So Lean, What Have You Done for New Hampshire Lately?

According to this article authored by Catherine Blake and published on the Business NH Magazine website, the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NHMEP) the economic effect of Lean in New Hampshire during the past five years has been "305 new jobs, 593 retained jobs that didn't go off-shore or get eliminated, $194.9 million increase in sales, $75.2 million spent on new investment, and... $29.1 million in cost savings." The article contends the reason why all companies don't embrace Lean initiatives "has everything to do with human capital" and the investment in training to build Lean culture. What many New Hampshire manufactures don't know is that a grant is available "for qualified prospects through Governor John Lynch's job training fund."

Some of the New Hampshire companies that have benefited from successful Lean adoptions are: RF Hunter (a maker of oil filtration systems), Salient Surgical Technologies (a developer of technologies to simplify surgeons' work), High Liner Foods (a processor and marketer of seafood products), and BAE Systems (a global defense, security, and aerospace company).