Article

Personal PDCA and How I Learned It

"In 23 years at Toyota, I had many assignments and different bosses, I managed many people," writes Mark Reich, "but a constant part of the…

by Mark Reich

Article

How Does LPPD Help Create a Lean Enterprise?

What is LPPD? As noted by Jim Morgan LPPD is a set of principles and practices that promote collaboration, transparency, and rapid learning, in the…

by Lean Leaper

Article

Lean Business-IT Integration, Part Two: Obstacles to Value-Stream Transformation

In this, the second of a five part series, LEI faculty member Steve Bell offers a framework to help overcome the common obstacles to a…

by Steve Bell

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The Beginner’s Guide To Lean

Toyota has just overtaken Ford as number two in the global motor industry, and at the Tokyo motor show confirmed its intentions to overtake General…

by Dan Jones

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Lean Thinking: A Roundup

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the publishing of Lean Thinking, by Jim Womack and Dan Jones, Lean Post Senior Editor Tom Ehrenfeld presents…

by Tom Ehrenfeld

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What’s your opinion on setting specific criteria before brainstorming countermeasures?

Dear Gemba Coach: What’s your opinion on setting specific criteria before brainstorming countermeasures?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Challenge: Understand and Adapt for Sales Pace Growth

It's our first Lean Challenge post! Come up with a plan to help a machining business deal with the technical and social challenges posed by…

by Jeff Smith

Article

What is your opinion about transformation process steps?

Dear Gemba Coach: What is your opinion about transformation process steps? First we choose a problem and start problem-solving processes (A3 or 8-step methods) and…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Getting Home: Jacob and Claude Stoller Appreciate the Lean Lessons of this New Book

"Getting Home is a terrific book that puts lean to work on a problem that’s really significant. Let’s hope it’s an inspiration for architects and…

by Claude Stoller and Jacob Stoller

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Advice from the Gemba: How Can I Change a Culture?

One of the most common questions asked by lean leaders is the question of culture change. How, they ask, can we change a firmly rooted…

by Lean Leaper

Article

How Lean Changed My Work: Lean Without Knowing It

Last month LEI sent out an email asking the lean community how lean changed their work. For Jeremy Venable of Shell Chemical, lean not only…

by Jeremy Venable

Article

"It's Only A Failure If You Don't Learn"

"It's only a failure if you don't learn" says Toyota veteran Isao Yoshino, whose experience developing an ultimately failed water-ski boat venture for Toyota is…

by Lean Leaper

Article

Your Product Isn't Everything, It's the Only Thing

Jim Morgan, former product/process development executive at Ford (and co-author of The Toyota Product Development System), reflects on what should really matter to you and…

by James Morgan, PhD

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Do lean-minded finance professionals make a difference in appraising lean initiatives?

Dear Gemba Coach: I would like to ask lean-minded fellow finance professionals if they make a difference in appraising lean initiatives from other investments in…

by Michael Ballé

Article

You Can't Manage a Secret

How did the obeya management system come to be at Toyota? How has it been refined since its beginning as a means of organizing research…

by James Morgan, PhD

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The Value of Sharpening Skills Through 'Jishuken'

Jishuken, or self-learning, is a wet stone that grinds a worker's brain down to a start point, says Matt Savas--and is key to a disciplined…

by Matthew Savas

Article

How lean should a lean line design be?

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m in manufacturing engineering and have been asked to design a lean line. I’ve participated to several kaizen workshops and have some general…

by Michael Ballé

Article

The Challenges of Coaching

I’ve stepped into a new role recently, assuming responsibility for a variety of new-to-me jobs. One of my new jobs is writing this monthly e-letter.…

by Josh Howell

Article

Why reduce inventory further?

Dear Gemba Coach,We have a lot of machining operations in our process, and we carry inventory. What is the best way to show employees the…

by Michael Ballé

Article

What problem are you trying to solve?

As human beings, are we basically “programmed” to produce blanket solutions that typically only address symptoms of problems, never to discover what causes problems in…