POLL QUESTION: Which training product would most help you develop a stronger continuous improvement culture in your organization?
One of our goals is to help you create the best continuous improvement training program possible. We do this through a combination of various factors:
As I’ve mentioned in many previous articles, sports provide an outstanding backdrop to teach Lean lessons. This aspect of athletics was reinforced in a recent article in ESPN magazine. It takes a detailed look at the statistics behind one pitcher’s performance.
This player had an outstanding year in 2012. By one measure, he was responsible for adding 5.3 wins to his team. This year though, using the same metric, he is responsible for one additional loss. On the surface, this looks like a fairly significant drop in performance. The problem though, is…
Lean experienced a fairly slow start in the 80’s and early 90’s, but picked up its adoption rate rapidly in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Of late, it seems to be reaching something of a saturation point in manufacturing, but is still spreading rapidly in other areas. The Lean office is still going strong. Lean is making substantial inroads into healthcare. I see more requests for Lean information from those in higher education. Even the government is getting into the act, albeit at a slow pace. (Note: These observations are from personal experience. It is surprisingly hard to find reliable, believable, compatible data about Lean adoption.)
POLL QUESTION: What is the source of improvement activity in your company?
For most companies, the pull for improvement activity and the source of ideas comes from a variety of sources. As a company becomes more sophisticated, Lean efforts originate from an increasingly diverse range of systems and stakeholders.
From the list below, please check all the sources that act as meaningful originators of improvement activity in your company. Please do not check a block if the source only contributes on rare occasions or if it provides ideas without resolution.
One of the hallmarks of an organization that is devoted to continuous improvement is the visible posting of metrics in work areas.
Welcome to episode 2 of “Talking Lean” with Jeff Hajek and Tim McMahon. We had a lot of fun doing the first one, and this second go around is no different. I always come away from discussions with Tim reinvigorated about continuous improvement. Hopefully, you end up feeling the same way when listening to us.
POLL QUESTION: How long will it take a typical average company to become Lean?
One of the questions that many people have when they start a Lean journey is, “How long will it take?” Now, the truth is, this question is nearly impossible to answer. The motivation and resources of the company, the quality of the leadership, the presence of a crisis, and a host of other factors affect the speed with which a company embraces change…
Welcome to Episode 1 of “Talking Lean” with Jeff Hajek (me) and Tim McMahon (from the “A Lean Journey” blog). This show is intended to be a buffet of Lean bites. Tim and I both have a variety of features that we regularly post on our websites. Unfortunately, great content such as this can get lost in a sea of Lean noise.
I am an avid fan of the NFL. I love looking over the stats almost as much as watching games. The numbers tell you a lot about the flow of the game.
The stats, though, are can be misleading. Take scoring offense and scoring defense, for example. Let’s say that a team gives up few points. This can happen because the defense is stout or because the offense is great and controls the ball. With a few less possessions in a game, you’d expect to see fewer points.
POLL QUESTION: Which of the following most accurately describes Toyota’s current role in the Lean community?
I am a big fan of all that Toyota has done for the Lean community. Their contributions have been incalculable, and their willingness to share information is legendary…
Notes from Jeff: I’d like to thank my guest author, Tony Ferraro for his contribution to the Gotta Go Lean Blog.
Lean manufacturing is something many companies strive for but only some attain. Many businesses implement different strategies in order to make processes faster, cheaper, and more efficient. Let’s face it, in this day and age we are either meeting or exceeding the ever-changing customer expectations, or we are simply treading water just trying to stay afloat. The art of continuous improvement has a lot to do with how successful a business is…
While continuous improvement is a great and wonderful thing, it has one glaring weakness. You have to be right when you define what improvement actually is. If you missed the mark, you’ll just get more effective at doing the wrong thing.
One trick that you can use to make sure that your definition of improvement is correct is to look at yourself through the eyes of your competitor. Imagine that you are a marketing manager for the business you most frequently go head-to-head against. What weaknesses would you try to exploit? Which of your own strengths would you try to emphasize? What are your advantages from the customer perspective?