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
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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Article
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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Gemba-Based Leadership – Not Just for Chief Engineers
John Shook on gemba-based leadership
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Is value engineering just about cutting costs?
Dear Gemba Coach: My boss has hired a consultant to do value engineering, who has us looking for design opportunities to reduce the costs of…
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Are Lean Managers Teaching Or Just Controlling?
Dear Gemba Coach: I hear what you lean guys are saying about, learning, “kata” and the role of managers as teachers. But in my years…
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Leadership Q&A: Dan Ariens, CEO of Ariens Co.
From the LEI senior executive series on lean leadership:In the late 1990s, Ariens Co.faced a blizzard of problems. The iconic maker of snow blowers, mowers,…
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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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Change in Implementation Approach Opens the Door at EMCO to Greater Gains in Less Time
Many lean thinkers ask how they can accelerate the pace of a transformation or spread it to other facilities. EMCO Enterprise’s Des Moines plant has…
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Article
Standards vs. Standardization
Dear Gemba Coach: We’re often told that “there can be no kaizen without standards.” But when do you start when there are no standards? How do…
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How Can I Address the Conflict that Lean Creates?
Dear Gemba Coach, I have just finished reading The Lean Manager, and I was very taken by the chapter on teamwork. I am a lean…
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Value-Stream Mapping at FAA Office Improves Information Flow
Lean management principles and tools originated on the shop floor to improve manufacturing processes but in its first value-stream mapping project, a regional office of…
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Problem? What Problem?
"Whether using A3s, the 5 Whys, DMAIC, Value Stream Mapping, or any other problem-solving methodology, many organizations don’t spend the effort necessary to prove all…
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Podcast
What’s the Problem?: Andrew Lingel Discusses Transforming a Family Business through Knowledge, Grit, and Outrage
In this What's the Problem? podcast with Matt Savas, President Andrew Lingel of United Plastic Fabricating shares how he helped lead a transformation in this…
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Article
Tending the Roots of Lean with Lean Farmer Ben Hartman
Matt Savas shares the Lean roots found at Ben Hartman's Clay Bottom Farm in Goshen, Indiana, illustrating the many ways that lean has eliminated waste
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Video
Art of Lean on Problem-Solving, Part 5: Tuckman's Model of Team Formation
Coaching teams is the topic of this fifth part of an ongoing series on coaching problem-solving by Art Smalley. He compares the Tuckman Model with…
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Article
Ask Art: How Can I Engage All Our Leaders to Learn and Teach Lean?
What's the best way to teach lean to your internal leaders? By forming teams who will learn by doing, shares Art Byrne. This will drive…
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Article
The Biggest Waste of All
"We can fix [problem symptoms] with basic lean thinking and tools, but unless our strategy is good, we will still create tremendous amounts of waste…
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Case Study
LSG Sky Chefs Caters to New Market Realities
Business at airline caterer LSG Sky Chefs dropped 30% when airlines cut flights after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Sky Chefs responded with a…
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Standardized Work or Kaizen? Yes
Some lean folks LOVE to quote the Taiichi Ohno observation that “there is no kaizen without standards," notes John Shook, adding that it is less…
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