Toyota Chairman Fujio Cho gave a brilliantly simple description of what to do on a Gemba walk. “Go see, ask why, show respect,” he said. That’s it in a nutshell. During a Gemba walk, supervisors and leaders go to the place where work is done (the Gemba). They observe (not fix) processes and ask questions […]

One-piece flow—while often defined differently—is one of the True Norths in lean manufacturing. Get your material flowing! In theory that is easy. In practice, however, there are many obstacles standing between where you are and where you want to be, also for one-piece flow. Introduction As I wrote in a different post, one-piece flow moves […]

I have had covid for most of the past week, and though I don’t feel seriously ill, coupled with the facts 1) that with my wife I’m part of a 24*7 care team for a vulnerable family member, and 2) that I’ve been called to jury service next month, I’ve had to make some changes. […]

I’ve written before about Bob. He was the Plant Superintendent (the #2 in command, if you will) at the GM Livonia Engine Plant, where I started my career from 1995 to 1997. See some previous posts about my time there. Bob was a character and a half. He was old school. He talked with a […]

PDCA stands for Plan, Do, Check, and Act, and it is a widely used problem-solving methodology in various industries. On the other hand, RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed, and it is a useful tool for defining roles and responsibilities in a project or process. Here’s how you can combine the two methodologies: […]

Real-time condition monitoring is a powerful tool that can help maintenance and reliability professionals predict failures and mitigate production downtime seamlessly. Here are some steps that maintenance and reliability professionals can take to use real-time condition monitoring effectively: Identify critical equipment: Start by identifying the equipment that is most critical to your operation. This could […]

INTERVIEW – Earlier this month, we attended a Lean Day at Dreamplace Hotels and Resorts in the Canary Islands. We sat down with two lean leaders to discuss the transformations of their businesses. Interviewees: Marco López and Juan Antonio Tena Dreamplace and 365 are two organizations that Planet Lean readers will probably be familiar with, […]

“Value is only valuable if someone values your value.” As business agility expert Nigel Thurlow has simply put it, identifying value through your customers’ perspective is critical to success. Thus, Lean is developed to deliver unquestionable value to the customer at the right time. To help you with that, the methodology focuses on identifying value-adding […]

For a long time, it’s bothered me that organizations typically react to a mistake with punishment. This is even more annoying when the phrase “hold people accountable” is used as a polite or passive-aggressive way to say “blame and punish people.” This happens a lot in healthcare, unfortunately. As I’ve been editing the manuscript for […]

What ChatGPT says about me is generally flattering but inaccurate and inconsistent. Ask multiple times and you get different wrong answers. I find it disturbing that it credits me for things I didn’t do. It also omits some I have done, which makes me wonder to whom ChatGPT attributes them. Here are a few mistakes […]

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of February 2022.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.     When You’re Convinced You’re Right, You’ve Lost Your Ability to Learn – Pascal Dennis says we need to cultivate debate, dissent, and a healthy skepticism but first we have to […]

The Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) is used in the automotive industry to establish confidence in component suppliers and their production processes. Developed by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), the PPAP process has become the de facto standard for automotive suppliers. The PPAP process involves five key steps: Design and Development Approval: The supplier […]

We have known for decades that people who participate in decision-making that affects their work feel a higher degree of ownership and commitment to that work. We also know that where more people are involved in a joint process of common interest, the quality of output is higher.  The same is true of strategic planning.  […]

Quick Intro As some of you know, Henrik Kniberg in (I think) about 2014 “wrote down” the then-existing “Spotify Model”.  How they worked then. It dealt with Scaling, but also with how a Team was organized.  And a bunch of other things. First, the way (the model) that Spotify was working then was in continuous […]

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 From the Archives: The Lean Mail-Order Food Company Lean only applies when demand is […]

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. 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 […]

Planned Maintenance Definition Planned maintenance is the planning, documenting, and scheduling of any maintenance activity. Essentially, it is a maintenance approach that aims to reduce unplanned equipment downtime and instead, promotes planned downtime. So, scheduling this kind of maintenance extends the lifespans of your assets and keeps them in working order. Two Types of Planned […]

The Aim of Effective (Planned) Maintenance Effective Maintenance aims to raise the company’s productivity by lowering the total cost of its equipment over every stage, from design and fabrication to operation and maintenance (including the initial cost of the equipment itself, maintenance and other running costs, and losses due to equipment deterioration). The goals of […]

