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Blog Carnival Annual Roundup: 2010 – Beyond Lean

This is my last installment of the Annual Roundup of lean blogs. I’ve already covered the following:

• John Hunter’s Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog
• Karen Wilhelm’s Lean Reflections
• Tim McMahon’s A Lean Journey

Post I review someone new to the lean blog sphere, Matt Wrye. Matt’s blog is titled Beyond Lean. Like Tim’s blog, this content is from the perspective of a practitioner. Many of the posts are focused on application of lean methods. You may remember that I recently wrote about Matt’s blog because he wrote a series of posts of lessons from our Lean Experience course, which you can review here.

An example of this, is the three-part series on changeover reduction, otherwise known as Single Minute Exchange of Dies, or SMED. Part one focuses on the impact of 5S. Part two explores the use of quick releases. Part three considers the effect of reducing trials in the startup process.

The popular lean tool 5S is explored in posts such as 5S in the office and is 5S really foundational?

The post OEE versus Flow investigates how OEE, when used improperly, can drive side road mentality which in turn reduces flow. This is not a post against OEE, but instead a warning into its proper use.

Basics of Problem Solving outlines a basic formula for how problem-solving should be performed, regardless of which particular method you prefer. For

While the majority of Beyond Lean focuses on the application of lean methods, posts about culture and leadership can also be found. An example would be the three part series titled Comparing Lean Principles to the14 Toyota Principles (part one, part two , part three). Even the use of the Myers Briggs personality assessment becomes a topic in Understanding Yourself to Become a Better Leader .

I hope you will visit Matt’s blog and share your comments. Also visit for many other bloggers that will be providing an annual roundup of lean blogs in the days to come.