175 – The benefits of lean manufacturing – James Stewart, Lean Practitioner

James Stewart is an experienced lean practitioner who has worked with Burberry and Fashion Enter to help streamline their manufacturing process.

‘Lean’ is a method for producing products in smaller batches, closer to the customer, rather than making zillions of products overseas that no one wants to buy.

Anyone that manufactures sustainably and locally in the UK, is in fact using some lean principles in their business, even if they aren’t aware that they are.

In this episode James discusses the benefits of lean manufacturing, and how it can give UK manufacturers an advantage.

Discover:

• How James worked with Burberry to introduce Lean principles [05:11]
• What Lean is and how companies can use it to make their business better for people and planet [06:54]
• How Burberry cut its lead-times down by 90% in it’s UK factory [11:05]
• Why Inditex (owners of Zara) manufacture so much locally [16:22]
• Advice James would give to any company for how they can use lean principles in their business to make a rapid change [27:21]

Book mentioned in this episode: The Lean Turnaround

James Stewart Linkedin