Lean manufacturing helps Nike improve supply chain operations

The bigger a company is, the more complex it grows. This can lead to efficiency problems throughout the supply chain – materials can go missing, procedures duplicated and work wasted. For athletics brand Nike, this was a critical issue until it adopted Lean manufacturing throughout the company, Supply Management reports.

According to the Nike's fiscal year 2010/2011 Sustainable Business Performance Summary, Lean manufacturing helped the company to reduce wasted materials and time, and operate more efficiently. Factories using the Lean approach managed to cut defect rates to 50 percent compared to when they were using alternative methods, thus creating a better product for consumers as well.

“Sustainability at Nike means being laser-focused on evolving our business model to deliver profitable growth while leveraging the efficiencies of lean manufacturing, minimizing our environmental impact and using the tools available to us to bring about positive change across our entire supply chain,” said Mark Parker, CEO and president at Nike, as quoted by the news source.

Other companies have noted benefits of Lean manufacturing as well, such as Australian fertilizer producer Incitec, which is rolling the practice out across the business.