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The Lab is Open

Why it's important to create a way to challenge assumptions and develop know-how, solve problems, and continuously improve--even during a crisis.

by Josh Howell

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How Cascading A3s Deploy Responsibility to Think as Well as Assign KPIs

During a recent virtual workshop on how to use the A3 problem-solving methodology, a CEO asked how to cascade A3s down through every level of…

by David Verble

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Who To Move?

Dear Gemba Coach:  "Kaizen Express" landed on my doormat this morning. While reading through I noticed that it states that if you get an operator saving…

by Michael Ballé

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Tips for Following Through on Improvement Plan Execution

There is a critical difference between follow-through and follow-up during the A3 problem-solving process as David Verble, a veteran lean management coach with 30+ years…

by David Verble

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View Crises as Manageable Challenges Through Steady Lean Leadership

If you are using lean to tackle a series of crises, you may not be using lean in the first place, say a range of…

by Lean Leaper

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Q & A with the Authors of Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream

A Conversation with Robert Martichenko and Kevin von Grabe, authors of Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream: rethinking your supply chain and logistics to create maximum value…

by Robert Martichenko

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Getting Religious About Problem Solving

Have you ever heard of a lean transformation guided by scriptures? The people at LifeWayChristian Resources' distribution center in Tennessee have! Whenever possible, they use…

by Lean Leaper

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Selling Water by the River

The most important challenge facing the lean community is that of sustaining both tangible and intangible improvements, says Dan Prock, who suggests that developing kaizen…

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Lean Thinking is Horizontal Thinking

In the first of a two-part interview,  Jim Womack, founder and senior advisor of LEI, talks with LeanBlog podcaster Mark Graban about a variety of lean…

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Foolish Consistency or Meaningful Standard Work?

How do organizations develop system-wide standard work and also create the conditions for local problem solving within departments? Dr. Grant Greenberg of University of Michigan…

by Grant Greenberg

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Effective Supervision 101

One of the biggest challenges for lean thinkers is translating lean thinking into lean doing, writes Stan Shaw. One of the best ways of making…

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Managing the Work from Startup to Scaleup

How one company tapped lean thinking and practice to design its business management system — and as a countermeasure to “big company disease.”

by Michael Ballé and Nicolas Chartier

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Becoming Horizontal in a Vertical World

One of my favorite value-stream walks is with the senior managers of several organizations who share and jointly manage a value-creating process that stretches all…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

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Bad People or A Bad Process?

Standing in a nightmare of a line at the airport prompted Jim Womack to reflect on this problem, and conclude that this was indeed a…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

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Distilling Lean Ideas Down to Their Essence

Andrew Quibbell, lean leader and VP of a global enterprise, loves teaching lean concepts. Finding PowerPoint wholly ineffective at communicating lean thinking, he's begun drawing…

by Andrew Quibell

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From Chaos to Kaizen: The Visual Way

In another of his visual depictions of the fundamentals of lean, Andrew Quibell illustrates the process of transforming a chaos-plagued organization into one of continuous…

by Andrew Quibell

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How do I set up an obeya room?

Dear Gemba Coach: I’d like to set up an obeya room – where should I start? What’s the simplest way to do it?

by Michael Ballé

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Advice from the Gemba: Keeping Senior Leadership Committed

The cost savings of lean are not always apparent in the short term. If your senior leadership was skeptical going into the transformation, this situation…

by Ken Eakin and Chris Vogel

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When problems arise, what helps you keep your focus on the work?

Learning how to create and adhere to management standard work requires a clear understanding of where all team members add value in service of our…

by Lex Schroeder

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What's Your Company's Bottleneck?

"A bottleneck is the weak link in the system, the one constraint that prevents us from manufacturing that next toaster or frothing that next latte…

by Brent Wahba