---

The manufacturing industry is facing a wide range social and macro economic trends that are working together to put tremendous pressure on manufacturers to become more efficient. In response to this, many companies are turning to lean manufacturing and enterprise systems. Because of this, choosing and training leadership to navigate this lean transformation is critical in today´s rapidly changing global economy. The findings of the study are formulated from a self-administered web-based survey that was sent to one-hundred and seventy five key lean leaders at a major Fortune 500 corporation. The researcher utilized Bass and Avolio´s (2004) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire to assess transformational and transactional leadership dimensions and Global Aerospace´s 2004 year end Lean Deployment Maturity (GALDM) scores to statistically ascertain whether there is a relationship between these variables.

---

Dr. Herkness has three decades of experience in Aerospace and Automotive Manufacturing Operations with major Fortune 500 corporations and has held numerous Senior Leadership positions in Operations, Quality, Production Engineering, and Program Management. He has a Doctorate Degree in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University.

---