Performance Improvements through Implementation of Lean Practices: A Study of the U.K. Red Meat Industry

'Lean' is an established industrial paradigm with proven track record in various sectors of the industry (Womack & Jones, 1996). World-class Companies such as Toyota (second biggest global car manufacturer), Porsche (most profitable global OEM), Boeing (largest global aerospace business) and Tesco (third largest global retailer) have adopted Lean at the corporate level. This paper reports on the introduction of 'Lean Thinking' to a new sector - the 'Red Meat Industry' (Food Chain Centre, 2004). This contribution highlights the benefits of lean production techniques in different stages of the red meat value chain and reports 2- 3% potential cost savings at each stage of the chain.