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Gotta Go Lean Blog

Webinar Recording: 8 Things to Avoid to Make Your Kaizen Successful

Well, with the right tools, and a better process, things get much easier. I am actually got a webinar recording posted on the same day that Tim McMahon and I presented it. Tim will be posting the slides up on SlideShare as well at some point in the near future. While I have enjoyed all the recording that Tim and I have done so far, this one was particularly enjoyable. It packs in the information, Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Kitting

Kitting is a method used to standardize production processes. Sets of parts are consolidated and delivered to a work area as a unit. The kit contains the precise number of parts or amount of material to produce a set number of products. The benefit is that there is less real estate required for material storage in the production areas, there is no possibility to work ahead of a pull signal, and the kit itself acts Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Cancelled Travel Plans Means More 5S Info

We had a last-minute change of plans in my family, so I ended up staying home rather than traveling over the holiday weekend. In this case, my loss was your gain as I spent a lot of time updating the information relating to 5S in The Continuous Improvement Companion. I added a short video to YouTube and completely revised the 5S entry in my online reference guide. In addition, I also posted a revised PDF Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Give Us Your Opinion on Gotta Go Lean Article Types

Up until now, the Gotta Go Lean blog has been published on a rather flexible schedule depending on the amount of time being spent producing new training materials and serving clients. Well, as our readership has grown, so too has the need to be more structured in how we publish. Now that we have passed 5,000 subscribers to our various publications, it is time to start adhering to a more predictable schedule. To help us Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Why Managers Are Bottlenecks

Quite often, whether on the shop floor or in the office, a process grinds to a halt when frontline employees have to go seek manager approval for something. Whether it is for spending that exceeds a prescribed threshold, when two employees want to swap work stations to stay fresh, or to sign off on a repaired product after a defect is corrected, if a manager is not immediately available, work flow is disrupted. In some Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Lean Success in Public vs. Private Companies

There are many reasons that Lean can fail to take hold in an organization. One complaint that I hear commonly is about the short term financial pressure on publicly traded companies. Lean requires a long term investment in people and processes. When a company is first trying to weave a continuous improvement culture into its DNA, there can be large expenses. Whether these are related to the time spent training a team, hiring new team Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

New Product Development (NPD)

NPD is perhaps the most critical of all business functions. Think of a business like a shark. It has to keep moving forward to stay alive. NPD is the process by which they keep moving forward. Customers get bored with the current product or need a fresh product to solve a new problem. Or perhaps other businesses come up with their own new ideas. Whatever the cause, one thing is certain. Companies that produce goods Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

What My 8 Year-Old Daughter Taught Me About Lean

I was a bit humbled over the weekend. As a small business, Velaction outsources some of what we do, but for the things that change rapidly, we have developed internal capabilities. It lets us be more flexible, nimble, and cost-effective when we need to update something on our site, or want to get a new product developed quickly. So, Velaction has a small photo studio—lightbox and lighting, tripod, nice camera, and a remote to get Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

You worry that the bar is set too high.

The concept of continuous improvement is that there is always an opportunity to get better. Sometimes, though, team members question how much better they can get. The truth is that Lean is not a magic drug that can cure everything about a company instantly. It takes work, and commitment, and a lot of effort. But in many cases, people can accomplish far more than they think that they can.

By Jeff Hajek, ago

8 Ways to Develop Winning Teams in Lean Organizations (Webinar Recording)

Developing a winning team is critical to the success of a Lean organization. That’s because a strong continuous improvement culture demands the involvement of people throughout the organization. And people won’t want to take on that responsibility if they do not feel prepared for the challenge. In our April, 2011 webinar, Tim McMahon (of ALeanJourney.com) and I discussed 8 ways to build a more effective team.

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Building a Continuous Improvement Culture Webinar Recording

In January, I posted an article about ways to start building a continuous improvement culture in your organization. Tim McMahon and I revisited the topic in March when we did a live Lean webinar chat on the subject. Tim added some of his perspective, and we talked for nearly an hour about how to engage people in the improvement process, and lay the foundation for continued success. Fortunately, YouTube has lifted a time limit restriction Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Are You Driven to Learn Lean? (Webinar Recording)

Most people see the automotive industry as a great way to show how to apply Lean concepts to your organization, but your own car can also provide valuable insight into the application of Lean tools. In this video, Tim McMahon of A Lean Journey and I discuss how an item you use every day—your car—showcases many of the Lean tools that you can use to make your job much easier for you, and more value-building Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago