DEFRA spends £200K on lean investigation

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has commissioned an 18-month, £200,000 research project to get a better idea of how extensively lean manufacturing techniques have been adopted by companies in the food supply chain.

The project led by consultancy Oakdene Hollins and supported by the Resource Recovery Forum and consultant Brook Lyndhurst began in July 2011 and will run until January 2013. It will focus on manufacture, distribution, retail and foodservice.

The researchers are looking for firms and associations that have applied lean techniques to get involved with the project. The idea is to identify best practices and processes so that these can be used as models for others to follow.

Specifically, they want to know what benchmarking and auditing tools companies are using to assess resource use efficiency and environmental performance within their businesses. They want to hear how 'lean thinking' has helped firms streamline their businesses and how successful this has been.

"Lean manufacturing is usually a very top down thing associated with big companies," says David Parker, principal consultant with Oakdene Hollins. "There are also local initiatives where firms are using tools, such as value stream mapping selectively to facilitate activity in manufacturing."

However, adds, Parker: "A lot of companies are doing these things but not branding them as lean. So we are interested in teasing that out: what sort of tools and techniques are people using."

The first stage of the study is therefore to investigate what is being used and how you would broadly categorise it and then to identify the "hot spots" for action. "It's really about saying where is the resource impact: where should the focus be?" he says.

So far, a number of large and small manufacturers and retailers have expressed interest in being involved in the project, according to Parker.