by BILL WADDELL Valuing Facebook at $100 billion killed the company. While it could have continued to limp along as a privately held company, as a publicly traded company it has nowhere to go but down. That is a simple...
- 6 hours ago, 18 May 2012, 5:13pm -

by BILL WADDELL Here's the way I see lean: This is pretty much the model I use when I am writing about companies or concepts for Evolving excellence, doing my company assessment work; or teaching at a conference , seminar...
- 4 days ago, 14 May 2012, 6:53pm -

By Kevin Meyer It's college graduation season, so once again we get to listen to a bunch of commencement addresses by supposed dignitaries launching kids still recovering from their latest hangovers out into the real world. God help us. One...
- 5 days ago, 13 May 2012, 5:40pm -

By Kevin Meyer There have been a couple articles in noteworthy rags over the last couple days that have raised my ire a bit - even if I eventually agreed with one of them. The first was by Adam Hartung...
- 9 days ago, 9 May 2012, 1:34pm -

by BILL WADDELL It's not often that I disagree with Kevin, and when I do it is usually over a detail and I let it pass - keep up a unified front and all that. But I have opted to...
- 11 days ago, 8 May 2012, 2:58am -

After meeting him at a conference a few years back, I consider Patrick Anderson, executive director of Chugatchmiut, to be a good friend in the Lean world. He graciously endorsed Healthcare Kaizen, as he is working hard to create a culture where ever…
- 14 hours ago, 18 May 2012, 9:00am -

As a very frequent flyer on American Airlines, I’ve learned not to expect much from the company and its employees in terms of customer satisfaction (yet alone anything that would unexpectedly delight a customer). It seems like a company culture of…
- 1 day ago, 17 May 2012, 5:00pm -

Thanks to blog reader Justin Lewis for sending me a link to a post on his hospital’s blog — from Memorial Health System in Colorado Springs: “Lean Effort Pays Big.” Justin leads Memorial’s “Lean Team” and shared their success story. The…
- 2 days ago, 17 May 2012, 9:00am -

As I’ve heard people say, Lean management isn’t necessarily complicated – it’s just very different. In an organization that is undergoing a “Lean transformation,” leaders need to shift from being controlling to: Coaching Coordinating Coll…
- 3 days ago, 16 May 2012, 9:00am -

I had an article published in a California newspaper and it will hopefully be picked up by others. The headline is “Scared to Death: Worry about hospital errors, not pink slime.” The article starts: The public is continually subjected to health-r…
- 3 days ago, 15 May 2012, 5:00pm -

The placement of a suggestion box within an organization speaks volumes about their level of commitment and sophistication in pursuing customer service, quality and continuous improvement. The example above was in the lobby of a county health cente…
- 3 days ago, 16 May 2012, 1:43am -

PDCA. Plan, Do, Check, Act. This process is at the core of kaizen, lean, six sigma, continuous improvement, hoshin kanri, the scientific method and the learning organization. I also believe that the PDCA cycle is inherent to the creative process. P…
- 10 days ago, 9 May 2012, 2:55am -

I am wrapping up a fairly intensive period of reflection. This week was the first board meeting since the merger of Gemba Research and Kaizen Institute nearly 18 months ago. It has been a time of challenge, opportunity and personal growth, requirin…
- 15 days ago, 4 May 2012, 8:05am -

Do you struggle to manage too many e-mails in your inbox? Not clear on how exactly 5S and visual management can be applied to knowledge work? Looking for some practical ways to kaizen your work, starting today? If so, the webinar Factory of One is…
- 22 days ago, 27 Apr 2012, 12:37am -

By Jon Miller - April 21, 2012 5:22 PM
- 27 days ago, 22 Apr 2012, 1:22am -

Lean is not all about waste, despite what we see in most definitions and applications. If it were about one thing (which oversimplifies things) it would be about problem solving, at all levels of the organization. We take problem solving for granted.…
- 1 day ago, 17 May 2012, 11:43am -

I want to thank Enterprise Minnesota and the Center for Business & Industry for hosting me during the Lean Enterprise Summit held today. The following are my slides from my talk on building a problem solving organization.   Related Posts:Lean helps…
- 3 days ago, 15 May 2012, 9:30pm -

