Article

Can lean be used to turn around a company?

Dear Gemba Coach: Can lean be used in a turnaround situation? Does a burning platform make it easier or harder?

by Michael Ballé

Article

How Do I Keep My Lean Team Motivated for the Long Term?

Dear Gemba Coach: My team often feels that they are alone in their improvement efforts. Even after all our work we continue to encounter resistance…

by Michael Ballé

Article

After improving processes with help from a consultant, how do I sustain kaizen in my department? My teams are hard to motivate.

Dear Gemba Coach: How do I sustain kaizen in my department? We’ve had a consultant help us with workshops, and we did improve our processes,…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How is leadership engaged and trained in lean?

Dear Gemba Coach: How is leadership engaged and trained in lean?

by Michael Ballé

Article

I’ve been improving process efficiency for years with value-stream mapping, why did you write that it is misleading?

Dear Gemba Coach: In your previous column you stated that value-stream mapping can be misleading. I’ve been using VSM for years to improve process efficiency…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Ask Art: Why Should I Be Able to Make Every Product Every Day?

Working on the goal of "every product every day" helps all companies realize the benefits of lean as a strategy, says Art Byrne, by developing…

by Art Byrne

Article

Lean Transformation: "Shock and Awe" vs. "Slow and Grow"

When leading a lean transformation, is it better to use the "shock and awe" method or the "low and slow" method? It may not even…

by Art Byrne and Dan Markovitz

Article

“How ThedaCare Created Its Own Management System”, Follow-Up Q&A

Kim Barnas, author of Beyond Heroes: A Lean Management System for Healthcare, answers questions that we couldn't get to during the hour-long webinar on how…

Article

ASK ART: “Why do you say lean is all about people?”

Lean is all about people, says author and former CEO Art Byrne, who has been successfully turning around companies for over 20 years. That means…

by Art Byrne

Article

Managing to Create Problem-Solvers: A Lean Transformation Summit Roundup

Countless people have asked us over the years, "My organization can't be lean without a problem-solving culture. So how do I create one?" The answer:…

by Lean Leaper

Article

John Toussaint on What a Complete System Transformation Looks Like In Healthcare

John Toussaint, CEO emeritus of ThedaCare and CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, shared his guiding principles for transformation in an article for…

by Lean Leaper

Article

Flaatnes Elektro-Mek Reveals How Double Loop Learning Supports Lean Thinking and Practice

Every experience is a learning experience. However, we tend to only experience single-loop learning where we reaffirm what we already think is true. Lean gives…

by Daryl Powell and Eivind Reke

Article

Now is the Time for Resilience and Adaptability!

People and organizations can create the conditions for building their own resilience by drawing from TPS, the Thinking People System, says Sandrine Olivencia. But for…

by Sandrine Olivencia

Article

What You Will Learn by Reflecting on Your Organization's Work-at-Home Experience

Reflecting on your work-from-home experience promises to provide needed insights about knowledge work and the routine work that accompanies it—both the work itself and its…

by Peter Ward

Article

Keep Calm and Manage Stably: Akio Toyoda’s Response to Crisis

When we read the Bloomberg article Lockdown Leads Toyota Chief to Question Core Tenet for Carmaker, we were surprised, even a bit concerned. Questioning “long-ingrained practices” is…

by John Shook

Case Study

Knife Company Hones Competitiveness by Bucking the Status Quo

Family-owned Buck Knives needed to reduce costs by at least 30% to keep its U.S. operations open. In turning to lean, the company gained more than…

by Tonya Vinas

Article

How to Make Your Planning Process More Effective

Learn why Toyota's planning process is much more effective than traditional approaches used by North American companies. David Verble shares what he learned working at…

by David Verble

Article

Lean Transformational Leadership Webinar - Follow-up Q & A and Reading List

During the Transformational Leadership webinar, many of you asked for the list of related books and articles that presenter Jim Luckman cited. He has provided…

by Jim Luckman

Article

Lean management case study series: Lean Partnership with Dealer Network Helps Vermeer Reduce End-to-End Inventory on Top Sellers

A lean transformation had taken heavy-equipment manufacturer Vermeer away from batch manufacturing, but batch ordering by dealers was delaying how quickly they got equipment like…

Article

Manufacturing’s Next Chapter

Using the experience of GE Appliance and other manufacturers, LEI CEO John Shook reminds lean thinkers that much remains to be written in “manufacturing’s next…