By Kevin Meyer My Net Nonsense post from a couple weeks ago on the evils of large companies trying to force long payment terms on suppliers received considerable coverage, including being reposted in Quality Digest this week. However the best...
- 4 days ago, 18 May 2013, 5:42am -

By Kevin Meyer A few months ago I told you how, in my past life as president of a medical device company, I had two reliable leading indicators of a potential customer relationship. Basically if the customer demanded automatic annual...
- 27 days ago, 26 Apr 2013, 2:34am -

By Kevin Meyer My wife and I are currently in Marrakech, Morocco, on one of our increasingly frequent trips to explore new locales. Truly a remarkable place, and with the tall snowcapped Atlas Mountains only an hour away in one...
- 43 days ago, 9 Apr 2013, 7:53am -

By Kevin Meyer I've written a lot about Walmart, in particular their supposedly glorious supply chain. To be honest, they execute a traditional supply chain exceptionally well. They source from cheap labor countries, put it on big ships, and distribu…
- 57 days ago, 26 Mar 2013, 6:15pm -

By Kevin Meyer A recent CNN article pretty much describes the problem at the US Postal Service, although that wasn't really its intent. You see, there's this new startup called Outbox that is working to digitize traditional paper mail, and...
- 71 days ago, 12 Mar 2013, 7:05am -

This article appeared back in March… March of 2013… as in this year: “Windsor Chrysler workers reduce waste to be world class.” I mean, good for them, but they are just now getting to this (even if the effort started in 2009 or so)… in the…
- 1 day ago, 21 May 2013, 9:00am -

My co-author Joe Swartz and I are happy to announce that our book Healthcare Kaizen was named a recipient of the prestigious Shingo Professional Publication and Research Award. The award will be formally presented to the co-authors in early 2014 a…
- 2 days ago, 20 May 2013, 9:00am -

Please upgrade your browser MP3 File (run time 28:17) My guest for podcast #175 is Mike Taubitz of the firm Sustainable Lean and FDR Safety. Mike is a retired GM employee (including a stint as Global Safety Director) and we met at the Michigan Lean…
- 5 days ago, 17 May 2013, 9:00am -

My friend Chad Walters has contributed guest posts to my blog (and has been a podcast guest) and I’m happy to return the favor with a guest post on his site: “Guest Post: A Clown Post About Bryce Harper and Warnings.” Since his “Lean Blitz”…
- 6 days ago, 16 May 2013, 2:32pm -

Hosted by Steve Hoeft, author of the book Stories from My Sensei: Two Decades of Lessons Learned Implementing Toyota-Style Systems, I had a chance to visit Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas. With his permission (but without editorial review), I…
- 7 days ago, 15 May 2013, 9:00am -

If you are looking for a definitive technical guide to implementing lean manufacturing in discrete production, logistics or for improving end-to-end supply chain performance, Kaizen in Logistics and Supply Chains by Euclides A. Coimbra is the book…
- 4 days ago, 18 May 2013, 7:05am -

Perfecting Patient Journeys by Judy Worth, Tom Shuker, Beau Keyte, Karl Ohaus, Jim Luckman, David Verble, Kirk Paluska, Todd Nickel and Sam Watson is the latest in a series of practical workbooks from the Lean Enterprise Institute. Think of this as…
- 9 days ago, 13 May 2013, 5:47pm -

If you have ever wondered, "is it worth the time to kaizen this?" here is your guide to answer that question. It's from a strictly mathematical point of view, and keep in mind this is assuming five-year payback, so adjust the numbers accordingly for…
- 18 days ago, 4 May 2013, 11:34pm -

It's good to see the transportation authorities finally doing something about the problem of sheep abandonment in taxis. Hopefully this will put an end to the awkwardness of having to hand a lamb to the driver and explain that it is not yours, it w…
- 40 days ago, 12 Apr 2013, 7:43am -

Month after month, year after year we have added new online learning content to Gemba Academy while keeping the prices low. Now celebrating four years and 400+ videos and 120 hours of Lean and Six Sigma learning, we are offering our best value prom…
- 58 days ago, 25 Mar 2013, 5:59pm -

Ford has come an incredibly long way in time since Bill Ford Jr. courageously stepped aside to bring in lean thinker Alan Mulally. Lately, they’ve been hampered by the embarrassing problems in relaunching the Lincoln brand through the MKZ. But, in…
- 14 days ago, 8 May 2013, 10:33am -

