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LEI’s New Indicator That Can’t Lie
I’m often asked by operations managers how they can know if their firm is really getting lean. My answer is…
Read article An LEI New Year’s Resolution: No Wallpaper!
I've resolved that in 2002 no one in the lean community will turn their value stream maps into corporate wallpaper…
Read article Shopping for a Sensei
We at LEI have been getting a lot of requests recently to help companies find lean expertise for harder times.…
Read article 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…
Read article The Human Side of Hard Times
Harder times call for leaner thinking and presented an action plan, but what about the human side? Lean thinking requires…
Read article Action Plan for Hard Times
Last week I pointed out that the big leaps in applying lean thinking have all been made in hard times.…
Read article Leaner Thinking for Harder Times
So now we have the recession of 2001. Its time for all of us to marshal our energies, focus our…
Read article Nonsense about JIT
In almost every value stream, there will be some inventory at points where the product cannot flow. This inventory will…
Read article The Five Steps of Lean Implementation
Step 1: Specify ValueDefine value from the perspective of the final customer. Express value in terms of a specific product, which…
Read article Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
Steven Spear and H. Kent Bowen explain in the Harvard Business Review how the Toyota Production System can be tightly choreographed and supple. The key…
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