Article
Navigating a Lean Quality 4.0 Road Map
Lean thinking and practice has a great deal to offer when it comes to adjusting to Industry 4.0, and in this article Andrew Quibell shares…
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Article
For Distribution Managers, Lean Means a Sea Change in Roles
Making the leap to lean management in the warehouse or the supply chain requires the same kind of cultural shift and change in management behaviors…
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Article
Toyota the Disrupter
Toyota may not be the first company you think of for disruptive product and process development, but perhaps they should be, argues Jim Morgan. The…
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Article
Ask Art: What Do You Mean When You Say Run Your Company On Your Operational Excellence Goals?
The Lean company competes on its operational excellence goals, says Art Byrne. These stretch goals must be aggressive in nature and deployed down to every…
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Article
Kata Konfusion
Author and LEI faculty member Drew Locher explains why it is important when using the kata improvement methodology to not focus solely on key performance…
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Article
Thinking Outside the Pyramid
Machiavelli said it's better to be feared than loved. Lean practitioner Daniel Fisher rejects this idea and argues it’s better to respect people and be…
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Article
3 Lessons Maersk Learned from Adopting Hoshin Kanri
Deploying hoshin kanri at Maersk was challenging, recounts Agne Nainyte, who shares the details of this work that helped the organization shift from firefighting to…
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Article
Rethinking Disaster Recovery on the 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
As the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches on August 23rd-29th, read about how lean thinking is changing how New Orleans and the rest of…
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Article
Share Best Thinking Rather than Best Practices
Lean Coach Karen Gaudet argues that Best Practices don't always align with Best Thinking, and suggests that "the next time you find yourself sharing a…
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Article
How can I estimate the savings from using visual management boards?
Dear Gemba Coach: I work on a lean team and I was asked to estimate the savings from using visual management boards. The current estimate…
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Article
14 Principles
John Shook on 14 Principles (not just Deming's and Liker's, either!)
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Rather than narrow problem solving, shouldn't we look for disruptive breakthroughs?
Dear Gemba Coach: How can a narrow focus on problem solving help us to find innovative solutions? Shouldn’t we be looking for disruptive breakthrough instead?
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What are your three most important problems?
Dear Gemba Coacg: What should I look for during a gemba walk?
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Sometimes Smaller is Better - and Better is Lean
LEI CEO Eric Buehrens reflects on how lean relates to the deeply hopeful story of renewal, reconstruction, and citizen engagement in places that have been…
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Article
View from the Hospital Floor: How to Build a Culture of Improvement One Unit at a Time
In this follow-up to our earlier case study "Transforming Healthcare: What Matters Most?", we examine how the Cleveland Clinic is accelerating a lean transformation with…
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Does a Lean Company Need Explicit or Implicit Leadership?
Dear Gemba Coach: Explicit leadership or implicit leadership? Does an explicit style sustain a lean organization?
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Designing Hospitals in Collaboration with Patients and Families
LEI coach Danielle Blais shares her reflections on a recent visit to Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, a hospital built from the ground up using…
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Article
Robert Cole's Observations on the Liker-Shook Dialogue regarding Toyota's Quality Crisis
I have previously introduced readers of this column to Robert Cole, Professor Emeritus at Berkeley, former long-time professor at the University of Michigan, and currently…
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A Lean "Teachable Moment": Starbucks in The Wall Street Journal
John Shook discusses recent news about Starbucks and lean.
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Case Study
Meeting Strategic Objectives
Turner Construction uses hoshin kanri (strategy deployment) and A3 problem-solving to create a management system that ensures it achieves its strategic business objectives.
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