Companies should consider whether Lean in its traditional form is also sufficient to future-proof their production. The outside world is changing dramatically with increased globalization, increasing unpredictability and much faster development times.

Although Lean creates major efficiency gains, it can easily come at the expense of the very competencies on which production must compete in the future. Lean is designed to streamline stable production, whereas future production in the Western world is expected to be agile, flexible and innovative. This means that production must be able to compete on:

• Being able to quickly get new products on the market
• To be able to scale a production up to a large volume
• To be able to outsource production abroad
• Able to act quickly on changing and unpredictable shifts in the market

This places new demands on the way we understand and manage production.

What is Strengths Based Lean?

Strengths-based Lean (SBL) is a philosophy – a way of thinking, a method and a series of tools to develop and optimize your production. SBL starts from what works and what can be improved. It is a method that develops production and increases commitment, ownership and speed of development. Overall, Lean is about creating results through increased commitment and ownership, and works on two levels.

1. How do we create a burning desire among all employees to participate?
   The company must create an image of what goal is being worked towards; we want to be in pole position, most wanted, best in class. All employees must be able to see themselves as part of this picture, and they must know that precisely their job function is important and indispensable for the organization and in achieving the goal.
2. How do we create ownership throughout the organization?
   When we talk about ownership, it is the management's job to take ten steps back and make room in order to get all employees to take responsibility. In this way, responsibility is delegated, and the management does not sit with all the cards in hand in advance. The focus on the perception of management must be angled differently. Instead of management striving to be at the forefront of everything, a room for ideas must be created with room for employees to offer ideas on how to optimize and improve.

Strength-based Lean is developed in a collaboration between DTU, Novo Nordisk and Resonans, where we are in the process of experimenting and developing a revised version of Lean that addresses the above. The project integrates research, theory and practice within areas such as organizational theory, psychology, innovation and operations management.