Lean times

LEAN PROCESSING FIRST used by the Toyota Motor Company in the 1950s and its place within the current operational strategy of HMRC is being defended with evangelical zeal by a small but stoical group of senior HMRC managers. See the Box on page 10 for further explanation of LEAN. Yet the version which HMRC have introduced is extremely unpopular with staff. So much so that 14 000 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) are in dispute with their employer and taking industrial action in the form of overtime ban and work to rule in protest.
HMRC's quest to achieve their much heralded vision of 30% efficiency savings through LEAN started controversially. A Parliamentary select committee was stunned to hear that former HMRC chairman Sir David Varney had run up a £7.4 million tab with LEAN consultants. Following this HMRC embarked on a...