How can you easily apply scientific thinking to everyday problems and strategic challenges? And how can you better coach others to think? How can you apply the Toyota Kata improvement and coaching practices in your organization? I was excited to learn earlier this year that Sylvain Landry was releasing a book – titled Bringing Scientific […]

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate interest in substantially improving the strategies and tactics used to advance Lean management to gain more widespread interest progressive management among top business and other leaders. You may love it. You may hate it. Either way, please read it and reflect. I welcome your feedback. Lean Mgmt […]

A tetralogy of books unlike any others in the long history of progressive management.Hundred year-old questions finally answered. If you are like most people, you wonder why top leaders remain committed to old ways ways of leading and managing organizations. Wonder no more. These four books demystify by going deep behind the scenes to reveal […]

The early days of Lean management (circa 1988-2000) emphasized Toyota-style kaizen and thus Type 1 Lean management. Yet the subsequent decades-long piecemeal introduction of discrete Lean tools and the eager uptake of each Lean tool by practitioners and companies alike, one by one, resulted in the rapid devolution of Lean management to Type 2. Discovery […]

Choose to use Process Excellence projects as the mechanism for solving your critical business issues. Relentlessly communicate the importance of continuous improvement and encourage all staff to embrace the Process Excellence methodology. Choose your best people to lead projects and help them succeed. Participate in monthly project reviews. Understand the Process Excellence methodologies well enough […]

PDCA, also known as the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, is a continuous improvement methodology that can improve production efficiency. Here are the steps for using PDCA to improve production efficiency: Plan: Identify an area of production that needs improvement and define the problem or opportunity. Develop a plan to address the issue, including setting goals and targets […]

Updated 2022-11-17: Renamed network #2, minor edits elsewhere Expanding slightly on yesterday’s LinkedIn post (linkedin.com), your organisation in 5 networks: Network #1: Your reporting network. This is just your formal structure – typically a hierarchy, perhaps with the occasional bit of dual reporting thrown in – seen here as lines of communication. Because sideways communication […]

What is unavoidable — in Teams we work with people. And we work also with people outside the Team.  But let’s discuss that topic in another post. The next obvious thing to say is that people are complicated, each person by herself or himself, and in a Team of seven then, we get a lot […]

As co-author of Introduction to Manufacturing, I received the first print copies with trepidation:: Did they print it on good paper? Does the book stay open flat without paperweights on each side? Are all the numbers and cross-references accurate? Are the pictures sharp and the colors vivid? … For the paperback edition, so far, it’s […]

FEATURE – This nurses-led experiment in Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic is proving successful in getting more patients discharged on time and avoiding surgery cancellations. Words: The Orthopedic-Traumatology Surgery team BACKGROUND In the context of the economic crisis of 2008, as it struggled to address the high demand for knee replacement surgery and a long waiting list, […]

Would you consider customer experience the most important indicator of strategic performance for your organization? More than 45% of organizations do. Indeed, a healthy relationship with your customers is among the critical traits of successful, growing, and sustainable businesses. Understanding, tracking, and improving your workflow efficiency is important to ensure your customers are satisfied with […]

If you’re reading this article, Objectives and Key Results (OKR) is probably familiar to you. If you’re having success with OKR, congratulations! I would love to hear about your learnings.  On the other hand, if you still need to realize the benefits promised by OKR or OKR is a frustrating initiative for your organization, I […]

Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… there’s always so much good reading, listening, and viewing shared here by him! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. Insights about improvement, innovation, and leadership… Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation Does Deming Still Matter? Yep.  Don’t blame the grass, blame the gardener Frustrated at […]

Thanks, everybody, for reading my blog here in 2022. And for listening to podcasts… so many podcasts again this year! Here are a few numbers, before we get to the most-read posts of the year. Podcast Numbers This year, I released 34 new “Lean Blog Interviews” podcast episodes. More still to come in 2023. Thanks […]

I saw a story on the NBC Nightly News last night about the ChatGPT / OpenAI tool, and they used examples of asking the AI bot to explain concepts to a 5-year-old. After asking a similar tool to explain Lean in healthcare, I posed this question (it was more of a command, I guess): Explain […]

Although the Christmas-preparations can put us under stress, it still seems that during the few weeks before and around Christmas we are more caring and loving. We are much more of a family person all of a sudden, we think about world peace, we have more compassion, patience with others and start overflowing with altruism. […]

Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we cannot improve. 10. […]

This article is the first of a three-part series dedicated to educating you about low-cost, high-impact lean solutions available for eCommerce and fulfillment. Each article will focus on a different portion of your warehouse’s process, from picking and restocking to assembly and inspection to repackaging, packaging, and shipping. If you have questions about any of […]

