Article
5 Barriers to Lean in Government
"There are many challenges for lean in government... The structure of the workforce, disincentives for risk-taking at all levels, complex stakeholder relationships, the simple problem…
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Podcast
33. On the Job with Ron Kelner, President and COO of the Deublin Company
Ron describes the Deublin Company's business system built with lean thinking that puts human development at the center.
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Article
5S for Information
When a Lean Thinker asked how to apply the principles of 5S to the company server, Dan Markovitz responded with advice for applying these five…
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Article
Toyota Trouble: A Dialogue with Jeff Liker (AKA the Coffee Shop Talks)
With the appearance of Toyota's various quality and recall problems, Jeff Liker and I have been meeting in coffee shops in Ann Arbor to discuss…
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Columbus Public Schools Use Process Thinking to Improve Academic Achievement
Principals and staff at Columbus, Ohio, schools created current states and future states of a diagnostic testing process in order to identify students' weaknesses and to improve the processes…
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The Missing Link
There is a missing link between the world’s brilliant objects – now cheaper and better in many cases because of lean thinking applied to their…
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How do you suggest we should do lean in a foundry?
Dear Gemba Coach: How do you suggest we should do lean in a foundry?
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Is Lean Scientific?
Dear Gemba Coach: I often hear that lean is like the scientific method. As a lean consultant, I facilitate kaizen events, and find it hard to…
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How to Fail At Lean in Four Easy Steps
Nobody wants to fail at lean, to be sure. Author Regis Medina calls our four surefire ways to achieve this goal, and suggests a more…
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Video
Lean Thinking's Past, Present, and Future: A Q&A Roundtable with Jim Womack and Jim Morgan
To close each week of the Lean Enterprise Institute's Virtual Lean Learning Experience 2020 (VLX), we bring together the week's speakers for a Q&A and…
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Article
Helpful Hints about Mapping off the Plant Floor in Support of Administrative Operations
Off the shop floor, the distinctions between material and information flows often blurs. Here are nine suggestions from LEI author John Shook for adapting the…
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How a Retailer's Distribution Center Exemplifies the Lean Precept “Respect for People,” and Reaps the Benefits
To make sure training engaged and resonated with people after previous attempts at a lean transformation faltered, LifeWay matched lean management tools and principles to…
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Article
What's Needed to Ensure a Successful Lean Transformation
Learn what works--and what doesn't--in driving your lean transformation. LEI Senior Advisors Jim Womack and Jim Morgan share top-line learning from their decades of experience…
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Video
Videos from WLEI: Deep Dives on the Factory Floor with Cliff Ransom
Cliff Ransom walks through a factory with us, emphasizing how lean thinking improves the quality and efficiency of the work at hand.
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Article
How Can One Be A Better Sensei?
Dear Gemba Coach,Our operations VP is disappointed with our lean program. Despite his close personal involvement with the program, it is not delivering the level…
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Art of Lean on Problem-Solving, Part 7: Dreyfus Model and the Stages of Learning
Art looks at another external framework in an effort to help shorten your lead times of learning, development, and problem-solving.
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Case Study
How to Focus on a People Accelerated Lean Transformation
Business and operational performance improved dramatically when a car dealership's leaders embraced the lean principle of respect for people. Here's their story.
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Article
A Philanthropic 'Lean Internship' Experiment Yields Unexpected Question About Purpose
To understand what could work in a hands-on, gemba-based lean learning experience, the LEI's JPW Fund did what lean practitioners do — they ran a…
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Article
Understanding the Fundamentals of Value-Stream Mapping
This overview explains the essential elements of this powerful lean practice.
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