This post was previously shared on the Lean Learning Center’s blog page. So many teams that I coach, assess, observe, and otherwise engage in are looking for breakthrough results. That makes sense, right? Desperate times call for desperate measures…
- 22 days ago, 30 Apr 2013, 11:00am -

Although I’m a bit behind on many things, The Lean Edge asked a question that I’m just now getting around to answering. Is highlighting problems stressful and increased pressure on workers? There is a major difference between tension and stress,…
- 24 days ago, 28 Apr 2013, 6:27pm -

In the last installment of my Industry Week column, Lessons from the Road, I talked about waste elimination. In it, I also explained that the commonly used phrase “do more with less” is often perceived about being about the “less” when I beli…
- 27 days ago, 25 Apr 2013, 1:30pm -

Today I am speaking to the pharmaceutical industry at the ISPE conference. My topic is on the 5 leadership moves for lean from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean. Like many of my presentations, I don’t use many slides but tend to tell a lot of suppor…
- 49 days ago, 3 Apr 2013, 11:00am -

To listen to this article in podcast format please click the play button below.  You can subscribe to future LSS Academy article podcasts via iTunes by clicking here.   What You Do Doesn’t Have to Define You My 8-year-old daughter has been pl…
- 2 days ago, 20 May 2013, 12:30pm -

At Gemba Academy we’re constantly doing our best to “practice what we teach.” Now, to be honest, we’re far from perfect (who is?) but we’re always trying to find better ways to take care of our customers and develop better products and serv…
- 9 days ago, 13 May 2013, 2:31pm -

Early in my professional career I worked as a Process Engineer at Nokia (in their mobile phone division). I had many responsibilities but, ultimately, my most important job centered on ensuring all of the equipment was producing cell phones that work…
- 16 days ago, 6 May 2013, 12:30pm -

The folks over at Minitab recently wrote an excellent article about how a Six Sigma practitioner leveraged binary logistic regression analysis in order to better understand why associates at a manufacturing plant were quitting. What they learned The…
- 23 days ago, 29 Apr 2013, 12:30pm -

The A3 report may be one of the most misunderstood lean thinking tools of our time. Why do I say this? Simple. It’s Just a Piece of Paper The A3 report, in and of itself, is nothing more than a piece of paper. But, for some reason, many people beli…
- 30 days ago, 22 Apr 2013, 12:15pm -

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…
- 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…
- 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…
- 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…
- 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.
- 16 Mar 2012, 5:40pm -

Lee, Connor, and others have written before about our progress in implementing a daily management system (DMS) across our healthcare organization (for example,  http://dailykaizen.org/2010/05/23/).   While we have made lots of progress, we are…
- 13 days ago, 9 May 2013, 10:27pm -

As you facilitate lean improvement events, I hope the distillation from a few recent experiences below benefit you as they have me 1)      Other than shaping the skeleton of the event with leaders and teaching the principles of lean, speak rarel…
- 19 days ago, 3 May 2013, 3:57pm -

Last year, I visited and was inspired by organizations with a relentless, company-wide focus on continuous improvement. Herman Miller leaders reach financial targets by engaging staff in improvement, continuously shaving seconds off their cycle time.…
- 62 days ago, 21 Mar 2013, 10:53pm -

“Authentic behavior with a client means you put into words what you are experiencing with the client as you work.” -Peter Block, Flawless Consulting* As an internal Lean healthcare consultant, I don’t have the operational authority to get my jo…
- 100 days ago, 11 Feb 2013, 11:53pm -

In the spirit of “edutainment,” and needing a little cheer in this often sad world, I am so excited to share this epic poem with you. It comes courtesy of Al Fine, MD, a board certified internal medicine doc practicing in primary care at Group He…
- 20 Dec 2012, 4:40pm -

"Rapid improvement workshop" is another name for kaizen event or kaizen blitz. You may also hear it called rapid improvement project, or "RIP".This type of project is generally a week long and includes:A day of trainingA day of process walk / ini…
- 2 days ago, 20 May 2013, 6:07am -

QUESTION: What is the difference between Lean and Six Sigma?ANSWER: Hang around the Lean community for any length of time, and you will start to hear about the rivalry between Lean and Six Sigma. The two methodologies are the juggernauts of the cont…
- 2 days ago, 20 May 2013, 5:14am -

Job security is extremely important to people. One way that people increase their job security is to hold crucial information close to the vest. The thought is that the employee can’t be let go if the information goes with him. The problem, with th…
- 4 days ago, 18 May 2013, 10:44am -

POLL QUESTION: Which of the following most accurately describes Toyota's current role in the Lean community? I am a big fan of all that Toyota has done for the Lean community. Their contributions have been incalculable, and their willingness to sha…
- 5 days ago, 17 May 2013, 10:53am -

Value, simply put, is something that a customer is willing to trade for. The trade is most commonly done with cash, meaning that a customer is willing to pay for it. Not all things that are valued are paid for, though. Consider the numerous free down…
- 5 days ago, 17 May 2013, 6:26am -

Reflecting on Michel Baudin’s Blog post from yesterday, titled “Metrics in Lean -  Deming vs. Drucker” – All well-reasoned propositions. What’s easy to do will always be more popular than that which takes greater effort. And perhaps this…
- 27 Aug 2012, 10:34pm -

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…
- 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…
- 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 -

Senior executives must lead management improvement efforts. When senior executives only give lip service to management efforts the result is normally the same: little happens. When Dr. Deming was working with companies after the 1980′s NBC white pa…
- 1 day ago, 21 May 2013, 1:05pm -

The Curious Cat Management Improvement Carnival is published twice each month. The posts selected for the carnival focus on the areas of management improvement I have focused on in the Curious Cat Management Improvement Guide since 1996: Deming, lean…
- 7 days ago, 15 May 2013, 3:08pm -

Mark Graban interviewed me for the Lean Blog podcast series: Podcast #174 – John Hunter, “Management Matters” (listen using this link). Links to more information on what we discussed in the podcast. Madison, Wisconsin: William G. Hunter, George…
- 9 days ago, 13 May 2013, 2:30pm -

The Curious Cat management blog carnival has been published since 2006. New posts are published twice a month. I also publish a collection management improvement articles on the Curious Cat management improvement articles site. Customer Service Andon…
- 21 days ago, 1 May 2013, 9:20am -

I should estimate that in my experience most troubles and most possibilities for improvement add up to the proportions something like this: 94% belongs to the system (responsibility of management), 6% special. Page 315 of Out of the Crisis by … Con…
- 28 days ago, 24 Apr 2013, 2:24pm -

This blog has been rather quiet for the past couple of months, which reflects two concurrent facts. One is an incredibly busy period for my own manufacturing job.  Good stuff, but hugely time-consuming, filling work days and leaving little mental…
- 3 Jan 2013, 2:59am -

Flow is a lot more interesting than batch. This occured to me in recent conversations with one of our team leaders who schedules work for her area.  A series of well-intended but misdirected steps had created a batch process in her area.  She co…
- 26 Oct 2012, 8:30pm -

"You know, farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field."Dwight Eisenhower, Address at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, 9/25/56Ike had it right.  Need we say more about gett…
- 11 Oct 2012, 11:13pm -

As long as I've worked at implementing a Lean strategy, I continue to find it amazing how a description of it seems to fall flat on others' ears.  A common reaction is "Well, it's just common sense." Which is truly a comment which dismisses it as…
- 9 Oct 2012, 1:11am -

Flying well under any publicity banner, today marks ten years of this blog.  My first-ever post, on September 14, 2002, got this whole thing going.  568 posts later, allow me a few reflections. Ten years ago, there were not many resources about L…
- 14 Sep 2012, 10:00am -

I like this quote because it touches on a couple of other ideas I have read before. One author I like (Joiner) states that all leaders need to treat decisions as experiments.  Lean challenges HiPPOs (Highest Paid Persons Opinion) to use data in…
- 4 Sep 2012, 2:00pm -

This quote has been sitting with me a while and I hope it is relevant for you too.  So often, even a gemba experience may be different for people.  Even though facts are found at gemba, people may only see certain … Continue reading →
- 28 Aug 2012, 2:00pm -

“Beliefs, behaviors, assumptions, and attitudes do not change through study, conferences, seminars, and training classes; they change through repeated action. This is not dissimilar to breaking unhealthy habits such as smoking or overeating. The co…
- 21 Aug 2012, 3:00pm -

I recently uncovered a box of books I thought was lost years ago (before I knew about 5S!)  This time capsule contained material I read about 15 years ago while still in college and managing my own direct sales business during summer … Continue…
- 19 Jul 2012, 4:45am -

