Article

Make the Shift: From “Churn and Burn” to Learn

Already practicing PDCA? Not so familiar with it? "If you’re not squarely in the PDCA camp, please accept this invitation to join!," writes Deborah McGee.…

by Derrick Redding

Article

Everyday Kaizen

"With the right teaching and guidance, a good process, and a target of one kaizen activity per day, team leaders should develop [problem solving] skills…

by Emmanuel Jallas

Article

Finding a Lean Cure that Respects the Health of Healthcare Workers

In his prognosis of the health care system, LEI CEO Eric Buehrens says we need to improve the work to remove waste and create value;…

by Eric Buehrens

Article

How to Develop Lean Leaders and Still Get Work Done

Three years ago the leadership team at Cardinal Health asked LEI to help them create a program specifically designed to develop lean leaders within the…

by Eric Ethington

Article

PDCA thinking and the NCAA March Madness tournament

"There is so much thinking that goes into this thing called 'Bracketology,' which gives sports fans a way to 'grasp the situation' of their favorite…

by Ernie Richardson and Tracey Richardson

Article

Leadership Without Giving Solutions (from a Fire Fighter's Perspective)

LEI faculty member Greg Lane shares a lean coaching story from his own life, in which he finds himself advising a friend on how best…

by Greg Lane

Article

Levelled Production: Where to Start

"A fixed repeating pattern in production that involves more frequent short runs seems ridiculous and impossible to achieve," writes Ian Glenday. In his latest piece…

by Ian Glenday

Article

Engaging Physicians to Solve Real Problems in Healthcare

Trained in the scientific method, practical to the core, focused on the patient--one would think physicians would be the first adopters of lean thinking and…

by Jack Billi

Article

Advice from the Gemba: Keeping Senior Leadership Committed

The cost savings of lean are not always apparent in the short term. If your senior leadership was skeptical going into the transformation, this situation…

by Ken Eakin and Chris Vogel

Video

No Mani Pedi, But Keepers Improve Elephant Foot Washing

Supporting process owners includes stepping in for zoo keepers when their better idea for washing an elephant’s foot gets rejected as this Lean Talks video…

by Jeff Foster

Article

Book Value: What Every Manager Should Know About Training

Jeff Morrow, lean coach and faculty at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, reviews and recommends Dr. Robert Mager's 1999 book, What Every Manager Should Know About Training.…

by Jeff Morrow

Article

Learning to Help Anna Elevate Her Game

Anna was trained by NUMMI to identify and solve challenges via experiments with her team, notes Jeff Smith, sharing a story from NUMMI; she had…

by Jeff Smith

Article

Shook Addresses Current State of Lean Thinking After U.S-Turkey Tiff Compels Keynote Countermeasure

Indefatigable presenter John Shook quickly made this video as a countermeasure to being denied entry to Turkey, where he was scheduled to keynote an Istanbul…

by John Shook

Article

A Sensei in One's Own Land

In his first piece for The Lean Post, John Shook addresses the question of if, when, and how you and your organization should work with…

by John Shook

Article

Time To Make Time

When the people in a lean system don't value time, everyone is cheated, says John Shook, in this fascinating reflection on the role that time…

by John Shook

Article

"What Did I Transform Today?"

A lean approach to coaching is incomplete if nothing has changed for the better, says Josh Howell, who shares how he learned that it is…

by Josh Howell

Article

Standardization Can Set You Free

It is only through actually standardizing the routine work elements by applying a common method of thinking, that enables true problem solving and drives innovation.…

by Karen Gaudet

Article

Why Meaningful Improvement Requires a “Growth Mindset”

Today is Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, part of Engineering Week, Feb. 18 to 23. To mark Girl Day, as it is simply called,…

by Katrina Appell, PhD

Article

How A Virtual Obeya Can Enable Effective Teamwork

As we are working socially distanced apart we need to create systems that enable us to effectively enable people to collaborate together to solve problems,…

by Katrina Appell, PhD

Article

What's a good "small step" to start off my LPPD transformation? A Q&A with Katrina Appell

A lean product and process development transformation may seem daunting, but all you really need to get started is a series of simple yet effective…