Article

Why 'Yes Chef!' Is No Longer the Answer

In order to meet the changing demands of today's restaurants, chefs must learn to evolve from old-school methods of the "brigade system" and learn to…

Video

Want Better Relations and Results from Suppliers? Hear Two Execs Explain the Benefits of "Matched Pair” Leadership

New products and service development does not stop at the exterior walls of your company. Outside suppliers play critical roles, but the relationships between companies…

by Chet Marchwinski and James Morgan, PhD

Article

Why the A3 Process Involves More than Filling in Boxes

As she details how to problem-solve using the A3 methodology, a veteran lean coach explains why it's essential to understand that completing an A3 problem-solving…

by Tracey Richardson

Article

Coaches coaching coaches

The Olympics are always great fun. It is inspiring to see human performance taken to such astounding levels. Watching the London games, I found myself…

by John Shook

Article

And You Forgot About Overproduction

John Shook discusses waste - specifically, overproduction

by John Shook

Article

Lean Consumption, Lean Provision, and Lean Solutions

Here’s some good news for the Lean Community. I was recently in Spain where I toured a facility belonging to an American company whose U.S.…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Beach Reading

The second edition of Lean Thinking has been out two months now and at least a few members of the Lean Community seem to have used it…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Taking a Value Stream Walk at Firm A

I was out walking through a company this past week, something I often do. The firm I visited had asked what I thought of their…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Do Managers "Get" Lean?

Dear Gemba Coach: You mentioned during the webinar that plant tours reveal how well managers 'get' lean. Can you be more specific?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Why Is It So Hard To Sustain Lean Gains?

Dear Gemba Coach: Why is it so hard to sustain lean gains?

by Michael Ballé

Article

How Do You Find - or Develop - the Right Sensei to Lead Lean?

Dear Gemba Coach: We have become skilled at indicating what goes wrong, but solving the problems is not our strength. Making the transformation to problem…

by Michael Ballé

Article

What I Could Only Learn from a Sensei

Some aspects of lean can be learned through experience, but other aspects can only be taught by an experienced sensei. Michael Balle reflects on some…

by Michael Ballé

Article

What would "process points" be in software development?

Dear Gemba Coach: Thank you for your previous column that has raised profound questions for me to work on with my software development teams. For…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Lean and Forecasting

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m in charge of the forecasting department in my company. My colleagues in production have been doing lean for several years and…

by Michael Ballé

Article

What would a lean transformation mean for the IT Department? What benefits would it create for the company?

Dear Gemba Coach: We’ve asked our IT department to be involved in kaizen events several times, but it is always very slow to deliver on…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How do we deal with a command-and-control boss?

Dear Gemba Coach: Our boss always says, “It’s not my job to tell you how to do yours!” But then he tells us what to…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Our new boss doesn’t 'get' lean; what can I do to convince him?

Dear Gemba Coach: We’ve had spectacular lean results with our old boss, but our new boss doesn’t get it. He’s already cut his gemba walks…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Can I change a company's attitude that people can't be trusted to do their jobs unless they are scared into complying?

Dear Gemba Coach: A major assumption in lean thinking is that people genuinely want to do a good job, and the only thing standing in…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Is it really necessary for a sensei to act obnoxiously?

Dear Gemba Coach: Is it really necessary for a sensei to act obnoxiously?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Properly Applying Auto-Eject Isn’t Automatic

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m working on improving the design of our machines for lean manufacturing, and hear that an auto-eject feature can support this work.…

by Michael Ballé