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The veritable wrench in your lean machine may be lurking in your office. According to a not-so-recent study conducted by the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), a nonprofit management research center, middle managers resistant to change are the No. 1 obstacle in implementing lean production.

LEI's annual survey, completed by around 2,500 business people, revealed that middle manger resistance was cited by 36.1 percent of respondents; next in line, lack of implementation know-how at 31 percent and employee resistance at 27.7 percent.

Chairman and founder of the LEI, James Womack, concludes that the introduction of the lean business system exposes existing problems within traditional business systems, threatening the middle managers in those areas.

The latest findings were based on more than 2,400 responses to a survey distributed electronically to 77,200 subscribers to LEI's monthly e-letter. Respondents were asked to select all applicable obstacles from a list of 12 possibilities. In the year prior, the No. 1 obstacle was cited as backsliding to the old way — followed by lack of implementation know-how and middle management resistance. LEI has surveyed managers and executives annually about the major obstacles they encountered in transforming their companies from mass production to lean.

Conquering the WrenchWood Digest asked Tony Manos, a catalyst who helps companies implement lean from point solutions to full implementation in all industries.

Manos' background includes training through the National Institute of Standards and Technology Department of Commerce and serving as the past chair of the Lean Enterprise Division of ASQ.

In Manos' opinion, the core reason lean implementation fails can be traced back to top management.