What industries or types of companies benefit most from Lean? Lean is often thought of as being specifically for manufacturing. There is some truth to this if you think of Lean as a set of tools. Many of the tools are geared towards manufacturing. Kanban cards, SMED (Single Minute Exchange Read more…
Why do people call Lean efforts a journey? One of the things you will learn about Lean as you get more experienced at it is that you are never done. There are always more improvements to be made, new tools to be learned or created, and new skills to develop. Read more…
Why are there so many Lean specialties? The main reason for the specialties is that Lean is primarily thought of as an improvement philosophy for manufacturing. In fact, it was originally called “Lean Manufacturing.” But those who got good at it quickly learned two things. The first is that the Read more…
Why are there so many Japanese terms in Lean? Should we use the English or the Japanese version of terms? As you may know, Lean traces its roots to post WWII Japan. Toyota was trying to find a way to compete in a fragmented market that was short on resources. Read more…
Who is the governing body of Lean? The short answer is that there is no governing body for Lean. There are, however, quite a few powerful influencers. In terms of companies, Toyota is the company most closely associated with Lean. While they have no authority over “Lean”, when they speak, Read more…
What keeps people from trying Lean? What are the barriers? There are several reasons companies choose not to try to implement Lean. More accurately, it is the people who make decisions for the company who decide not to try it. The first common reason is reputation. Some people have heard Read more…
What books should I read first when starting out in Lean? The first and best answer is, of course, Whaddaya Mean I Gotta be Lean? Building the Bridge from Job Satisfaction to Corporate Profit. It is a great place to start. It was written by Jeff Hajek. The first half of the book Read more…
Should I believe the hype about Lean? As you research what to expect from Lean in terms of specific performance increases, you will undoubtedly come across a glut of claims. The thing to keep in mind is that many of these claims come from sources that benefit from the improvement Read more…
How successful are companies at Lean? When researching Lean, it is easy to find examples of companies that are extremely successful at Lean, but it is harder to find information about what the chance of being one of those companies is. In all the years of researching about Lean, I Read more…
How long does it take to become Lean? First, let’s define “becoming Lean” as creating a culture and system that is generally recognizable to other companies as being “Lean.” It’s a vague description, but Lean will mean different things to different people. The second complicating factor is that the pace Read more…
How important is it to report cost savings for every individual improvement event? Let me start by telling you a little story. I once had a vice president of operations who, while talking to a group of leaders from the company, said something to the effect that if all of Read more…
How do I determine cost savings in Lean? Cost savings can be a tricky thing. It is especially challenging when we are talking about reporting cost savings after a kaizen event, or when consultants make claims in marketing information. It is easy to get an inflated system of reporting, where people Read more…