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Why Custom Shops Struggle with Lean and How QRM Can Help

By   ·  2 minute read

For decades, manufacturers have leaned on continuous improvement systems like Lean and Six Sigma. These methods have delivered impressive results in high-volume environments where work is predictable, repetitive, and waste is easy to spot.

But if you run a high-mix or custom shop, you may have discovered something frustrating: Lean and Six Sigma don’t always stick. The tools feel clunky, the results aren’t consistent, and teams quickly lose energy.

This doesn’t mean your company can’t improve. It simply means you need an operational approach designed for your reality, not someone else’s. That’s where Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) comes in.

 

The Custom Shop Challenge

Custom and high-mix/low-volume (HMLV) manufacturers face a unique set of problems:

  • High variability: Every order looks different. Processes are hard to standardize.

  • Small batch sizes: Production runs are too short for Lean’s traditional “waste reduction” to pay off.

  • Complex workflows: Engineering, purchasing, and production all touch the work in different ways.

  • Long lead times: The biggest frustration customers feel isn’t price, it’s waiting.

Trying to apply Lean in this environment often feels like forcing a square peg into a round hole. You can 5S the shop floor, run Kaizen events, and build beautiful value stream maps, but the bottlenecks and firefighting keep coming back.

 

Why Lean and Six Sigma Struggle in HMLV

It’s not that Lean and Six Sigma are “bad.” They’re just optimized for a different world. Their assumptions work best when:

  • Workflows are repeatable.

  • Demand is steady.

  • Waste is easy to visualize and remove.

In custom shops, those assumptions break down. Instead of steady demand, you get unpredictable order flow. Instead of repeatable workflows, you get constant variation. Instead of waste that’s easy to see, you get “hidden” waste in the form of waiting, coordination delays, and miscommunication between departments.

That hidden waste shows up as long lead times and endless expediting.

 

Enter QRM: Built for Variability

Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) was created with custom and high-mix environments in mind. Instead of fighting variability, it helps you manage it.

QRM focuses on reducing lead time across your entire enterprise, not just the shop floor. It addresses the front office, engineering, purchasing, and production, because delays in one area ripple through the whole company.

Some of the core ideas include:

  • Time as the key metric: Measure and reduce lead time instead of only chasing waste.

  • Cross-functional cells: Organize work around products or families to minimize handoffs.

  • Capacity flexibility: Maintain a bit of slack so teams can absorb variation without chaos.

  • System-wide thinking: Look at how policies, batch sizes, and scheduling decisions affect total lead time.

The result is a system that thrives in environments where Lean and Six Sigma often hit a wall.

 

Benefits for Custom Shops

Shops that adopt QRM principles often see:

  • Shorter lead times: Orders move faster through the system.

  • Improved flow: Work doesn’t get stuck in queues or between departments.

  • Better delivery performance: Customers get what they need, when they need it.

  • Less firefighting: Managers spend more time planning and less time expediting.

And because QRM works with your reality instead of against it, teams are more likely to stick with it.

 

How PE Fits In

At Perception Engineering, we’ve seen firsthand how difficult it is for custom and HMLV shops to adopt Lean and Six Sigma. That’s why we’ve built our services around supporting teams that want to explore QRM as an alternative.

We don’t drop in with a rigid program. Instead, we help you:

  • Identify where lead times are hiding in your processes.

  • Apply QRM principles in practical, bite-sized steps.

  • Extend your engineering capacity so improvements don’t stall out when things get busy.

For companies that have tried Lean and felt stuck, QRM can feel like a breath of fresh air, because it’s designed for your world.

 

 

Final Thought

Custom work doesn’t mean chaos. With the right framework, high variability can become manageable, and long lead times don’t have to be a given.

If Lean and Six Sigma have never quite fit your shop, it’s not a failure. It’s a signal that you need a different tool. Quick Response Manufacturing could be that missing piece, and Perception Engineering is here to help you put it into action.