Using the basic principles of Operations Science, this paper seeks to reveal the secret, one that is hidden in plane sight, of the success of Lean. The list of seven, eight or even ten forms of waste are replaced by one malefactor, variability and the three buffers that will always be present to couple demand with transformation.
Mark Spearman is the Technical Director of the Project Production Institute and Director of Technical Solutions for Strategic Project Solutions. Before joining SPS, Spearman was associate professor industrial engineering and management sciences at Northwestern University, professor of industrial and systems engineering at Georgia Tech, and Department H ...