Languishing in the summer heat (as those wilting Toyota execs must or should be) may not seem desirable right now, but here’s a vignette to cool your feathers and teach you a thing or two.

One corporate source sent me the following e-mail message back during the throes and floes of winter that explicitly illustrates dependability, reliability and high-quality customer service.

"The view from [edited]’s conference room includes a train station and a steakhouse. There’s about 24 inches of snow on the ground, and the forecast calls for it to continue falling for another 12+ hours. Trains are not running, schools are closed, most businesses are closed, mail has not arrived, FedEx has not arrived, UPS has not arrived…

BUT, the Coors truck just delivered to the steakhouse!"

Surely, those high-priced efficiency management consultants must be salivating at the underlying message – ignoring the beer reference, of course. After all, Coors demonstrated it operates a lean, mean distribution machine. Just don’t passively dismiss the example because Coors hails from a state accustomed to blankets of cold white powder.

Toyota, believe it or not, as well any other professional weaned on lean management, could learn a lesson from the Colorado brewer.

Unfortunately, Toyota’s recall activities, nefarious or negligent, may cast a pall on the reputation of the lean management system it so dutifully and endearingly exercised and promoted for decades. That’s truly tragic but also misguided and misplaced.

Lean management principles should be blight-free and not infected by the miscues and mistakes of its prominent corporate purveyor.

Delayed recall procedures, debunking strategies and plans to discredit witnesses are not outgrowths of lean management evangelism. They are symptoms of the most popular evangelist’s panic at having been caught cutting corners, curtailing quality and covering its behind – all deviations from the effective management program the evangelist long espoused.

Healthcare Purchasing News readers are too intelligent and observant to allow Toyota’s predicament to besmirch the lean management principles they have been, are, or may very well be implementing at their facilities to improve operations.

Efficiencies don’t emanate from errors and vice versa.

As we’ve witnessed before and after Toyota’s revelations the successful Japanese automaker doesn’t suffer alone from quality management troubles. Quite a few of its domestic and international competitors have struggled to clean their own houses with more than a socket wrench and a Quicken app.

But the lesson remains steadfast. The messenger may ring hollow but the message still can ring true, akin to a twist on the old "Chicken Little" fable.

Whether the economy and/or your organization’s budget can be classified as lean, the management initiative that may make positive waves continues to be lean.

Take that to the bank…in a silver Toyota should you choose. Just don’t drink and drive even if all this chaos may drive you to drink.