The purpose of this study is to take an in-depth look in to how to make a company innovation & R&D strategy versatile and flexible to market conditions and extreme competition at any given time. The type of challenges and difficulties companies have to go through becoming extremely challenging and rapidly changing. Customers react instantly to global events or ideological changes prompt by social media and the mainstream media. These changing perceptions could have a range of negative effects in any company. It is important concentrate on how to create new products and services with the cost in mind. This study will investigate how to avoid a company facing any real impact to the bottom line by aligning its innovation strategy pool proof to any short term and long term impact through adopting lean management principles.

1. A Detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Lean Management for New Innovation Projects 1
A detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Integrating Lean Management Concepts to
New Innovation Projects
Charm Rammandala
California Intercontinental University

2. A Detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Lean Management for New Innovation Projects 2
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to take an in-depth look in to how to make a company innovation &
R&D strategy versatile and flexible to market conditions and extreme competition at any given
time. The type of challenges and difficulties companies have to go through becoming extremely
challenging and rapidly changing. Customers react instantly to global events or ideological
changes prompt by social media and the mainstream media. These changing perceptions could
have a range of negative effects in any company. It is important concentrate on how to create
new products and services with the cost in mind. This study will investigate how to avoid a
company facing any real impact to the bottom line by aligning its innovation strategy pool proof
to any short term and long term impact through adopting lean management principles.

3. A Detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Lean Management for New Innovation Projects 3
A Detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Integrating Lean Management Concepts to
Corporate Strategy in Any Industry
According to the article written by Roberto Chavez to the Wall street Journal in December
2014 explains that today’s market place is the most competitive it’s ever been (Chavez 2014).
Due to the rapid globalization and the numerous bilateral and multilateral trade agreements
between countries, goods and services cross the boarders relatively easy. For an example,
customers in United States can enjoy produce made in Japan just days ago and Japanese
consumers also have the same privilege (Spencer 2013)
At the same time most of the consumers across the globe have access to mainstream media
and internet as well as to the social media, giving them access to vast array of information. This
empowers consumers to make informed decisions when it comes to deciding what to buy and
where to buy from. They could easily compare not only the prices, but the quality of the
products, after sales service, the length of guarantee offered and even the feedback and
recommendations of actual customers who previously tried same products (Alusakin 2014)
While all these are a positive development to the consumers, not so to the companies who
are trying to achieve their bottom-line. As a result of global competition, companies have to
constantly be at war with the rivals on the price. This puts pressure on the companies to align
their research and & development efforts to find products and processes which are cost effective
and reduce the waste.

4. A Detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Lean Management for New Innovation Projects 4
Lean management as an integral part of the overall strategy
…….Given the dynamics of the current market conditions and the intense competition, the best
strategy for any company is to stay ahead of the competition and to secure customer loyalty
(Soon 2014). It is important to create a corporate culture where everybody in the organization
geared to do their best to produce a great product or service. One of the best tool available to
achieve this objective is by implementing lean management principles as an integrated part of the
company strategy and begin from the research & development department.
Lean management is a concept which emphasis on the importance of reducing waste and
stream lining supply chain to get the optimum efficiency (Kasra 2014). Lean concepts were
being around for more than 400 years but came in to management books only in 1980’s through
the research carried out by Dr Jim Womack. This effort further strengthens and helped to bring
in to the mainstream research by the book titled The Toyota Way written by Dr Jeffery Liker.
(Soon 2014). Toyota corporation in Japan credited with bringing the concept back to light and
using it to make Toyota the number one automobile company in the world.
Educating & implementing lean manufacturing tools and proper application of its principles
to R&D, companies not only survive in the competitive market but in most cases increase the
market share. By engaging with the teams through adopting top-down commitment and bottom-
up involvement, lean can be implemented to any industry.(Soon 2014).
Lean is a method that improves processes through continuous improvement and elimination
of waste. This means by default companies become more green as they use less resources to