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 -

On May 19, at the upcoming Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) annual conference in Puerto Rico, Keivan Zokaei will introduce his latest book, Creating a Lean and Green Business System: Techniques for Improving Profits and Sustainability, which h…
- 7 days ago, 15 May 2013, 1:49pm -

Last week, I spent some time on the phone with Jerry Harbour discussing his latest book titled The Performance Mapping and Measurement Handbook, and I asked him this question: In The Performance Mapping and Measurement Handbook, you talk about the ne…
- 30 days ago, 22 Apr 2013, 3:17pm -

Just this month, Robert B. Camp published a new book titled Sustainable Lean: The Story of a Cultural Transformation, and I talked to him about some of the topics addressed in the book. Most Lean initiatives begin with noble intentions but often plat…
- 62 days ago, 21 Mar 2013, 8:49pm -

I had the pleasure of speaking with Steve Cimorelli this month. He recently published a second edition of his book Kanban for the Supply Chain: Fundamental Practices for Manufacturing Management, and I had a lively discussion with him about materials…
- 91 days ago, 20 Feb 2013, 10:15pm -

I recently spoke with Kicab Castaneda-Mendez, who recently published a book titled What's Your Problem? Identifying and Solving the Five Types of Process Problems, about root cause analysis and his definitions of process problems. I asked him specifi…
- 23 Jan 2013, 4:15pm -

Matt Wrye is my guest blogger for today. Matt has his own acclaimed blog, Beyond Lean, and I'm honored to share his insights on Lean Reflections. Matt takes up a perennial issue -- one that's not easily decided -- whether to get some process or servi…
- 7 days ago, 15 May 2013, 10:00am -

We talk about culture all the time. Somehow we decide that one company’s culture is bad, that lean can never succeed there, or that a bad culture in another company became a lean one.I’ve always struggled to understand the basis for how the lean…
- 15 days ago, 7 May 2013, 3:16pm -

I don't often base one of my posts on someone else's article, but Dan Gilmore in Supply Chain Digest this week pretty much hit the nail on the head -- at least in describing the problem. Out-of-stocks are rampant and supply chains aren't executing w…
- 33 days ago, 19 Apr 2013, 5:24pm -

In his excellent Beyond Lean blog, Matt Wrye is hosting a Hoshin Kanri week and asked me to be one of the guest bloggers. Be sure to check out more posts from knowledge leaders. When Matt started up his blog, I immediately recognized it as top n…
- 54 days ago, 29 Mar 2013, 10:00am -

My guest blogger today is Antonio Ferraro. He talks about the benefit of starting small to get big results...If you’re like many others out there, you’re probably familiar with the phrases “Don’t sweat the small stuff” or “There are…
- 61 days ago, 22 Mar 2013, 5:16pm -

We’re pleased to have Michel Falcon share with us his thoughts on how to create brands people admire. Michel Falcon is a customer experience management consultant. In other words, he helps organizations build world class customer experience progra…
- 9 days ago, 13 May 2013, 12:01pm -

We know that when there is no standard, there is no Kaizen. But, the benefits of Standard Work does more than that – having standard work can also help us make better decisions, especially when the decision that needs to be made is especially impo…
- 23 days ago, 29 Apr 2013, 11:41am -

Jeff Bezos demonstrates – yet again – what it means to be customer centric. In his Amazon 2012 Letter to Shareholders, he explains one of the main core values at Amazon: Customer Obsession. He does so masterfully, even sharing very specific exam…
- 37 days ago, 15 Apr 2013, 7:32pm -

There’s a lot that can be said for delivering a wonderful customer experience. Of the many things that can be said, here’s something that many do not understand or even consider as they think of the customer experience: Customer Experience Manage…
- 41 days ago, 11 Apr 2013, 3:23pm -

A simple white board that follows the tried and true principle of Standard Work help me a lot. Let me share with you the white board I use at work that helps me remain productive and keeps me focused on the right things. Standard Work We know that wh…
- 65 days ago, 18 Mar 2013, 2:35pm -

As best as I can recall, I’ve never coined a phrase with any staying power.Until now.And, my phrase has been purposely captured on a T-shirt, by someone other than a close relative. It’s not quite like having my words recorded indelibly in marb…
- 15 days ago, 8 May 2013, 1:20am -

