Leanscm.com - Newsletter Page 2

Welcome to the first issue of "The Lean Review", a new bi-monthly newsletter published by the Leading Edge Group.

In a time of increased competitiveness across industry, there is a growing requirement for organizations to improve operational efficiencies in order to maintain their position as leaders in their own sectors. Lean Thinking and its associated tools and practices provides a strategy for driving quality, cost, and service improvements in any organization.

The diversity of the projects that we at the Leading Edge Group have been involved in demonstrates the great strength of Lean, in that it can be applied successfully across a wide array of sectors. For example, we

have partnered with staff from specific organizations to successfully deploy Lean in manufacturing, supply chain, healthcare, government, and financial services sectors. Equally, Lean has been applied across a variety of functions within these organizations, including Finance, IT, Quality, Sales, and Human Resources. We believe that any improvement initiative should be driven from within the organization itself. Therefore, education and training in Lean and its implementation should be part of organizations' competency frameworks to ensure consistency across all functions.

I do hope that this newsletter helps provide you with an insight into Lean Thinking and some of the more pertinent

initiatives being undertaken in the area on a global level. The newsletter should also provide you with a glimpse of the work that the Leading Edge Group has undertaken in recent months to in the areas of education, training, and facilitation services to help develop the competencies required to achieve sustainable improvements.

John Whelton,

Director of Lean Operations and Education Development,

Leading Edge Group.

involved in developing a number of Lean procurement and supply chain strategic programs for clients based in Ireland and overseas.

Peter was also Director of Management Consulting for Fujitsu Consulting in which he facilitated and coached a number of international clients in all areas of the supply chain. He is recognized as an experienced Change Manager in Supply Chain, and is well respected in all sectors as an excellent communicator, listener, and imparter of knowledge.

Peter was awarded a BSc and MBA at Queens University Belfast in 1979. He has accumulated over 25 years experience in a wide range of verticals including retail; pharmaceuticals; medical devices; healthcare; media; light and heavy engineering; clothing; food and drink; luxury goods; automotive parts; and home wares electronics.

Peter was previously head of Supply Chain Management/Manufacturing Consulting for BearingPoint/KPMG where he worked in all areas of the supply chain, and was

Peter was appointed Head of Supply Chain Consulting with the Leading Edge Group in 2004, and is currently working with a number of large corporate clients in the print media, energy, and medical device sectors.