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Creating Value or Shifting Wealth?
How do we judge the progress of the Lean Movement? One critical indicator is our success in extending lean thinking to new industries and activities.…
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How Accounting “Squirrels” Can Ferret Out Waste
While other functions are busy as beavers looking for waste during a lean transformation, your accounting staff is like a squirrel with its head stuck…
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Thinking About the Why of the What of Problem-Solving
When we talk about problem-solving, what we’re really talking about here is creating adaptive capacity, the deep capability of an organization to tackle anything that…
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Is your obeya room used for real learning or as a glorified action plan?
Dear Gemba Coach: How can I use an obeya for learning rather than for project management?
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Accounting for the Right Reasons
My first job after graduating from Purdue University was as a manufacturing engineer with the Japanese company, Aisin Seiki. Aisin U.S.A. was in the process…
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Fresh Eyes Bring Lean Problems into Clarity
“Fresh eyes” reviews are an indispensible part of developing new value. It’s amazing what you can learn from the input of a knowledgable outsider, because…
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Do the Words You Use Create Clarity or Chaos?
"If words matter, shared understanding of words matters even more," writes Cindy Priddy. "The word coach reaches much further back than the image of a…
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The Prospects for Lean
As we all return to work in the New Year, I wanted to provide a few thoughts on the prospects for lean thinking in the…
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The Big Opportunity
I started studying manufacturing performance††26 years ago this fall. We set out at MIT to perform the most exhaustive and accurate benchmarking of the worldís…
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The Five Poisons of Big Company Disease
What's "big company disease"? The tendency of any large company to worry about clearly defined territories, rules and procedures, and integrated systems more than a…
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What the Books Don't Tell: Explaining the Financial Benefits of Lean
It's a curious fact that very few books about lean address the topic of finance. Questions about lean's financial benefits are often the first that…
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Why do lean management experts differ on how to apply lean principles?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’ve worked with several managers who worked at Toyota or Toyota suppliers who were considered experts in the company’s management and production…
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Why does my team resist multi-skilling?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’m trying to introduce multi-skilling in my team but am surprised by the amount of resistance I encounter from my team members.…
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The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection
"I began to notice that there was a sharp contrast between well-made, crafted products and poorly made ones, and an even greater distinction between the…
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Developing Awareness On the Gemba (part 2)
In this followup to her article on ways to develop awareness on the gemba, Lean Coach Sandrine Olivencia argues that it is important to have…
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How to Lead with Respect
Showing respect to employees falls far short of leading with respect. Discover the seven core practices that true lean leaders use everyday to lead with…
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What's your challenge?
Toyota can’t exist -- Toyota can’t be Toyota -- without a challenge. That’s true for each individual or work group and for the company as…
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The Role of a Chief Engineer in Vehicle Development: A Case Study of the 2019 Honda Passport
What does it take to bring a new vehicle to market? Lara Harrington, Chief Engineer for the 2019 Honda Passport, shares the secrets behind the…
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Fixing Lean’s “Sales” Problem
When companies begin lean transformations, IT systems too often are viewed as obstacles. So, some lean thinkers may view Jacob Stoller, author of The Lean…
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