The bottom line is a transformation path specific to the company which generates learning effects with massive influence on the company competencies, giving rise to core competencies or unmasking spurious core competencies. Any discussions related to insourcing and outsourcing must be carried out against this setting.  

Understanding the effect of standardization and lean manufacturing on costs is important so that both the positive and negative consequences can be assessed. Standardization is important for incorporating effectiveness into product creation or into the products themselves and for controlling complexity. CIP effects are directly dependent on the degree of standardization, so standardization lays a cornerstone for successful evolution of production and product know-how.

Standardization of production processes tends to raise utilization of capacities because it prevents downtimes and changeover times, increasing the productive utilization of capacity or the usable production capacity and preventing the idle capacity costs caused by waiting, fitting, idle times, and maintenance. The value flow becomes constant, and compliance with deadlines as well as the relevant cost advantages tend to rise.

The delivery or throughput time will be vulnerable to delays, especially at the beginning, when line balancing has not yet finely tuned. But a sustained reduction is achieved after every CIP round, and it becomes more and more extensive as more and more products come off the pertinent line. Ultimately, the customers profit from products which are of higher quality, less expensive, and more quickly available, but these advantages are bought at some point at the cost of a lack of product differentiation, in exceptional cases of restricted functionality, in favor of a lower price.

Standardization always brings with it a specialization of the entire downstream value chain. If technically sophisticated products containing a large share of knowledge in the created value are involved, the pressure to achieve this specialization will be high. Standardization can substantially restrict the flexibility of the products being manufactured. In some cases, product development becomes more complicated because restrictions imposed by the standards with respect to production procedures, time cycles, or product specifications must be observed.

Standardization is a major enabler for lean manufacturing because the lot sizes increase and the value flow becomes constant. Pull principles push aside classic lot size planning. Successful standardization projects generally improve the return on turnover of a company. While turnover is lost, this can be overcompensated by greater cost-cutting effects, provided that there is an uncompromising clearing out of the portfolio. These effects must show up on the balance sheet and in the income statement in the form of reduced fixed and current assets or personnel expenses. The ultimate result of consistent standardization is a consolidation of sites if it is not possible to raise turnover massively in the same time period.