This is a quote from the book Lean Thinking by Jim Womack and Daniel Jones, and I think one of the most useful phrases brought out from this book. What does it mean? So many companies spend considerable amount of time focusing on their competitors: w…
- 8 days ago, 10 May 2012, 11:25am -

My latest column for Industry Week, Lessons from the Road, titled Experiment Your Way to Success has been posted. Here is an excerpt:   The heart of most effective continuous improvement is experimentation. Experimentation is the mother of all learn…
- 24 days ago, 25 Apr 2012, 12:36am -

As I’m sure you know by now, I’m  co-founder of the Lean Learning Center. Since December of last year, our team started to share their ideas through blog posts in the Center’s website. I’ve also contributed some articles and here are some of…
- 34 days ago, 15 Apr 2012, 9:50am -

If you missed our most recent webinar called “A Factory of One“ you can watch a replay of it here.It was excellent and I…Related posts:Leadership Lessons from the Cheesecake FactoryWebinar Replay: Using SPC to Make Better Management Decisi…
- 22 days ago, 26 Apr 2012, 2:17pm -

I second Dan in saying this may be the best 11 minutes of your day.  If you want to be inspired – and…Related posts:Leader Standard Work – Part 1Applying TPS Beyond the ShopfloorI Want to Be Like Benny
- 32 days ago, 16 Apr 2012, 6:10pm -

Update: This webinar can now only be seen by subscribers to the Complete Lean Package.In this pre-recorded webinar, Mark Graban, author of Lean Hospitals…No related posts.
- 52 days ago, 27 Mar 2012, 4:09pm -

“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).The ability to persevere through the tough times we experience…Related posts:3 Things You Can Do When Your Manager Doesn’t Support Continuous ImprovementThe Co…
- 66 days ago, 13 Mar 2012, 5:05pm -

Here’s the first overview video from our latest course focused on Kanban Systems. And here’s a summary document of this video in PDF format that…Related posts:Free 7 Quality Control Tools Overview Online Training VideoFree 7 Deadly Waste…
- 74 days ago, 5 Mar 2012, 12:58pm -

As young children, we learn from our experiences through relentless trial and error. It does not take us long to figure out if we touch something hot, for instance fire or a hot skillet, it burns us and we quickly jerk o…
- 4 days ago, 14 May 2012, 3:01pm -

Step right up Ladies and Gentleman! Do you suffer from bulging inventories? Are you feeling tired and wore down chasing problems everyday at work? Are parts of your organization afflicted by dislocation? Perhaps you suffer from irregularity of flow o…
- 18 days ago, 30 Apr 2012, 2:50pm -

My good friend, Jonathan Sands, a Director of Operational Excellence for a large firm, recently told me about his experience with a company six sigma effort years ago. At first go around, he and other leaders undertook their black belt training with…
- 45 days ago, 3 Apr 2012, 4:11pm -

I invite you to please join me in a free webinar next week “A Day in the Life of a Lean Supervisor” hosted by Gemba Academy on April 4, 2012 at 1:00 pm – 2:00pm (USA-Central Time).Click here to register. In this webinar, I will help define stan…
- 49 days ago, 30 Mar 2012, 3:27pm -

The more I listen, the more I know.The more I do, the more I learn.The more I think, the more I understand.
- 63 days ago, 16 Mar 2012, 5:40pm -

One of the key principles we teach is the belief that “50 percent improvement today is better than perfection sometime in the future.” While simple to say this principle is hard to put into practice. So often teams become stuck and fail to improv…
- 21 days ago, 27 Apr 2012, 8:31pm -

This is the first of a long overdue series on Health Plan Business Transformation, a critical improvement initiative of the organization. Sharmarie Dares, and other lean colleagues will be joining me in contributing.   Leo Tolstoy famously wrote –…
- 62 days ago, 17 Mar 2012, 10:43pm -

One of the most basic, fundamental and challenging steps any team needs to take in the beginning the improvement process is setting a standard. While this might sound simple it is often a big step for leadership. In my experience most healthcare proc…
- 65 days ago, 14 Mar 2012, 1:44pm -

In my second life I am a writer. I think a great story can help us learn, understand, and find hope in even the impossible circumstance. On way to communicate is through metaphor, and as I reflect on work I’ve participated in of at the Palo Alto Me…
- 92 days ago, 16 Feb 2012, 3:29pm -