This article caught my eye today, and it’s a change of pace to think about and write about mistakes other than my own (and I made more today — but healthcare mistakes are more important). Penn Medicine hospital cited over wrong-site surgery It’s a mistake to perform surgery on the wrong leg. Not an “unintended […]

How to promote risk awareness and prevention The influence of culture significantly impacts employee behaviors and attitudes about workplace safety and health. Like all other aspects of culture, success depends on leadership from the top. For ideas and actions that support safety to be widespread, they need to be embraced and practiced from the C-suite […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more Joining us for Episode #469 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Matt May and Pablo Dominguez, the authors of the new book What a Unicorn Knows: How Leading Entrepreneurs Use Lean Principles to Drive Sustainable Growth. It’s available now! Matt has been before, in episodes […]

The Lean methodology is an evolution of the Toyota Production System that the Japanese automaker implemented following World War II to improve the efficiency and flexibility of its manufacturing. Two important books, The Machine That Changed the World (1990) by James P. Womack, Daniel Roos, and Daniel T. Jone and Lean Thinking (1996) by James […]

We all make mistakes. I feel like I’ve made more mistakes than usual this week — including a series of mistakes related to my Lean podcast that I released this morning. 1) I think I had the release date jotted down wrong for the new book by Matthew May & 🦄Pablo Dominguez, so I was […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more Joining us for Episode #470 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Gary Michel. He was Chairman and CEO of Jeld-Wen, Inc. until August 2022 and, just after that, I saw him give an outstanding keynote talk at the AME annual conference in Dallas. Gary was […]

I learned from my time at Wiremold, originating from Art Byrne, the fundamentals of trystorming. This method consists of, “Rapid cycles of real-time experimentation, used to test and adjust improvement ideas before establishing standard work or implementing processes broadly.” In plain language this means – try it out! Try Storming incorporates physical actions that can […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more Joining us for Episode #469 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Matt May and Pablo Dominguez, the authors of the new book What a Unicorn Knows: How Leading Entrepreneurs Use Lean Principles to Drive Sustainable Growth. It’s available now! Matt has been before, in episodes […]

“Good Change” Begins with a New Paradigm Working with organizations of all sizes and in all industries, we’ve learned that transforming a business to adopt a culture of continuous improvement takes more than a few new policies and a series of meetings. Instead, what’s required is a new way of thinking and approaching problems that […]

Somewhat surprising to industry insiders, the CEO of Toyota Motor, Akio Toyoda, announced on January 26 his resignation, and he will step down as CEO on April 1, 2023, to become the chairman of the board. Hence, I will have a look at his impact on Toyota. However, just to be warned, if you expect […]

Do you have a hard time understanding what CaPex or OpEx is? CapEx CapEx, or capital expenditure, is a financial term that describes the cost of acquiring, maintaining, or improving fixed assets such as property, plant, and equipment (PP&E). In simple terms, CapEx refers to the money that a company invests in its infrastructure or […]

On Thursday, I’m happy to be hosting the latest webinar in the KaiNexus Continuous Improvement Webinar Series: Introducing the Connections Between Habit Science and Continuous Improvement It will be presented by Dr. Greg Jacobson and Morgan Wright from KaiNexus. Greg and Morgan have been studying three books on the science of habits: They’re synthesizing the […]

The very first Commander in Chief of the United States of America set the standard for leadership in the new country not only for his tactical prowess but especially for his character and trustworthiness. George Washington’s administrative and organizational skills in conjunction with his merit, passion for country before himself, and the mutual trust he […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) A deep bow to the late great psychologist, John Bradshaw, for the title. Dr Bradshaw, a genuine healer, recognized the corrosive effect of parental self-righteousness on children and families. [Bradshaw On: The Family: A New Way of Creating Solid Self-Esteem] The philosopher, Eric Hoffer saw self-righteousness as the driving force behind […]

Testing audits and inspections are all examples of quality control techniques used to assess the effectiveness and compliance of a system, product, or process. Inspections are the visual evaluation of a process or product to ensure it complies with rules or requirements. This can be carried out either manually or with the use of automated […]

So your leadership training is a great commercial success. You have made a lot of money, but the overall impact is nearly zero. Sure, you get a call from someone every now and then who tells you how much you helped them. While the training was technically accurate, perfectly presented, engaging, and informative, you never […]