Lean oriented questions tend to be straightforward, but not necessarily easy.The same goes for the four basic questions around the daily accountability process – the process by which leaders facilitate effective follow-through. The follow-through…
- 41 days ago, 12 Apr 2013, 12:44am -

For millennia, warriors have taken war trophies to commemorate their victories. They range from the souvenir to war reparations to the just plain gory.We’ve got flags and weapons and things like seagoing vessels, such as the US Coast Guard’s tal…
- 85 days ago, 26 Feb 2013, 2:31pm -

In the fall of 2009, I launched Gemba TalesTM in anticipation of the Kaizen Event Fieldbook. Truthfully, it was something that I was told authors do – “You need to have a blog to promote your book.”Well, sort of.Blogs, in my opinion, should e…
- 97 days ago, 14 Feb 2013, 1:41pm -

We’re all familiar with the Toyota Production System “house.” You know, the structure schematic with, among other things, the just-in-time and jidoka pillars.Well, sometimes I think it would be more appropriate to refer to the house, any lean…
- 6 Feb 2013, 1:35am -

One of my favorite concepts of Operations Management is the OM Triangle, also called Lovejoy's Triangle.  It describes the interrelationship of Inventory, Information, and Capacity. Read more »
- 22 days ago, 30 Apr 2013, 3:00pm -

A few weeks ago I noticed that my new iPhone was coming apart.  I wasn't sure why, but it was under warranty so I decided to try to get it fixed.  First I went to the AT&T store, and although they were very sympathetic they told me that they di…
- 68 days ago, 15 Mar 2013, 3:00pm -

A recent HBR blog post talks about the 3 critical elements of great communication as postulated by Aristotle.  According to him an effective communicator needs to have pathos, ethos, and logos. Read more »
- 96 days ago, 15 Feb 2013, 4:23pm -

About 12 years ago I got the bright idea to try skydiving.  It was a thrilling and memorable experience; and as I've reflected on it over the years I've come to realize that it was a lot like a lean conversion.Read more »
- 8 Feb 2013, 4:00pm -

Recently I was talking with a friend about leader standard work.  She's a leader - a production manager - so naturally I value her opinion on the subject.  She was lamenting the fact that she did not have any standard work to support the objectives…
- 1 Feb 2013, 4:00pm -

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 -

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

It was very simple, 100% my wife K.'s idea and made great use of some stickers.
- 3 May 2011, 4:24pm -

My family and I live up in southern New Hampshire, about 1 hour north of Boston and the mayhem that followed yesterday's race. My wife and I moved here in 2002, after we met in Washington, DC and live there for four years. We left the busy-ness of…
- 35 days ago, 17 Apr 2013, 9:05am -

individuals and organizations still struggle with being proactive and preventing problems. My explanation comes by way of a saying I once wrote on a whiteboard in a co-worker's cubicle when the powers-that-be in that organization were touting the vi…
- 41 days ago, 11 Apr 2013, 9:05am -

Like most parents, I buy my kids toys. I buy them mostly for Holidays and birthdays, and sometimes just because I can, and sometimes because I can't listen to the begging any more, too. On top of that, there are the presents from other people, the…
- 42 days ago, 10 Apr 2013, 9:05am -

The old question, "Is the glass half empty or half full?" draws the line between optimists and pessimists. Deciding if the glass is half empty or half full, however, is more about seeing the future, or believing that you can, than it is about seeing…
- 43 days ago, 9 Apr 2013, 9:05am -

As Continuous Improvement practitioners, it is natural (even a passion) to always seek ways to improve ourselves and the value we drive to our colleagues and the companies for which we work. During our quest for this personal and professional develo…
- 48 days ago, 4 Apr 2013, 9:05am -

Author BIO - Antonio Ferraro – On behalf of Creative Safety Supply based in Portland, OR (www.creativesafetysupply.com). Antonio strive to provide helpful information to create safer and more efficient industrial work environments. His knowledge b…
- 24 days ago, 29 Apr 2013, 12:59am -

The truth is, most lean implementations are a failure over long duration. The reasons could be many. However, some of them are the major causes, as identified by the people involved in the implementation. They may be the right or maybe these are just…
- 45 days ago, 7 Apr 2013, 5:42am -

In the previous post we talked about focusing on changing ourselves before starting the change in the company. Learning to change and adapt to meet the new challenges is the key to lead and survive any major transformation process. But how do we star…
- 94 days ago, 17 Feb 2013, 5:25am -