From great adversity comes great innovation. This was the case for Toyota, who transformed their business philosophy and processes after Japan was decimated by World War II – bringing the world lean thinking, andToyota the title of world’s larges…
- 30 Jan 2012, 12:39am -

The military has a term called “commander’s intent”. It is a part of every mission briefing in which the commander describes success and the purpose behind what he or she wants to achieve. Unfortunately though, in any combat operation, there is…
- 6 days ago, 12 May 2012, 1:53pm -

I am an avid Chicago fan, despite having left the area over twenty years ago. I still watch the teams whenever I can, and follow them religiously on the web. So, this year has been a huge letdown. The Bears were riding high when their star quarterbac…
- 15 days ago, 3 May 2012, 2:51pm -

- 18 days ago, 30 Apr 2012, 2:23pm -

Success comes in many different forms. However you define it, though, the formula remains the same. It starts with potential. Think of potential like the energy stored in something. A wound up spring  and a gallon of gas both hold potential energy.…
- 19 days ago, 29 Apr 2012, 7:03pm -

Job descriptions exist for nearly every position in nearly every company. They outline the overview of the job, responsibilities, work activities. They should also list job requirements, and clearly spell out which are mandatory, and which are ‘lik…
- 20 days ago, 28 Apr 2012, 4:29pm -

Plant GM – Operations  - Lean Transformation – full Manufacturing P&L Architectural Building Products – Newark, NJ metro region Situation Overview Founded in the late 1940’s, and very much the industry pioneer, our client has grown into one…
- 20 days ago, 29 Apr 2012, 2:00am -

Company Overview Our client, a global Fortune 500 organization, is the world’s leading provider of cleaning, food safety and health protection products and services for the hospitality, foodservice, healthcare and industrial markets.  The company…
- 87 days ago, 21 Feb 2012, 8:54pm -

Our client is a small (under $100 million) world-class, multi-national manufacturer  of specialty metal products. Based in the Western United States, the company  designs and builds unique, custom solutions which are specifically engineered to indi…
- 5 Dec 2011, 11:39pm -

Are you a Lean Thinker? More importantly, are you a Lean Doer?  Then, think about this Lean career opportunity with LEI, the Lean Enterprise Institute… Education Manager Organization Background The Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. founded by James…
- 18 Oct 2011, 4:48pm -

Wine.  Napa Valley, CA.  Lean.  Operations. Supply Chain.  Possibly, the best Lean Supply Chain Executive career opportunity in America today?   I’m asking for your help in identifying the perfect candidate for the position I’ll be describi…
- 23 Sep 2011, 1:35am -

Ok, really Richard Feynman Explains the scientific method. But his thoughts make the similarity between the PDSA cycle and the scientific method obvious. 1) Plan, hypothesis. You make a guess about a theory (in using the PDSA cycle this step … Cont…
- 22 hours ago, 18 May 2012, 1:01am -

Tim McMahon is hosting the Management Improvement Blog Carnival #166, highlights include: Performance Organizations – Art Smalley answers why is there such a resistance to creating learning organizations and why are leaders letting the future deter…
- 8 days ago, 11 May 2012, 4:19am -

Toyota nearly went bankrupt near 1950 and had to lay off a third of their employees. A huge focus of the Toyota Production System as envisioned by Taiichi Ohno was to secure the long term success of the company. The … Continue reading →
- 10 days ago, 9 May 2012, 9:48am -

In this post I explore my thought about what lean (lean manufacturing, lean thinking…) means. The way I think about it is that lean manufacturing sprung from Toyota. It seems to me the lean manufacturing name was meant to capture … Continue readi…
- 15 days ago, 3 May 2012, 12:56pm -

Matt May is hosting the 165th Management Improvement Carnival. He takes a look at the wonderful manifestos posted at ChangeThis. ChangeThis really is wonderful, if you haven’t already been looking at what they offer you are in for a treat … Conti…
- 17 days ago, 2 May 2012, 9:29am -

Why do we have the Hot Dog bun? Because a guy instinctively wanted to stop waste and improve his business. A soon-to-published new book  recounts clever innovation.  Here's how one reviewer described the humble beginnings of the Hot Dog Bun,…
- 18 days ago, 1 May 2012, 12:11am -

