Passionate Leadership Crucial in Spreading Lean Culture According to Stiles Associates' Survey of Manufacturing Executives; Respondents Report Service Sector Could Benefit from Lean

    NEW LONDON, N.H.--June 10, 2003--Stiles Associates, a leading executive search firm, today announced results of a survey of manufacturing executives that uncovers a growing interest in lean, identifies barriers to adoption and addresses the leadership qualities necessary for success.
    According to the survey conducted last month at the EASTEC Advanced Productivity Exposition, 83 percent of respondents are familiar with lean manufacturing, with more than half in some stage of developing a lean culture (15% have fully integrated lean and another 41% have begun the process). Top reasons cited for implementing lean are cost savings (28%), productivity improvements (23%) and competitive pressures (12%). Greatest benefits among those using lean are customer responsiveness (16%), increased speed to market (10%) and reduced product development cycles (9%).
    Respondents indicated resistance to change (27%) as the greatest obstacle to developing a lean practice, followed by ineffective leadership/lack of lean leaders (21%). When asked to identify the most important personal characteristics of lean leaders respondents cited "passionate" (33%), "enthusiastic" (17%) and "hands on" (12%).
    "While employee empowerment is the backbone of the lean movement, it is impossible to achieve success without the right leadership," said Linford Stiles, founder and president of Stiles Associates. "A unique breed of executives is required to create change and develop a bottom-up culture of waste elimination, continuous improvement and customer responsiveness."
    Respondents also identified other industries/sectors that could benefit from lean principles including high technology (62%), healthcare (59%), automotive (58%), consumer products (57%), telecommunications (49%), management consulting (45%), insurance (44%) and banking (44%).
    "We are already seeing a growing interest in lean executives from numerous companies outside the manufacturing arena. It is interesting to note the U.S. Department of Labor's statistic that the population in 'non-manufacturing' entities is over three times that of the manufacturing sector, revealing the enormous opportunities for improvement there," added Stiles. "These forward-looking organizations recognize the benefit of hiring people who can help them 'do more with less' while motivating their current workforce."
    The survey was conducted among nearly 100 manufacturing executives at the EASTEC Advanced Productivity Exposition in West Springfield, MA on May 20 - 22 of this year.

    About Stiles Associates

    Stiles Associates, an executive search firm specializing in the identification and placement of lean leaders, assists companies of all sizes in the recruitment and selection of senior-level executives. Based on a decade of experience helping the world's most progressive manufacturing companies "do more with less," Stiles Associates builds exceptional lean management teams for clients in aerospace, automotive, high technology, electronics, telecommunications, management consulting and consumer products industries. With headquarters in New London, N.H., a satellite office in New York and a network of international affiliates, Stiles Associates researches, recruits and selects qualified candidates in the United States and abroad.