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…
POLL QUESTION: Who has contributed the most to modern Lean?
Modern Lean is the result of a community effort. Many people have contributed their knowledge over the years to form the current collective wisdom that we all share.
POLL QUESTION: What Are the Most Important Lean Leadership Traits?
Leadership makes or breaks a Lean effort. Much of the gain comes from frontline effort, but that only happens when leaders set the right conditions for success.
This week’s question focuses on Lean leadership. We’d like to know what you see as the most important leadership traits for individuals guiding a team in a continuous improvement environment. This list comes from our 11 “C’s” of Lean Leadership.
When a leader first announces that the company is going to commence on a Lean journey, frontline employees tend to have a strong reaction. Obviously, there are a lot of factors that play into the equation, but this week, I’d like to hear how you think employees typically respond to this sort of change.
As a new weekly feature, we will be asking our readers a question about how they use Lean or other continuous improvement methods in their organization.
This week, we would like to know how your company makes time for improvement activity.
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 Read more…
I recently responded to a question about 5S on a forum. The gist was that the person wanted to know how long to expect 5S to take. Both myself and another responder quickly mentioned that 5S takes a long, long time. He said months; I said it is never done. Read more…
I’m going to start out by saying that I fully expect to be blasted for this article. Challenging anything that Deming or Ohno or Shingo or Juran says is walking on thin ice in the Lean community. Despite that, I am going to do it anyway. Lately, I have been Read more…
I saw an interesting report yesterday about a passenger in San Diego who videotaped an interaction with some TSA employees. Reportedly, the passenger opted out of the backscatter screening, but then threatened to have the screener arrested if he “touched his junk.” Now, I’m not going to get into the Read more…
Conventional wisdom contends that goals are essential for improving team performance. I’ve shared that belief for years, but what if it is wrong? What if goals act to hold back a team’s performance? For low performing teams, I’m convinced that goals do inspire improvement. For those groups, inertia tends to Read more…
Lean works. It’s been proven time and time again that its methods and strategies are effective, and that companies that crack the code of Lean improve their operations significantly. But Lean also flounders in some companies, making it harder than it needs to be and limiting its progress. My perception Read more…
The 8D problem solving methodology is similar to the DMAIC approach utilized by Six Sigma. Of note, 8D is a shortened form of the original name, ‘8 Disciplines’. The 8D’s are: Identify the problem Use a team approach/form an 8D team Describe the problem Interim containment Define the Read more…