On my way to work recently, I stopped by the bakery of our local grocery store to buy a celebratory-looking cupcake.  While making my choice, I spotted this sign on the counter.  Plan to Actual.  With a twist...it was out there for all the cu…
- 19 days ago, 29 Apr 2012, 11:25pm -

I've long been a fan of Tom Peters.  Second only to Peter Drucker in business writers who have influenced me, Peters' often brash views have jarred and stretched me repeatedly ever since I read "In Search of Excellence" for the first time in 1982. …
- 31 days ago, 17 Apr 2012, 11:33pm -

Look each person in the eye and greet them by name. Observe the visual management tools in the area.  Note what is normal and what is not normal.Have one conversation of at least three minutes with one associate. Explain "why" to one person. …
- 36 days ago, 13 Apr 2012, 12:09am -

The more I use them, the more I'm amazed at Control Charts.  These simple, visual tools have been around for a long time.  And, I've observed, those with keen numeric skills have made them more and more complex.  Yet the simple is good.  And h…
- 37 days ago, 11 Apr 2012, 11:51pm -

Time spent trying to please your boss is processing waste and provides no value to your customers.  Leaders and staff need to recognize this as a major cultural problem because it will negatively affect the long-term success for your organization.…
- 11 Jan 2012, 2:00pm -

2012 is the year to be a difference maker for all of us.  We have a lot of opportunity to make things better for our customers and better engage our teams.  Here are some tips to make a deep impact this year: … Continue reading →
- 4 Jan 2012, 2:00pm -

  Source: http://www.icangiveyouhouse.com/2010/09/04/world-in-our-hands/ Have you dreamed of eating the Grove Café’s world famous pancakes or been lucky enough to try them yourself?  What?  You never heard of them before now?  It almost sounds…
- 12 Oct 2011, 2:00pm -

Does your workday frequently feel like mayhem?  I have talked with many people who feel like their job is filled with unnecessary chaos.  I believe a lot of organizations self-inflict themselves with craziness.  There is a way to stop the mayhem…
- 23 Aug 2011, 10:05pm -

I have written about my thoughts around the need for service excellence in hospitals to be competitive on Tim McMahon’s great blog A LEAN JOURNEY.  It is titled “How Does Your Hospital Give Excellent Service?”.  If you liked this post, then…
- 18 Jul 2011, 3:03pm -

Samuel Obara has published a great new book titled Toyota by Toyota: Reflections from the Inside Leaders on the Techniques That Revolutionized the Industry. This book comprises chapters written by former Toyota associates from locations around the wo…
- 11 days ago, 7 May 2012, 6:08pm -

Chris Ortiz has published many books on kaizen and its benefits, but his recent book -- The Psychology of Lean Improvements: Why Organizations Must Overcome Resistance and Change the Culture -- covers an entirely different area of Lean initiatives: t…
- 22 days ago, 26 Apr 2012, 2:32pm -

I met Gordon Ghirann about five years at an Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) conference. At that time, he was giving a presentation at the conference about the benefits of "Self-Balancing" line method. Now, in 2012, he has published a b…
- 29 days ago, 19 Apr 2012, 2:03pm -

I recently spoke with Allan Coletta, who is the author of a new book titled The Lean 3P Advantage: A Practitioner's Guide to the Production Preparation Process, and asked him directly: "What is 3P and why should it be used when developing new product…
- 50 days ago, 29 Mar 2012, 1:27pm -

This very interesting article about GE Appliances' new hybrid water heater manufacturing facility in Louisville, Kentucky was just posted on the BuildingOnline site yesterday. Other than the potential to create 1,300 jobs in the USA by 2014, this fac…
- 93 days ago, 15 Feb 2012, 3:58pm -

The typical supply chain is a sluggish system, unable to quickly respond to change. Demand fluctuations cause shortages or gluts because procurement and ERP systems are inflexible. Some kanban and pull-based systems can be better, but even they can b…
- 4 days ago, 14 May 2012, 10:17pm -

Like you, I belong to a few membership organizations. Some of you know that most of my career has been spent working inside them as well.TEDx Singapore: can we now have a conference that never ends?Since the 1980s and earlier, most engineering-relate…
- 8 days ago, 10 May 2012, 7:53pm -