Before you start on any change process like Lean you have to understand yourself and what you want. You have to focus on one thing that is important. Understanding and experiencing the change yourself is the only path to become a good change agent. T…
- 31 Dec 2012, 6:03am -

Title Gemba Walk Checklist Leader Standard Work Build Your Own Stand-Up Workstation: It is Free to Get Started Gemba Walk: Mangement by Walking Around (MBWA) Stand-Up Workstation : After 2 Weeks Story of (Average) Joe McLean A3 Template Stand-Up Work…
- 22 Nov 2012, 6:07pm -

A few years ago, after I gave a speech on Lean at a meeting of the Transformer Association  (like the kind on the telephone poles providing electricity to your home), my then six-year old son, Ben, asked me if I’d met Megatron.  His question caus…
- 29 days ago, 23 Apr 2013, 12:52pm -

I went to the gym this morning, April 1, and the gym’s owner, sole employee, and pretty much everyone’s personal trainer, Howie, asked me the same question he asks me every time I see him:  “What’s your weight?” “Stayed the same,” I sa…
- 51 days ago, 1 Apr 2013, 6:06pm -

My son, Ben, asked me last week, “How come the bacon cooks better on Grandma’s pan?” I’d just fried up some bacon using a pan handed down from my mother, and the bacon was, as Ben noted, much more consistently cooked. I answered my son’s qu…
- 78 days ago, 5 Mar 2013, 7:33pm -

- 85 days ago, 26 Feb 2013, 2:49pm -

I was reminded this week how problematical the conceptual blind spots in our management systems can be:  An otherwise insightful and passionate-to-improve organization that I was visiting was caught in a vicious production cycle that I’ll refer to…
- 11 Feb 2013, 2:26pm -

I recently spoke at the LKCE conference in Vienna on 21st Century Portfolio Management. The talk was recorded and is available here http://vimeo.com/52546904 It’s about an hour long. I’ve now presented this material in Madrid, Boston, Tokyo, Vie…
- 3 Nov 2012, 12:25am -

I have been working more and more with Executives recently both from within IT and external to IT; CIOs, Executive Directors, Directors, and Senior Managers. In these sessions curiosity about agile has been piqued, which has led to wanting to learn m…
- 25 May 2012, 7:46pm -

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 -

I am not sure there is a special category or set of circumstances that make a start-up a unique organizational form for lean. What does make it different?1. The company is brand new so there is a chance to start to build a lean culture from scratc…
- 11 hours ago, 22 May 2013, 5:22am -

I think the Lean Startup movement is off to a good start. When I first saw Eric Ries give a presentation about this at MIT in late 2009, I worried that it was just going to be a buzzword… but there’s some real Lean Thinking there. It’s not quit…
- 11 hours ago, 22 May 2013, 5:16am -

“How lean is the lean startup?The lean startup movement is growing fast, now highlighted in the HBR yet no one in the lean movement seems to comment or connect – how do you feel about the lean startup? What can we learn from it?”
- 12 hours ago, 22 May 2013, 5:13am -

For a company which is pulling in different directions I think that spending some time establishing and improving their Houshin process will yield significant benefits. The trick like in most things to make sure you get it right or the “tool” wil…
- 13 hours ago, 22 May 2013, 3:25am -

It is good to see the growing interest in Hoshin planning. It reflects the struggles many organisations are having in turning lean improvements into business results. But it is a mistake to reach for a new tool without first being clear about the bus…
- 6 days ago, 16 May 2013, 7:03pm -

I’m back from the annual Shingo Conference, where my book, A Factory of One, received a Shingo Research Award. A common topic of conversation at the meeting was the importance of standard work in an organization. Seems that whether you’re talkin…
- 6 hours ago, 22 May 2013, 10:18am -

I brought my Prius to the Toyota dealership today for a regular check-up and a recall repair (some pin thingamajiggy in the steering column). I said to the service guy that Toyota sure seems to have a lot of recalls … Continue reading →
- 7 days ago, 15 May 2013, 10:26am -

- 13 days ago, 9 May 2013, 9:00am -

I’m at the Shingo Conference this week to receive a Shingo Research Award for my book, A Factory of One. Here’s the 30 second video I made for the conference to explain the purpose of the book. Aside from my … Continue reading →
- 14 days ago, 8 May 2013, 9:47am -

- 21 days ago, 1 May 2013, 9:35am -