contributor to Seeing the Whole Value Stream. He has also been coordinating the development of a Lean Leadership Programme for LGN and is one of most experienced coaches in the use of A3 thinking in Europe.
This transition mirrors the change in leadership at the Lean Enterprise Institute in the USA, where John Shook took over from Jim Womack and has since been joined by another seasoned Toyota veteran Mark Reich. LEI’s mission has also changed to engage in experimental projects with pioneering organisations seeking to take lean to new levels. In doing so they are working more closely with the Toyota Production System Support Centre (previously TSSC) and a network of ex-Toyota alumni.
The mission of the Lean Global Network is to take responsibility for advancing lean thinking in order to improve the performance of organisations and raise living standards while minimising resource use and environmental impact, and to provide more fulfilling work and continuing development for employees while enabling consumers to create more value in their lives. This is achieved by developing the capabilities of every employee to use the scientific approach in solving the business problems that will create value for consumers, for the organisation and for society at large. LEA will therefore focus on Learning through co-learning projects with organisations, Educating through mentoring, coaching and training trainers and Sharing through Summits, our Lean Community and publications.
The Sharing Day in Cardiff on April 18 is the first new initiative by LEA to create a community of advanced lean practitioners in the UK. It will be a unique opportunity to share experiences of what works and what does not in deploying lean and to get feedback on burning questions on the next steps with lean from very experienced practitioners including Mark Reich from LEI (ex-Toyota USA) and Kevin Robinson and Mark Davies from the Toyota Lean Management Centre in UK. Dave is organising this event in collaboration with Dr Nick Rich, who is leading the new Centre for Lean Enterprise Applications and Research (CLEAR) at Cardiff Metropolitan University. We look forward to a very productive and inspiring day and hope you will join us.