Blue OpalI painted my kitchen yesterday. Why is that worth writing about? We have been working on this house for a year. It was owned by an elderly couple who had not painted in 20 years, so the kitchen had accumulated a film of cooking grease and pa…
- 23 days ago, 25 Apr 2012, 7:26pm -

Nine days ago, my 86-year old mother had a stroke. Today she is fine. In large part because we had a good process set up, and everyone followed it.Two years ago, she had two strokes. Both were mild, and left no damage that anyone could find. But it w…
- 60 days ago, 19 Mar 2012, 2:52pm -

You must have heard on the news that some copies of the Koran were burned in Afghanistan, horrifying and angering Muslims who revere the holy book. Christians feel the same about the Bible, just as Americans have strong feelings about how following a…
- 76 days ago, 3 Mar 2012, 5:38pm -

Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn There is a reason why Heijunka is a block in the foundation of the Toyota House, or the Lean House as some call it. The short answer is stability in an operation. The rest of this…
- 1 day ago, 17 May 2012, 2:20pm -

Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn When organizations first begin their Lean Journey, it’s often done through “events” either as small point Kaizen events or Kaizen events spanning several days. I’m a believ…
- 4 days ago, 15 May 2012, 11:18am -

Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn What might seem like an obscure topic is actually one in which we are all affected: The Science of Lines. Reflect for a minute: We wait at the retail checkout line – in all stor…
- 5 days ago, 14 May 2012, 11:12am -

Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Pete’s Note: Today we have a guest post from Robert Lockard, who has written for shmula in the past on topics related to Inventory Management. Today is his third installment wher…
- 8 days ago, 10 May 2012, 1:01pm -

Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Leave it to the Harvard Business Review 1 to regurgitate an old debate on the relationship between continuous improvement and innovation. Here’s a great recipe for effective regu…
- 9 days ago, 9 May 2012, 3:58pm -

Ok, so the title is a little overreaching, but so was, “All I really need to know about life I learned in kindergarten,” and that didn’t stop that email from being forwarded a few million times.My learning experience began at about 4 a.m., whi…
- 2 days ago, 17 May 2012, 12:35am -

For some time, I have searched for a metaphor to convey the meaning and delivery of a tiered meeting (a.k.a. huddle, reflection meeting, sunrise meeting, etc.).I think that I’ve settled upon a decent (sort of) metaphor – “team stand-up A3.”…
- 18 days ago, 1 May 2012, 2:38am -

Leonardo da Vinci’s quote, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” could easily serve as a lean tagline.Surely, lean tools, like standard work, visual controls, and mistake proofing devices, are only truly effective if they are easily exp…
- 29 days ago, 20 Apr 2012, 1:22am -

A friend and colleague provided me with this tattoo parlor photo. He was passing by and just couldn’t resist the irony of it all.The lack of permanence around the sign construction makes the whole thing even more entertaining.My friend and I sha…
- 35 days ago, 13 Apr 2012, 6:27pm -

Problem-solving tools are powerful things.But, not so powerful that they are immune to human error. Few things are.Analogously, this is one reason why our school teachers strongly encouraged proofreading (clearly, something that I do not do too eff…
- 43 days ago, 6 Apr 2012, 2:17am -

Over time your computer's hard drive becomes fragmented.  As files are created, changed, moved, and deleted the data become randomly dispersed over the physical surface of the disk.  As a result your available space is fragmented and therefore t…
- 18 days ago, 30 Apr 2012, 5:51pm -

My desk drawers are a mess.  It's embarrassing really.  All the visible surfaces of my cubicle are immaculate and well-organized, but they belie the abhorrent mess that lies beneath.  It certainly shows the difficulty in managing something that…
- 32 days ago, 16 Apr 2012, 3:00pm -

Some time ago I offered the question, "Is Self-Checkout Lean?"  I mentioned elements of jidoka and talked about productivity and customer value, but I think I overlooked one important dimension.  At the supermarket where I shop, if you elect the st…
- 52 days ago, 27 Mar 2012, 3:00pm -

What's with the recent trend of people leaving companies and then airing their laundry list of grievances for all the world to see?  First there was James Whittaker.  On March 13th this former Googler posted a scathing blog about why he left an…
- 58 days ago, 21 Mar 2012, 10:43pm -

