JIm, loved your piece. The narrative that productivity is based entirely on an employers ability to squeeze wages and labor to its last bones is extremely problematic and to a large extent, in my opinion, responsible for the kind of labour abuse we see in international chains of production. Fabulously articulate here.
I wonder though how dangerous it is for us to wait for companies like Nike to recognize the win-win nature of this situation. How could international governance institutions and local governments mandate and regulate this kind of switch?
“Doesn’t EVERY worker have a right to participate in the design of their work so that they can do it safely and productively?” This goes way beyond sweatshops! Could (and should) be applied to food service, medical care, education, construction, etc., etc.
The principle of respecting the workforce and encouraging rank and file employees to initiate innovation is the only hope for long term economic stability.
“Multinationals need to assist their contractors in applying best management practices and demand that they use them. In other words, social responsibility on the part of consumer goods companies should require that they show respect for low-wage workers by designing good work for them to do and by tapping the brains of the workforce, not just their muscles.”
While Nike is one of the leaders in the introduction of Lean and continuous improvement efforts with its suppliers, it is certainly not the only multinational brand that is attempting to accomplish this. I have spent close to ten years of my life living in Asian and Latin American countries and working for two multinational brands. I have been trying to teach, guide and push Lean principles into suppliers with pockets of success. But this effort is very similar to the lean efforts in American factories. There are two groups that need to understand the value and power of Lean before any lasting progress can be made - the management and the workers themselves. In most apparel and footwear factories there is also a culture and language barrier between management and the majority of the workers. This divide makes the development of a problem solving culture even harder to install than in American factories.
It must be the management of the supplier itself that drives the quest for Lean and worker involvement. The brands and multinational companies can teach, guide and inspect for Lean culture but we do not own or run the factories. If the supplier management does not see the value of Lean then it will not happen, regardless of the effort of the brand customer.
Jim, it is great pleasure to read this. I was inspired by Deming in the 1990s and later by many great thinkers like you and have been working as quality professionals for 20 years. I have chances to visit some of the factories in developing countries in Asia. there are a lot of sweatshops. sometimes i wonder why we need “customer"focus. Customers may not care if products are made by children in sweatshops, customers may not care that toxic waste is dumped in the rivers, customers may not care suppliers are squeezed to near bankruptcy. Exclusive “customer focus” may be misguided as its predecessor “maximizing shareholder’s value”. it is sub-optimization. How to do a VSM that all stakeholders, customer, shareholder, employee and community can benefit? we need big names like you to lead quality community to promote this thinking to society as a whole.
Jim, thank you for this insightful piece. I lived three years in Kenya and got the World Vision East Africa Region national offices started on the Lean journey. Experiences in this adventure demonstrated that Lean truly applies in any context.
As you say, showing respect by “asking them to participate in designing and improving the work” is essential to making work better for people and creates significant economic benefit.
Beyond sweatshops, I see great potential in applying Lean in locally owned and run micro, small, and medium enterprises. Through Lean, people be inspired and empowered to improve their work. And, very importantly, they will be able to take more money home to feed their families, pay for medical care, send their children to school, and the like.
COMMENTS
BY Aman Banerji
ON February 26, 2015 01:12 PM
JIm, loved your piece. The narrative that productivity is based entirely on an employers ability to squeeze wages and labor to its last bones is extremely problematic and to a large extent, in my opinion, responsible for the kind of labour abuse we see in international chains of production. Fabulously articulate here.
I wonder though how dangerous it is for us to wait for companies like Nike to recognize the win-win nature of this situation. How could international governance institutions and local governments mandate and regulate this kind of switch?
BY Shawn Lewis
ON March 26, 2015 10:22 AM
“Doesn’t EVERY worker have a right to participate in the design of their work so that they can do it safely and productively?” This goes way beyond sweatshops! Could (and should) be applied to food service, medical care, education, construction, etc., etc.
The principle of respecting the workforce and encouraging rank and file employees to initiate innovation is the only hope for long term economic stability.
BY Todd Tierney
ON March 26, 2015 04:51 PM
“Multinationals need to assist their contractors in applying best management practices and demand that they use them. In other words, social responsibility on the part of consumer goods companies should require that they show respect for low-wage workers by designing good work for them to do and by tapping the brains of the workforce, not just their muscles.”
While Nike is one of the leaders in the introduction of Lean and continuous improvement efforts with its suppliers, it is certainly not the only multinational brand that is attempting to accomplish this. I have spent close to ten years of my life living in Asian and Latin American countries and working for two multinational brands. I have been trying to teach, guide and push Lean principles into suppliers with pockets of success. But this effort is very similar to the lean efforts in American factories. There are two groups that need to understand the value and power of Lean before any lasting progress can be made - the management and the workers themselves. In most apparel and footwear factories there is also a culture and language barrier between management and the majority of the workers. This divide makes the development of a problem solving culture even harder to install than in American factories.
It must be the management of the supplier itself that drives the quest for Lean and worker involvement. The brands and multinational companies can teach, guide and inspect for Lean culture but we do not own or run the factories. If the supplier management does not see the value of Lean then it will not happen, regardless of the effort of the brand customer.
BY Sean Shao
ON March 26, 2015 08:24 PM
Jim, it is great pleasure to read this. I was inspired by Deming in the 1990s and later by many great thinkers like you and have been working as quality professionals for 20 years. I have chances to visit some of the factories in developing countries in Asia. there are a lot of sweatshops. sometimes i wonder why we need “customer"focus. Customers may not care if products are made by children in sweatshops, customers may not care that toxic waste is dumped in the rivers, customers may not care suppliers are squeezed to near bankruptcy. Exclusive “customer focus” may be misguided as its predecessor “maximizing shareholder’s value”. it is sub-optimization. How to do a VSM that all stakeholders, customer, shareholder, employee and community can benefit? we need big names like you to lead quality community to promote this thinking to society as a whole.
BY Andrew Parris
ON July 7, 2015 10:23 AM
Jim, thank you for this insightful piece. I lived three years in Kenya and got the World Vision East Africa Region national offices started on the Lean journey. Experiences in this adventure demonstrated that Lean truly applies in any context.
As you say, showing respect by “asking them to participate in designing and improving the work” is essential to making work better for people and creates significant economic benefit.
Beyond sweatshops, I see great potential in applying Lean in locally owned and run micro, small, and medium enterprises. Through Lean, people be inspired and empowered to improve their work. And, very importantly, they will be able to take more money home to feed their families, pay for medical care, send their children to school, and the like.