Article
Ask Art: Why Are the Four Lean Fundamentals So Important for Making a Conversion to Lean?
A review of the core lean elements reveals how — and why — lean management leads to higher enterprise performance.
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Article
Am I doing PDCA correctly?
Dear Gemba Coach: How do I know if I’m doing PDCA correctly?
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Case Study
Sustain Your Lean Business System with a “Golden Triangle”
When medical device maker Phase 2 fought off an overseas challenge by meeting the global price, margins took a big hit. With help from customer…
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Article
A Connecticut Yankee Machinist in Toyoda’s Castle
“Culture matters,” John Shook tells us in his post about Charles A. Francis, an American who worked for Toyota group founder Sakichi Toyoda in the…
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Article
How Do I Tell Good Obeya Rooms From Bad?
Dear Gemba Coach: Obeyas are popping up everywhere in our organization, and I don’t know what to look for to distinguish good from bad obeyas.
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Developing Better Habits Using A3 Thinking
Think A3 thinking is only for solving organizational problems? Think again! LEI faculty Katie Anderson shares her secrets for using A3s as a tool for…
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Article
Practicing What We Teach
"Do all Lean practitioners practice what they teach?" Maybe, maybe not. Tracey Richardson tries to as much as she can, and here's why.
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Article
Using Cynefin to Solve Problems While Navigating Uncertainty
Kim Ballestrin, an agile coach, explains how her team at Telstra (an Australian telecommunications and IT company) uses a problem solving framework called Cynefin to…
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Article
Understanding the True Value of the TWI Job Instruction Training Method
In this reflection, the author contends the training approach delivers something vastly more significant than merely a faster, more effective training process.
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Article
Turn on the Spigot: Create Flow in R&D
"Flow in R&D is as critical as in manufacturing," writes Terry Barnhart. "It is a little more difficult to see, which is why your company,…
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Article
Looking for split seconds, it can mean a NASCAR race WIN!
Tracey and Ernie Richardson explore how NASCAR pit crews use visuals for safety and speed.
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Article
Ask Art: Why Should I Focus on My Balance Sheet to Grow Earnings?
Lean practitioners understand that focusing on this financial statement is the best way to achieve higher sales and lower costs.
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Article
Ask Art: Does lean compromise innovation?
To some, lean and innovation seem counterproductive. But Art Byrne is not one of them. Find out why he says "lean and innovation are and…
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Article
The Power of Ma in Creating Cognitive Space
When we lead with respect for people, we need to truly understand that people work in different ways, argues Jim Benson in this piece about…
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Article
Why do we hear less and less about lean in manufacturing?
Dear Gemba Coach: Why do we hear less and less about lean in manufacturing? Is it that most companies have implemented lean successfully or at…
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I’ve been improving process efficiency for years with value-stream mapping, why did you write that it is misleading?
Dear Gemba Coach: In your previous column you stated that value-stream mapping can be misleading. I’ve been using VSM for years to improve process efficiency…
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Coach's Corner: How to Design a Knowledge-Sharing System
Encouraging learning and knowledge reuse in your development process takes more than a system to capture it — you must create a system that people…
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Article
How can I tell if people “get” lean thinking; what signs should I look for?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’ve been training teams to do lean, intensively at first, and with paced-out coaching later. How do I know if they “get…
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Standards at workstations
Dear Gemba Coach: Our corporate production system asks us to post standard work at workstations, but we feel that the paperwork clutters the stations and operators…
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Still Faithful to Lean Thinking
"We wrote Lead With Respect to show just how central engagement and involvement is to lean success," says Michael Ballé. "As a sociologist, 'making people…
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