Most of us probably understand the difference between correlation and causation, at least academically.  We know that just because two events or attributes are correlated it does not necessarily follow that one caused the other.  If A and B are cor…
- 63 days ago, 16 Mar 2012, 10:38pm -

The 18th Amendment showed us that you can't legislate cultural change.
- 5 Oct 2011, 6:49pm -

When going to the hospital the last thing on your mind is remembering where your car is at!
- 25 Sep 2011, 8:16pm -

Who knew that the presence of Brown M&M's could cause the cancellation of a rock concert..and with good reason!
- 20 Jul 2011, 12:00pm -

I like to think that I'm helping to "kick cancer's ass"...I feel like I'm making positive change and I can't ask for more than that.
- 13 Jul 2011, 1:27pm -

Using a toilet brush could be more confusing than you can imagine.
- 10 Jun 2011, 1:28pm -

It’s common for organizations to begin their Lean journeys focusing on production, operations and Lean tools. It’s only after toiling at it for a couple of years that they realize they should’ve focused sooner on the human capital aspects of cr…
- 2 days ago, 17 May 2012, 9:05am -

Hail the shop owner. The relentless, never-ending driver of continuous improvement. The person who, with utter conviction and dedication, is constantly seeking a way to increase sales, improve quality, gain word-of-mouth, lower costs, retain staff…
- 5 days ago, 14 May 2012, 9:05am -

Good Intent Unintentionally Sabotaged – Have you observed this in your organization? Each year the Leadership Team goes through a planning process. With good intention, they launch a number of initiatives to achieve stretch goals. Work begins with…
- 9 days ago, 10 May 2012, 9:15am -

Where ROWE is cool, and I mean really, really cool - is when it acknowledges the people side of things - that there are concerns outside of work that might keep me from being in the office, and if you let me take care of those things when I need to,…
- 11 days ago, 8 May 2012, 8:44am -

Metrics are such an important element of continuous improvement. Wait…Metrics might be the most important element of continuous improvement. Why? Because continuous improvement by definition is the measurement of improvement — and if you aren’t…
- 16 days ago, 3 May 2012, 9:15am -

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” - Confucius Problem solving is simple irrespective of what the problem is or what methodology you are using. But we insist on making it complicated. Sometimes tools are given … C…
- 32 days ago, 16 Apr 2012, 5:54pm -

Lessons from the Lean Transformation of a Small Manufacturing Company Lean is often considered as a strategy for large corporations, but in reality Lean is better suited for small businesses and even non-manufacturing operations. Here are 3 ways to…
- 64 days ago, 16 Mar 2012, 12:22am -

Only an empty Glass can be filled with something new. If your glass already full there is no place to learn new things. Thus you need to be able to free yourself from the pre-conceptions and ideas that clutter your … Continue reading →
- 89 days ago, 20 Feb 2012, 1:41am -

Many companies fail to reach the success similar to that of Toyota as they randomly apply tools and techniques of lean. The right way as proposed in “Toyota Kata” is practicing the behavior patterns in our daily routine. This thought … Continu…
- 6 Feb 2012, 2:38am -

Toyota has been successful at what they do for several years. Many have tried to imitate them only to be limited by their understanding of the “know why”. One of the main philosophical difference between Toyota and many others trying … Continu…
- 29 Jan 2012, 10:05pm -

The company I was visiting was a component manufacturer, one of several divisions producing for the aftermarket.  Larry M., a dapper middle-aged gentleman and vice president of manufacturing for this firm,  had asked GBMP to propose improvements at…
- 8 days ago, 10 May 2012, 3:27pm -

Spring is my favorite season because of the spirit of renewal it brings with it.  So here is a post dedicated to spring that is inspired by a comment made recently by my colleague, Menrika Louis: “I am one with the weeds,” Menrika commented joki…
- 24 days ago, 24 Apr 2012, 7:44pm -

3P, “Production Preparation Process,” is a method introduced to the US in the mid-80’s by Chihiro Nakao, a contemporary of Mr. Ohno, and founder of Shingijutsu consulting.  I recall the method was called “New Production Preparation” (NPP)…
- 29 days ago, 19 Apr 2012, 6:11pm -

