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Mary Price

Shingo Institute

Email: mary.price@usu.edu

“What to Expect from a Corporate Lean Program: The S-Curve Theory” by Torbjørn Netland and Kasra Ferdows Receives Shingo Research Award

Summary: After trained examiners and accomplished business professionals performed a thorough assessment of their work, Torbjørn Netland and Kasra Ferdows have been selected as recipients of an internationally recognized award from the Shingo Institute, a program in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.

LOGAN, Utah — The Shingo Institute, a program in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, has awarded Torbjørn Netland and Kasra Ferdows with the Shingo Research Award for their article, “What to Expect from a Corporate Lean Program: The S-Curve Theory.” Netland is a senior researcher at SINTEF and holds a postdoctoral degree from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. Ferdows is the Heisley Family Chair of Global Manufacturing at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

“Receipt of the Shingo Research Award signifies an author’s significant impact and contribution to advancing the body of knowledge regarding operational excellence,” said Ken Snyder, executive director of the Shingo Institute.

By “challenging” or applying for an award, authors invite a group of accomplished professionals and trained examiners from the Shingo Institute to thoroughly review their research. Shingo examiners select recipients based on a rigorous set of standards.

“What to Expect from a Corporate Lean Program: The S-Curve Theory” is presented as a research paper that is a case study of one multinational organization. The insight into the variation between plants in the same corporate structure is the core insight of the research. The findings of “What to Expect from a Corporate Lean Program” can be extremely valuable in communicating and influencing expectations not only prior to the commencement of a Lean system, but in the years that follow. As the authors note in the section titled The Importance of Corporate Commitment, “introducing a corporate lean program requires a long-term commitment,” and that expectations must be calibrated accurately. Overall, the work provides useful information for practitioners and is suggestive of the potential for analogous efforts than

can be conducted by applied researchers with interest in other areas of application, such as healthcare, information technology, law enforcement, and higher education.

“Netland and Ferdows have written one of the classic papers on Lean in their research paper, ‘What to Expect from a Corporate Lean Program,’ says Professor Peter Hines, founder of SA Partners. “Too many companies start a Lean or other improvement program without really knowing where they are going and what results to expect; starting with a collection of tools and techniques which often prove unsustainable. They do not realize that they need to develop a sustainable approach that needs to evolve over time. The four-stage model presented in this paper will help firms and managers within them to design better and more sustainable programs and what they should do at each stage of the journey. A must read for anyone serious about applying lean in their organization.”

This work has also received the following endorsements:

• “This paper constitutes a fundamental contribution to the theoretical understanding of lean.” Prof. Rachna Shah, Professor of Supply Chain and Operation, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, MN, USA
• “The S-curve research is cutting-edge and among the most important research contributions to lean.” Prof. Hironori Hibino, Professor of Production Engineering Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo, Japan
• “What distinguishes this very important research is that instead of starting from secondary literature and theory as many researchers do, the authors genuinely engages and observes lean practice as it is evolving over time in a leading organization.” Daniel Jones, Founder of Lean Enterprise Academy, UK
• “This outstanding paper by Netland and Ferdows helped us understand and reengineer our global approach to the Volvo Production System. The S-curve paper is an excellent piece of research with real impact on practice. Highly recommended!” Ebly Sanchez, Director OD/VPS Group Volvo North America, Greensboro, NC, USA
• “The research by Netland and Ferdows provides great insights into the different stages of a Lean implementation as well as the situational behavior of senior leaders depending on the stage.” Johan Wollin, Global Director VPS, Volvo Construction Equipment, Brussels, Belgium
• “If you are working on global operational transformation, this paper is a must-read.” “Lisa Norcross, VP Global Operations Foundry, Vesuvius PLC, Düsseldorf, Germany
• “The publication is a valuable source of actionable knowledge for lean implementations – and a worthy winner of the Shingo Research Award.” Dr. Daryl Powell, SINTEF Manufacturing, Norway
• “It's a valuable contribution, particularly because it straddles engineering and social sciences.” Michel Baudin, Consultant, Takt Time Group, Palo Alto, CA, USA

Authors Netland and Ferdows will be recognized at the Awards Gala during the Annual Shingo Conference in Provo, Utah, USA, on May 17, 2021.The conference features a selection of workshops, site tours, keynote speakers, and breakout sessions designed to provide ongoing knowledge, insights, and experience for organizations in pursuit of operational excellence.