The Missing Component in Manufacturing Performance Improvement

To the casual observer, aircraft manufacturer Airbus UK and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) wouldn't appear to share a lot of common ground. Some would say that the worlds of building airplanes and producing the next blockbuster wonder-drug are light years apart. A closer look shows that these two organizations are more similar than one might initially think. Both shared a common goal of driving out costs while not sacrificing quality. As a means to achieve that goal, they initially implemented lean-manufacturing processes. However, they became increasingly frustrated when sustainable results were slow to develop. The inescapable conclusion was that a component was missing, one that addressed the human element of the equation.