Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/924542
94 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2018 Introduction No matter where my travels take me, I hear a wide and limitless supply of excuses for why Lean will not work in "my" organization. One of my favorite ways of illustrating that Lean will indeed work anywhere is to take a Lean look at a very unlikely organization, Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Why Willy Wonka The inspiration for this case study came from one of my Lean Principles graduate stu- dents, who told me that while she was study- ing diligently one evening, her son was watch- ing the video Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She said, "Professor" (I love it when the y call me professor!), "as I sat there listening to the underlying ideas behind the Choco - late Factory, I got dis- tracted in my read- ing and realized I was watching a show that is formulated on the idea of cr eat - ing a Lean factory." As we discussed this in great detail, she presented a very compel - ling argument to support her position. So, that following weekend I pur - chased the DVD, and sat do wn with a bowl of popcorn, a cold Budweiser and my notepad and turned a critical Lean eye to Roald Dahl's classic tale. What follows are the results of that session, which led to the development of a Lean case study that I now use both academi - cally and professionally. WILLY WONKA CASE STUDY 1 — The Need for Lean Competition The Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory was in- filtrated by industrial spies trying to steal Won- ka's secret recipes and manufacturing tech- nology. This espionage resulted in a proliferation of copycat low- cost products flooding the market, and while infe- rior to the Wonka qual- ity, were quite successful as consumers made their buying decisions based on price. The Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory was dev- astated and could not com- pete with these low-cost candy bars, which re- sulted in the clo- sure of the factory and loss of thou- sands of jobs, in- cluding Charlie Batch's Gram- pa Joe. Gram- pa Joe was a lifelong employee of the Wonka factory Willy Wonka: The Lean Case Study The Right Approach, a column by Steve Williams THE RIGHT APPROACH CONSULTING LLC