HMC continues to be profitable. Although Denise and Lloyd Rowland mapped several business processes five years ago to determine whether HMC should work on process improvements or consider business process reengineering, they never really finished that effort, nor did HMC decide whether to outsource any processes. Ham maker still thinks that HMC could be more efficient and more profitable, but he’s not really sure how the company can achieve this ‘‘next level’’ of excellence. About a year ago, Denise started reading books and trade journals on the topics of business strategy, lean production, and lean manufacturing. So when Dick approached her regarding his intent to improve the company, she began to share with him some of the insights she had gained over the past year on business strategy and how their current AIS might not be capturing the most useful metrics for optimal decision-making. Denise mentioned that the next Lean Accounting Summit will be in September and suggested that she and her three financial analysts go to the four-day conference to gain a better understanding of lean production and accounting concepts to determine how they might be able to better support HMC and Dick’s goal of improving the company.

Requirements:
1. If Dick decided to adopt the business strategy of lean production, what changes might he and his managers consider?
2. Explain how HMC might benefit from implementing lean production/manufacturing concepts.
3. Why would it be important for Denise and her financial analysts to attend the Lean Accounting Summit? What benefits would you expect them to acquire from this conference that would be useful at HMC?