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Standardized Worrying

Years ago when Dan Jones and I first visited Toyota in Japan, we were struck by something that seemed out of keeping with their continuing…

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Flaatnes Elektro-Mek Reveals How Double Loop Learning Supports Lean Thinking and Practice

Every experience is a learning experience. However, we tend to only experience single-loop learning where we reaffirm what we already think is true. Lean gives…

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Ask Art: What Do You Focus on When Assessing the Potential Gains From Converting to Lean?

Lean veteran Art Byrne shares the key areas to look at for gains to be realized from lean: focus on sales growth as the result…

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From Troubleshooting a Leaky Toilet Flapper to Innovating the Internet, a Comprehensive Problem-Solving Framework

Arriving at his hotel after midnight, author and business consultant Art Smalley just wanted to get some sleep before his keynote presentation later that day.…

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How Can Lean Take Root in a Crappy Culture?

Dear Gemba Coach: I've done a lot of working with lean, and recently started my first coaching/consulting gig. And while I'd love to help by…

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Use Jidoka to Avoid Death by 1000 Cuts

I’ve learned from experience the need for tech teams to adopt jidoka as a basic design consideration: getting it 100% right the first time with…

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Want to Respect Your People? Share the Profits!

People and profit are key in any company, not just a lean one. But too often, an organization's drive for profit can cause it to…

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Understanding Customer Value: How Accounting Applies this Foundational Lean Concept to its Work

Putting the entire customer experience first in thinking, not just the transaction, is the Lean Accountant's goal, asserts Nick Katko and Mike De Luca,

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Start Up By Diving Deep

"The important thing is answering some fairly core questions about your business before spending time and money developing solutions," write Jim Luckman and Durward Sobek.…

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How Many Whys Should I Ask?

Coach Tracey Richardson explains just how many whys to ask when conducting 5 Why analysis.

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Helpful Coaching? Part One: Who Says What’s Helpful?

David Verble, a lean practitioner and Lean Enterprise Institute faculty member, offers advice for what kind of coaching is helpful for people with problem solving…

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Profit and Cost At Toyota

Fresh off a tour of Japan where she observed how Toyota talks about costs and profit on the shop floor, LEI Chairperson Jean Cunningham shares…

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Insights and Advice from a Lean Accounting Leader

Why and how to get started integrating lean thinking and practice into accounting and finance at your organization.

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How to Engage Everyone to Create a “Continuous Innovation Machine”

In a presentation to hundreds of engineers at a Fortune 100 manufacturer, Jim Morgan, an engineering PhD and former product development executive, explained what distinguishes…

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When should I push and when should I praise?

Dear Gemba Coach: I am in charge of a service activity and have started a lean approach with a sensei. In our last gemba tour, one…

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Ask Art: Why Should I Set Stretch Goals?

Art Byrne urges you to take the lean leap and set stretch goals. Setting ambitious goals shows respect for your people. Use the lean tools…

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Ask Art: How is lean the opposite of everything people have been trained to do?

Art Byrne explains why, and how, lean practice is the opposite of what most people have learned about work in any setting

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Ask Art: How Do You Align Incentives for a Lean Turnaround?

A veteran lean leader offers practical strategies for incentivizing employees during a transition to lean management.

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