Eliminating Waste in Business: Run Lean, Boost Profitability

Introduction

Many of us have heard the stories of the infamous ways that large businesses waste their money. Typical examples abound, such as Mercedes-Benz buying Chrysler in 1998 for a whopping $20 billion. Adjusted for inflation in today’s dollar that would be $26.6 billion.¹ Less than 10 years later, in 2007, Mercedes sold Chrysler Cerberus Capital Management for $7 billion—that’s a 19.6 billion-dollar loss! Then, there are failures like New Coke and the numerous cross-cultural marketing blunders like “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.” And, of course, there are ginormous examples of waste in government, like the fact that Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.²

Too, we often hear statistics ...