This article is the second installment in a three-part series dedicated to educating you about low-cost, high-impact lean solutions available for eCommerce and fulfillment. Each article will focus on a different portion of your warehouse’s process, from picking and restocking to assembly and kitting to repackaging, packaging, and shipping. If you have questions about any […]

This article is the final installment in a three-part series dedicated to educating you about low-cost, high-impact lean solutions available for eCommerce and fulfillment. Each article focuses on a different portion of your warehouse’s process, from picking best practices to kitting and assembly, and finally packaging and shipping. If you have questions about any of […]

We’ve talked at length about the uncertainty that has surrounded us all for longer than we care to remember. This uncertainty has manifested itself in the workforce in countless ways, including high rates of absenteeism, massive supply chain issues, and increased instances of employee burnout. We’ve also talked about what it takes to get through […]

We’ve been talking a lot about playing offense lately. It’s no secret it’s time to free ourselves from the defensive mode we’ve all been in for far too long. We’ve talked about transformation, resilience, and adaptability, as we shift our mindsets from a reactionary standpoint to an anticipatory one. But let’s be very clear – […]

Times of Uncertainty Demand It Regardless of the amount of change and uncertainty we’ve been though, there are always some consistencies. And in terms of an organization, those consistencies rest with the attributes and behaviors of leadership. At their foundation, they are about the resilience, persistence, and ability to be agile. Only in these ways […]

Today, we’ll be discussing five reasons why you should digitize equipment maintenance. But first, let’s get into the difference between corrective maintenance and preventive maintenance.  Corrective Maintenance vs Preventive Maintenance Equipment maintenance is essential for any and every organization. Traditionally, corrective maintenance was very common. But, nowadays, organizations have shifted towards preventive maintenance. Let’s distinguish […]

Before we get into detailing why you should digitize abnormality reporting (F-tags), let’s first discuss what abnormality reporting (F-tags) are and why they’re essential for any manufacturing business. What is Abnormality Reporting (F-tags)? Abnormality reporting is also known as F-tags. The F in F-tag stands for Fuguai, a Japanese word that translates to “deviation” or […]

A digital transformation in manufacturing will soon become essential for every organization in the manufacturing industry. In this blog, we explore what digital transformation in manufacturing is and the benefits of it. What is Digital Transformation in Manufacturing? Digital transformation in manufacturing is the process of an organization intentionally leveraging and implementing new digital technologies […]

Basic Respect for People Respect for People has been on our minds here at Sempai. Multiplying uncertainties in the world mean that people – employees – often suffer in tough times as the purse strings are pulled tighter. It doesn’t have to be about money though – the small, daily pain points and indignities often […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) LPI Back to Basics Series, Part 1 Plan-Do-Check-Adjust – so easy to say. An inexperienced young fellow recently said to me, “PDCA is too easy. I need something more…” At his age, I was thick too. The mist gradually cleared for me, as I’m sure it will for him. My Toyota […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) LPI Back to Basics Series, Part 2 “Big Data” is all over the Net, and rightly so. Burgeoning computer horsepower means we’re able to crunch numbers like never before. Manufacturing, Marketing, Human Resources etc. will be able illuminate opaque areas. Billions of data points — molecular, customer and team member behaviour, […]

We all know a couple people who have changed the direction of our lives and careers, even with very brief interactions.  Something they said created an a-ha moment that changed our perspective or provided the catalyst that helped draw the connection between thoughts we’ve been mulling for a long time. For me, one of those […]

It was an incredible honor to not only hear Larry Culp, the CEO of General Electric and CEO of GE Aerospace, when he spoke at the AME 2022 annual conference in Dallas, but to have the opportunity to interview him on stage in a “fireside chat” about his leadership approach, his top recommended leadership books, […]

Recently I recorded my 6th episode of the Gemba Academy Podcast with host Ron Pereira when we were together in person at the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) 2022 conference in Dallas. In this episode, we focus our discussion on how leaders and learners can navigate the inherent struggle that comes with learning, while at […]

As leaders and continuous improvement practitioners, we’re committed to creating a people-centered learning organization. But how? Most importantly, by creating the right culture – one that is connected through systems and human behavior. Culture is the accumulation of learned and accepted patterns of behavior, within a system, that can either be intentionally created through thoughtful […]

One of the important objectives of any form of progressive management, be it old Scientific Management or modern TPS and the Toyota Way or Lean management, is to improve the work such that it reduces the struggles that any employee faces in the execution of their work. Yet, when it comes to leadership, efforts to […]