What I wish was different
Middle management had either a poor understanding of or an ambivalent attitude towards the lean principles that we were attempting to implement throughout the company. This meant that managers on cross functional teams had to be pushed by me, as the intern, or by the OE Manger in order to complete many of the projects. The relative insignificance of lean in area managers eyes made some projects difficult to complete, and impossible to sustain. The union management relationship also seemed strained with significant distrust between the two sides that created unnecessary friction when trying to complete job duties.