5. A Detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Lean Management for New Innovation Projects 5
generate improved productivity. Reduces the waste by optimizing the energy use and managing
supply chain to produce and deliver exact amount needed, when its needed (Olusakin 2014).
Tools used in Lean Management to reduce the waste
It is every companies’ main agenda to be ahead of the competition to secure the market
share. In order to achieve this objective, companies have to be flexible and sensitive to changing
political, economic, legal and environmental changes in the market place as those factors will
have a direct and indirect impact on the business practices (Kasra 2014). Through the use of lean
concepts and tools, companies can make themselves immune to most of those changes giving
them an advantage. Some of the basic and easy to adopt lean tools are,
 5S
 Kaizan-Continuous improvement
 Pull system
 Point of usage storage
 Value Stream Mapping
 Total Quality Management
Five S stand for Sort, Standardize, Straighten, Shine and Sustain. 5S highlight the
importance of having clearly marked working areas, hazard zones, tools and their locations. This
would help to locate items within relatively less time and in turn saving time for the employee,
enabling him to increase the productivity. Also keeping the workplace and the surrounding in
good order and by maintaining integrity of the tools and all other equipment’s, down time of
those items can be minimized. All these savings will increase the quality and the productivity for
the company (Soon 2014).

6. A Detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Lean Management for New Innovation Projects 6
Diagram 1 Lean management enterprise (2014)
In lean management, Kaizan means continuous improvement. As a company it is very
important to look for ways to improve the performance and the effectiveness of the process and
resources at all time. This would reduce the waste and improve the efficiency.
Pull system emphasizes the importance of producing based on the demand. It is a waste to
produce and store for the future demand. This incurred unnecessary expenses of storage costs,
inventory costs and interest on the borrowing. By maintaining an efficient planning process and a
supply chain management process, it is easy to practice this concept (Soon 2014).
Value stream mapping and total quality management also are specialized lean tools which
helps companies to keep total control of the products and services they provide. These tools
provide the control mechanisms needed to ensure the quality of the products and to eliminate non
value added tasks to be eliminated from the process.
Lean management system

7. A Detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Lean Management for New Innovation Projects 7
Diagram 2. Lean management enterprise (2014)
Once the lean tools implemented and integrated to the company’s way of work, employees
will experience the new improved working conditions and the better feedback from the
customers. As the organizations experience with the system deepens, it’s capabilities will
naturally strengthen. At the same time, lean management fosters a culture that encourages
continual reassessment. Gradually, that drive will come to apply to the system as well. The
organization will seek to improve its application of lean management, to see how it could push
the ideas and its performances even further. It is important to encourage regular feedback on the
progress in all areas to identify the opportunities to further improve the system (Olusakin 2014).
Conclusion
Lean is a management strategy to reduce waste & operating costs and the same time to
improve the productivity and the efficiency to gain a competitive advantage. Lean techniques
and tools can easily be introduced to existing process with proper training and disruption during
the implementation process can be kept to minimum.

8. A Detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Lean Management for New Innovation Projects 8
In the current market conditions and regulations constantly put companies in difficult
positions and in order to face any challenge it is vital to have best management practices. As a
result of successfully implementing Lean management companies can enjoy less volatile market
conditions.
References
Akindipe, O (2014) Inventory management. International Journal of Production economics
Retrieved from gala virtual reference library http:/gale. Galegroup.com (02/09/2016)
Chavez, R, Yu W (2015) Internal lean practices and performances. Journal of management &
Innovation. Retrieved from gala virtual reference library http:/gale. Galegroup.com (02/08/2016)
Kasra, F (2014). What to expect from a corporate lean program. MIT Sloan management review
Retrieved from gala virtual reference library http:/gale. Galegroup.com (02/09/2016)
Soon, K (2014) Benefits of using lean principles. International journal of management & Human
Resource Management. Retrieved from gala virtual reference library http:/gale. Galegroup.com
(02/08/2016)

9. A Detailed Study to Investigate the Importance of Lean Management for New Innovation Projects 9
Ahamadi Mo (2006) Research methods & processes
Retrieved from gala virtual reference library http:/gale. Galegroup.com (11/06/2015)