I take my work very seriously, but sometimes when I have excess idle time (like on the red-eye from Phoenix to Boston), I’ll have a whimsical idea.  Here’s one I’d like to share, to demonstrate the universality of a good idea.  My stream of t…
- 42 days ago, 6 Apr 2012, 1:11pm -

With the International Shingo Prize Conference just a month away, I thought a short post about Shigeo Shingo and the Prize named in his honor would be worthwhile.  At the time of Prize’s founding in 1988, Shingo was nearly an unknown in the U.S. …
- 49 days ago, 30 Mar 2012, 7:45pm -

I have been an Agile practitioner for many years now, and was one of the early adopters of Lean thinking and Kanban for software teams. During that time I have observed remarkable improvements at the worker level, at the team level, and at the progra…
- 10 Sep 2011, 12:50am -

W. Edwards Deming’s 14 points are the basis for transformation of industry. Adoption and action on the 14 points are a signal that the management intend to stay in business. aim to protect investors and jobs. Such a system formed the basis for less…
- 15 Jul 2011, 7:32am -

Through research for my upcoming book and webisode series I have found that some of Fredrick Taylors methods are amazingly similar to those still applied today by some Lean or Six Sigma consultants. Taylor was one of the earliest advocates of work sm…
- 20 Jun 2011, 10:35am -

In John Seddon’s latest news letter there was a piece called It’s not the people, stupid. Returning to the problem that managers think they should manage people, a reader sent me this. A bank is training staff in “The One Best Customer Experien…
- 6 Jun 2011, 2:26am -

“We Don’t Need No Frickin Architects” I’ve lost count the number of times that I have heard this statement (or some kind of derivative) during my career when mixing with Agilistas. The reasoning behind these statements is that architects are…
- 18 May 2011, 7:43am -

This month’s questions asks why is there such a resistance to creating learning organizations and why are leaders letting the future deteriorate without doing anything about it. I am not sure that I can answer the question with any relevant facts t…
- 37 days ago, 12 Apr 2012, 5:59am -

I’m not sure we are not doing anything about it.  But perhaps what we aredoing is not working.  Perhaps the PDCA element is missing.As people say, the problems of today are all solutions from yesterday.One example is the home ownership catastr…
- 38 days ago, 10 Apr 2012, 7:35pm -

Learning is hard. Particularly in adults, learning requires a determination to learn. This means controlling one’s intuitive “first response.” Learning requires what is called “frame control”, which is a mindfulness about our mental models…
- 39 days ago, 9 Apr 2012, 5:59pm -

The best way I can explain this is with an analogy to physical health.  We know what it takes to be healthy–exercise and eating right.  Yet America, as the wealthiest in the world, is one of the unhealthiest.  Obesity runs rampant and the large…
- 39 days ago, 9 Apr 2012, 5:08pm -

Why Are Learning Organizations So Scarce?A billion dollar question…There are many root causes, which my Lean Edge colleagues will no doubtexplore at length.Here’s one that I find compelling:Our business & professional schools teach us to thi…
- 39 days ago, 9 Apr 2012, 5:06pm -

In his book Inside Apple, Adam Lashinsky writes about Apple’s extreme secrecy — both external (not letting the media know what it’s working on), and internal — not letting people inside the company know what other people and other teams … C…
- 2 days ago, 16 May 2012, 11:45am -

I heard it again from a client this week: “I don’t have enough time to work on that.” Well, let me be perhaps not the first, but certainly not the last, to call bullshit on that complaint. There’s always enough … Continue reading →
- 9 days ago, 9 May 2012, 12:09pm -

Athletes, workers, and organizations must go through three distinct phases to achieve excellence: Association, Disassociation, and Re-association. The final phase is most often ignored, because it’s easy to get stuck in the zone of complacency. Dow…
- 12 days ago, 7 May 2012, 11:11am -

My client yesterday showed me her to-do list. Make that her to-do lists. The handwritten one on the yellow legal pad. The messages marked as unread on her Blackberry. The meeting action items listed on her iPad. The messages she … Continue reading…
- 17 days ago, 2 May 2012, 11:01am -

Last week I recorded a webinar for my book, A Factory of One, with Gemba Academy. It’s available for free till May 15. Learn why I consider knowledge workers factories, how tape outlines on your desk don’t constitute 5S for you, … Continue rea…
- 19 days ago, 30 Apr 2012, 11:04am -