lean

Over 20 years ago, the biggest challenge was just getting buy-in to even try lean. And as we’ve continued to learn together, we’ve tackled lean culture / behaviors, leadership engagement, business strategy, and much, much more. What’s left? What are the largely unsolved problems that lean needs the best minds

I encourage lean learners to have multiple sources of learning. Podcasts are a very useful part of the learning portfolio. I have contributed to several podcasts, particularly one of the originals, Mark Graban’s podcasts, and more recently, Gemba Academy’s podcasts. For Mark, I am numbers 5, 6, 10, 64. Mark’s

This video is great in many ways. First, it’s a great demonstration of how simple lean can be. While it doesn’t capture all of the essence or the experience behind some of the simple improvements, it does show how simple the improvements can be. Second, it demonstrates that when lean

There are many environmental factors that affect the lean community and their work towards lean transformation. Some of these factors are positive and some are negative. Bad lean implementations hurts the reputation of lean. The weak economy shook out some of the bad implementation, and refocused many of the good

Review any company’s slide decks on lean and you’ll likely find a definition for lean. They’re all a little different, but almost all of them center around one common theme: the elimination of waste. So, at least by consensus, this is the definition of lean: the elimination of waste. Of

Guest Post: Keith Poirier has over 17 years industry experience with a focus on lean/business process improvement.  He currently manages an EHS Team for a global design and manufacturing company, and also instructs an Operations Management MBA course. What is lean?  What does it mean to you?  Does it mean the

Guest Post: Kurt Woolley is Lean Champion within Intel’s Fab/Sort Manufacturing (FSM) organization, and founder of Atmos Industries. See more on his LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kurt-woolley/3/941/575. Do lean methods apply within a subcontractor-based business? Oh yes! In my recent journeys, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a sub-contractor business –

For the past two weeks, I’ve been writing about topics related to quality. This is the last topic of the series, and it’s focus is on the role of the quality organization. There is always a tension between the quality organization, regardless of its title, and the rest of the

I have a new post published on Assembly Magazine. See the full article on that site. The CEO must be the champion and leader of a lean transformation, but the board of directors can have a major impact, too…. Continue reading….

I have a new post published on Assembly Magazine. See the full article on that site. Lean applies to every function within a business. You cannot succeed on your lean journey without engaging the sales organization at some point…. Continue reading….