Mon, 10/10/2011 - 11:59
Reflection, or hansei in Japanese, is a critical part of lean. Without purposeful reflection it is difficult to improve our value streams, processes, or ourselves. Socrates’ oft-referenced, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” rings true…
Mon, 09/26/2011 - 15:49
Some lies you can see a mile away: “The check is in the mail.” “Your table will be ready in a few minutes.” “I didn’t say that.” “This won’t hurt a bit.” Add to this rather long list some lies of the lean variety. I’ve heard more than my fair…
Thu, 09/15/2011 - 12:31
I love simple questions. Specifically, I love questions that are ostensibly simple but can spur deep reflection about important stuff… and ultimately improvement.
I like the question, “So what?” Those two words seek to identify the “…
Fri, 09/02/2011 - 10:33
To avoid confusion, the term “headhunter” in this article does not refer to those who take the severed head of others as some sort of trophy (that practice, as far as I know, is defunct); nor does it refer to finding, at a price, qualified…
Tue, 08/23/2011 - 14:23
Regular tiered meetings are a staple of any company’s lean management system. The quick stand-up meetings represent part of the daily accountability process which, when combined with leader standard work and visual controls, provide the…
Wed, 08/03/2011 - 11:38
First, the introduction. This post was earnestly written by my friend, Jeff Fuchs. He’s the director of the Maryland World Class Consortia, a lean nonprofit assistance organization in the mid-Atlantic. He’s also president of Neovista Consulting,…
Mon, 07/18/2011 - 15:04
Lean is largely about satisfying customer requirements. That’s nearly impossible if the lean practitioner doesn’t understand demand. In fact, misunderstand average daily demand, and the impact can be significant, including inaccurate takt times,…
Tue, 06/28/2011 - 05:00
Lean culture is largely defined by, or at least manifested in, engaged and empowered employees practicing voluntary kaizen. Engagement can be measured in a number of ways, but perhaps one of the most telling is the number of implemented suggestions…
Wed, 05/25/2011 - 05:30
Among other things, an effective lean management system drives process adherence and process performance. The daily accountability portion of the system includes brief tiered meetings with the stakeholders.
At the tier I level, the core meeting…
Tue, 05/03/2011 - 16:37
Every once in awhile people will ask me to (discretely) evaluate a kaizen event team’s effectiveness. I don’t necessarily relish doing that when it is intended for the purpose of team comparisons, but it’s not an unfair request from senior…