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5. Conclusions
This survey is very useful for providing an insight into how Lean improvement projects are being undertaken in Scottish Public Sector Organisations. However, the results from the survey have to be treated with caution as the sample size used is too small to be representative of the public sector in Scotland. The statistical data generated from the survey cannot be reported with any level of significance that would make it representative of the whole population.
However the survey is useful for drawing out the following conclusions:
- A significant proportion of organisations from different public sectors in Scotland are undertaking business improvement projects using Lean concepts, tools and techniques. These projects are being undertaken in a variety of departments or business areas, but mainly in housing, finance and administration.
- The main aims of these projects are to improve quality, improve customer satisfaction and to reduce lead-time. Cost reduction and workforce reduction projects appear to be less important in the organisations surveyed.
- All survey respondents were developing plans to implement Lean projects in other departments or business areas, especially housing, finance and administration.
- The implementation phase of projects varied greatly from 3 months to over 3 years. However in many instances the implementation of project is ongoing.
- The majority of respondents involved less than a quarter of their organisation or were unsure what proportion of the organisation had been involved in the projects. However many respondents were planning to increase involvement.
- Other resources required by respondents when implementing projects included additional internal and external staff, an increased commitment of time and additional funding.
- When asked about utilising external support in implementing Lean projects, the majority of respondents stated that customers or a specialised consultancy was providing assistance. However in many cases, a combination of external organisations were used to provide. The majority of respondents saw the use of this external support as effective or very effective.
- The main strategies used to engage staff was consultations with staff and the use of workshops and awareness raising sessions. Respondents viewed the use of these strategies as successful or very successful. However there is some evidence to suggest that strategies adopted to engage a higher proportion of staff were less successful than those used to engage a lower proportion.
- The main methods used for communicating progress on the Lean projects were meetings and intranets. However in many cases, a combination of communication methods were used. Only in a small proportion of organisations was progress not communicated. The majority of respondents saw these methods for communicating progress as successful or very successful.
- Many respondents claimed that the Lean projects had been successful in achieving their original aims. It was mainly cost reduction or workforce reduction projects that were not successful in achieving their original aims. It appears that in the public sector Lean is not being used to achieve cost or workforce reduction. This is supported by the cross case analysis.
- Managerial commitment to ongoing improvement was seen as the most important factor contributing to the success of the Lean projects. The most important barriers were organisational culture, a resistance to change and lack of awareness or knowledge of Lean. Training in Lean tools and techniques was not seen to be as important as practical experience of just implementing Lean projects.
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