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What To Do When Executives Think Continuous Improvement Smells Fishy

Top executives are smart, but they don't always see the value of continuous improvement efforts. And continuous improvement professionals don't always communicate that value well…

Article

The "Playbook" of Sustaining Change

In a world where most lean transformations fail, what can we do to learn from others' mistakes and help our own transformations succeed? After 30…

by Lynn Kelley

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Encountering Problems and Resistance

The doctor entered with a comforting bedside manner. We small talked. She asked about my work and I answered, in short. “Lean? You mean that Toyota thing?” In spite of the mask, I could read ‘Oh Brother’ on her face. “Yeah,…

by Josh Howell

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Step 1: Open Mouth, Step 2: Insert Foot

Joshua Rapoza, Customer Strategy Officer at LEI, reflects on whether working longer hours necessarily means more productivity and the power of our words in motivating…

Article

The Five Whys

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m a lean coach and teach A3s in my company. Every lean book mentions “5 why,” and I can see the power…

by Michael Ballé

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The Lean Community and the Second “P”

The second “P” in lean product and process development or LPPD is as important as the first “P.” At least it should be. But as…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

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10 Lean Steps for Surviving the Recession

Jim provides an action play for lean thinkers to think leaner to get through the recession and secure a strong position for the upturn.

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

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Why Bother Making It Visual?

What to do when you need to make the work visible, but your people aren't behind it? Leslie Barker has some suggestions based on this…

by Leslie Barker

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How to Coach a Person Who Doesn't Want to be Coached?

How do you coach someone who doesn't need your help or who thinks they know everything? This was one of several interesting questions raised during…

by Lex Schroeder

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Should we do lean maturity audits?

Dear Gemba Coach: Should we continue with lean maturity audits and, if so, how often?

by Michael Ballé

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Create Profitable Value Streams

Why does lean product development focus on building profitable value streams? LEI Senior Advisor John Shook explains in this month's Design Brief Contributor's Corner.

by John Shook

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Turn to Lean To Tackle the Problems You Want to Solve Right Now

Lean thinking and practice is hard, says LEI President Josh Howell; noting that it's well worth the effort for those whose lives it has improved,…

by Josh Howell

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Real Lean vs. Fake Lean

Dear Gemba Coach: I am a lean consultant who is totally dedicated to applying the lean principles. Unfortunately most lean gurus who I encounter seem…

by Michael Ballé

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Leadership and Having an Effective Plan

You wouldn’t want to be known as a source of “fake news” but are you practicing

by Andrew Quibell

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Lean on Steroids: Why We Should Rely On Physical Measures, Not Financial Ones

"Lean has led me to question core business models, period," writes Doc Hall. "But while Lean focuses on improving a company’s existing business model... I’m…

by Robert W. (Doc) Hall

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Lean Management’s Key Concepts

 The technical components and underlying philosophy of lean, based on the Toyota Production System (TPS), work together to create a lean enterprise. But companies embarking…

by Doug Bartholomew

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Reducing Wasted Motion at a Conference: Collaborative Note Taking

Mark Graban reflects on the pros and cons of collaborative note-taking at conferences and offers up an invitation/experiment to Lean Transformation Summit attendees.

by Mark Graban

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How can I keep our lean management effort from becoming bureaucratic?

Dear Gemba Coach: Isn’t there a risk that all these lean tools in the workplace turn into yet more bureaucracy?

by Michael Ballé

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Thinking End to End

Every value stream runs from raw materials all the way to the end customer. And value for the customer is only delivered at the very…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

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Ask Art: What Incentives and Bonus Programs Best Support Lean?

Bonus and incentive plans work best when they serve an underlying purpose, says Art Byrne, who advises that management design them to boost teamwork, learning,…

by Art Byrne