What do you do when your company begins a new production system that fundamentally changes the way it interacts with and buys from its suppliers? Open a learning institute and library. That's what Andy Benedict and Carlos Mazzorin did when the Ford Motor Company encouraged and helped its suppliers to incorporate Lean management principles.

Started at Toyota, Lean manufacturing can result in dramatic improvements to the bottom line. Eschewing stockpiling, Lean principles strive to make the production process as efficient as possible. It focuses on improving product quality and cost by removing waste from manufacturing processes and the value chain. Andy Benedict, Director of the Total Cost Management Center, and Carlos Mazzorin, Group Vice President, wanted to help Ford's supply base learn about and successfully adopt the Lean techniques.

Since many of the suppliers didn't know what Lean meant, or how to manage a Lean system, an obvious solution was to create the Lean Resource Center (LRC). Part of a three-step approach to Lean implementation (Ford also sends engineers to work on-site with suppliers, and set up Best Practice Forums to facilitate the introduction of Lean concepts), the Lean Resource Center is a one-stop-shop for educational resources on Lean management. Created in 1998, the LRC offers a curriculum of educational courses, a comprehensive collection of books, periodicals, CD-ROM, videos, and electronic sources on Lean, and research services to Ford's worldwide supply chain. Their mission statement reads, "Establish a practical lean knowledge sharing environment that is a center of excellence in the manufacturing world."

To do all this successfully, the LRC employees, including, Peter Tassi, Lean Resource Center Manager, Sarah Swart, Information Specialist, and Sandy Sermack, Lean Analyst, had to not only become savvy in Lean management principles, but also pull together a network of Lean educators and experts, carefully and aggressively market their services to a very large and diverse patron base, and utilize the full potential of intranet and Web-based services. This is on top of their established talents as data miners and competitive intelligence experts who continually amaze their often skeptical clients with targeted and comprehensive reports on all things Lean.

AN EDUCATIONAL NETWORK

MARKET, MARKET, MARKET

According to Sarah, the LRC does most of its marketing to the supplier base. Internal clients, especially within the purchasing division where the LRC is located, already know the resource center is there.

Newsletters

It's important to note that these newsletters are excellent tools for the library to keep their patrons updated on the material that is available to them. For the suppliers who are newbies to the world of Lean management, the publications are a regular reminder that yes, there are many resources available, and yes, they're all available in one convenient location.

Don't Push, Pull

Intranets and Extranets

Perhaps following the lead of many of the major Web content providers, the LRC is developing a pilot project with a supplier that redistributes LRC electronic content on the supplier's intranet. In a sense, they're "licensing" LRC content (newsletters) for publication on another company's intranet. Swart estimates there are 1,700 supplier companies that represent a huge potential audience for LRC content.

The LRC has also created an alliance with the Ford Supplier Network, which is the Ford supplier extranet. On the Network home page, suppliers see the LRC logo and can click through to LRC content. On a larger scale, this is exactly what popular Web properties are doing to increase brand visibility and recognition. It has worked very well for the LRC; they've seen a definite increase in inquiries since they've extended their "brand" to other intranet and extranet sites.

ENHANCED OFFERINGS

Admittedly, Swart has taken some flack from fellow librarians. She's often asked why she would want to promote a bookstore. She replies, "It's a good way to expand our business. There's a big part of the population who want to own books anyway. Why not give them an avenue to do that?"

The LRC will often encourage patrons to borrow first, but they're finding lots of customers would rather own some of the books--especially if it's a book that's core to their specialty. Swart stresses that they're not moving away from the lending business. Besides, customers must still log on to the LRC home page to access the Fatbrain.com store. Swart figures if they didn't partner with Fatbrain. com, many of the customers who prefer to own would simply go to Borders or Amazon anyway, essentially ignoring and possibly remaining ignorant of the LRC services.

CONCLUSION

The LRC thrives from a combination of savvy librarians and a direct contribution to the bottom line. Ford deployed a major manufacturing concept that required a steep learning curve of its suppliers. But once learned, the new production process would trim heavy expenses that came out of old, less efficient production techniques. The LRC is right there in the thick of it, serving suppliers hungry for material and training on Lean principles. A supplier educated in and practicing Lean is saving Ford money, and the LRC has positioned itself to be the best and most convenient source for everything Lean.

And through clever marketing practices, the LRC is getting their brand out among their customers through regular newsletters and "partnerships" with a network of consultants and educators, the supplier intranets, and Ford's intranet and extranet.

They've got their customers excited about their services. Swart concurs, "When you've got your customers that excited, marketing becomes easier. It's just so exciting. But I think that's key to being an effective information specialist: being excited about what you do, and we're excited here, that's for sure."

Bill Mickey (billm@infotoday.com) is Editor of ONLINE magazine.

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