What are some of the obstacles to full adoption of lean purchasing by U.S. firms? What are some ways of overcoming them?
In lean purchasing the supply manager works with suppliers and vendors to create a better method or way to constantly improve the aspects any process that entails products or services. The hope is to create a perfect process. In order to do this, U.S. firms may have difficulty moving from mass-production to a new set of skills. No longer would firms just accept the quality, transportation, delivery, and pricing offered by the current supplier. By incorporating lean purchasing there would be constant change and improvement. The main idea is to not be wasteful and to use every potential benefit to it's fullest.
For example, it is in Japan's culture of eliminating waste and having respect for people. This may not necessarily be the U.S.'s top priority right now but it certainly could be. Some ways that the U.S. could overcome this is by looking into any problems that need solved. One helpful way would to incorporate value stream mapping to help visualize any processes to pinpoint whether or not there is waste occurring. It would be important to constantly communicate with the suppliers and to create a lean supply chain to have an easy flowing process.