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Practical Tips for Re-Engaging People with a Suggestion System
Companies, responding to surveys showing that a troubling number of people are disengaged at work, respond with perks like nap pods, rock walls, and free…
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We get good results with kaizen, but why don't they stick?
Dear Gemba Coach: Our teams have good results with kaizen, but nothing seems to stick for long – any advice?
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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…
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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…
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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?
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"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…
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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…
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Why Does Our Recognition Program Just Feel So Bad?
Dear Gemba Coach: My company has put an employee of the month program and other related efforts to reward good behavior. So why does it…
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The End of the Beginning
NUMMI closes today. The GM-Toyota joint venture assembling motor vehicles in California lasted 25 years - a very long time for a joint venture -…
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You Gotta Have Wa
In July, just prior to the Major League All Star break, I introduced you to The Mental ABCs of Baseball. Now that the pennant races…
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Material Handling
Moving necessary materials through a production process within a facility. In a lean production system material handling does much more than just deliver materials. A…
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A Simple Question Without An Easy Answer
Our understanding of Lean (and how best to talk about what it is with others) evolves over time, just like our capability to practice it.
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Can Lean Know-How Come Home?
When you decide to stop making things, you lose the ability to make things, argues Eric Buehrens: not just the displaced assembly workers who have…
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Why Toyota Won and How Toyota Can Lose
Simon & Schuster has just re-issued The Machine That Changed the World, which Dan Jones, Dan Roos, and I co-authored 17 years ago. Doubtless, our…
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Why do the characters in your books struggle a lot with lean?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’m new to lean and I’ve just finished reading “The Gold Mine” and “The Lean Manager” and enjoyed them thoroughly – thank…
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