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Byline: JEZ DAVISON

BUSINESSMAN George Lowes is carrying a weighty burden as he navigates his bespoke gifts supply firm through the recession.

The chairman of Middlesbrough-based Crystal Galleries has more than pounds 0.5m of glass stock denting his balance sheet.

But even though turnover dipped 3% last year to under pounds 3m, he's reluctant to slash inventory volumes for fear of leaving customers high and dry if there's a sudden surge in demand.

He says: "Our usual lead time is one to five. If we miss a deadline, we might as well put the glass in the bin.

"We're probably the biggest stockists of this type of stuff in the country."

Buying in bulk from as far afield as China, Mexico and the US allows him to keep transport costs down and his customers happy.

But it goes against the grain of the 'buy only as much as needed' mantra espoused by just-in-time (JIT) advocates, which include some of the world's most successful volume manufacturers.

The JIT concept hones in on the elimination of waste - including excess stock and operational inefficiencies - to cut costs, boost productivity and improve margins.

It's a key plank of the lean manufacturing movement kick-started by embattled car giant Toyota in 1948 and pioneered on Teesside today by Hartlepool electronics firm Stadium Group and steelmaker Corus.

But the lean model carries potentially seismic risks by reducing stock levels to a minimum - in some cases to zero.

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When an earthquake disrupted production at piston ring supplier Riken Corporation in 2007, it halted production across the entire Japanese car industry. Major factories at Mazda Pandora Beads Wholesale and Honda had to stop work because there simply weren't enough spare parts.

More recently, Toyota had to suspend production at six assembly lines after some of its most popular models were found to have faulty accelerator pedals.

Perhaps these PR shockers help to explain the low take-up of JIT and other lean practices.

The Lean Consortium in Northallerton estimates that only 5-10% of companies make a serious commitment to lean practices even though the benefits have been proven many times over.

Andy Nicholson, joint-founder of the consortium, says: "Some companies are resistant to change. They find it hard to face up to the current challenges thrown up by the Just-in-brilliant the only manufac -Mike MD, Nifco recession.

"But the ones who benefit (from lean) are those that take time to stand back from the business and analyse where they can make efficiency gains."

He estimates that lean processes, if implemented correctly, can reduce company waste by 10-20%, double profitability and halve stock holdings and lead times.

They can also assist sectors outside of manufacturing, such as healthcare and software.

Although Andy has had to fight plenty of resistance, Teesside firms have benefited from the consortium's lean training programmes, which offer a guaranteed pounds 50,000 return on an investment of around pounds 20,000.

ime is - it's way to cture atthews, UK Stokesley-based Analox - which makes gas analysers for the commercial diving, military diving and hospitality sectors - said the programme resulted in on-time delivery
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