The transformation of the Unipart Group from its origins in the moribund British Leyland car business to its position today as one of the UK's largest and most dynamic, privately held companies was achieved through the implementation of the lean philosophy. This twenty year journey has provided the knowledge base for our Expert Practices.
"Lean thinking based on the Toyota Production System involves a far deeper and more pervasive cultural transformation than most organisations can begin to imagine. Companies often think that they are lean – but they are not." wrote Jeffrey Liker in his book The Toyota Way. While most lean initiatives fail, Unipart's success in implementing lean has been recognised by Toyota as among the very best outside Japan.
What makes us very different from other companies offering lean advice or consultancy is that we are able to help our UK and global clients by not only being able to talk about the theory of creating continuous improvement through lean process but also by giving them first hand exposure to all the tools and culture of lean at work in a variety of operating environments as well as at The Teaching Factory and The Teaching Distribution Centre, all within the Unipart Group.
Today, teams from Unipart Way Expert Practices work alongside both manufacturing companies and an increasing number of service organisations in both the private and public sectors. Each team’s role is to help their clients learn from the experience gained during Unipart's own lean journey and from the development of our own unique version of the lean philosophy, tools and techniques that we have codified into what we call The Unipart Way.
The benefits of implementing lean go beyond cost reduction and the elimination of waste to include improvements in customer service and greater employee engagement.
Our focus is one of delivering both value and results to our clients from a team that is composed not of conventional consultants but of experienced practitioners.
You can find out more about lean and our own philosophy by following the links on this site, or you can look at examples of how we have worked to help our clients implement this thinking.