Process capability Process Capability (Cp) is a statistical analysis of a process’s capacity to manufacture parts reliably within predetermined parameters. Depending on the stage of the process and the method used to calculate the standard deviation or sigma value, we can calculate Cp (Process Capability), Cpk (Process Capability Index), or Pp (Preliminary Process Capability), and […]

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 […]

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

To make the product best-selling and the most wanted among the targeted customer, the product has to be as flawless as possible. This perfection is only achievable by evaluating the measurement system. Measurement systems evaluation is a high-priority step that every company should follow before the product is dispatched from the warehouse. The development and […]

FEATURE – A senior executive of a Spanish hotel chain shares an example of how the organization’s management system and visual tools have changed over time. Words: Jordi Estalella As an organization develops its ability to identify and solve problems and becomes more mature in its understanding of Lean Thinking, it is only natural that […]

Before we get into detailing the 7 steps of autonomous maintenance, let’s first get into what autonomous maintenance is and the benefits of putting it into practice. What is Autonomous Maintenance? Autonomous maintenance (AM) is a maintenance strategy that gives machine operators responsibility for basic upkeep tasks of their equipment and machinery. For example, this […]

What is quality control? Quality control refers to the processing that ensures the product quality is maintained and upgraded. To do so, the company designed a chain of command that includes the chief operating officer to the end level of employees who ensure the product quality is up to the mark and will satisfy the […]

This is the back story to the book The Workmanship of Leaders. This book follows fast on heels of A Changed Perspective: An Essential Guide for Emerging Leaders. I wrote A Changed Perspective from mid-November to mid-December 2022, and it was published in early January 2023. As I normally do when I finish a book, […]

Changeovers are required to ensure that we can satisfy the different needs of a customer. Reducing the time to do a changeover holds the key to how quickly we can respond to a customer’s needs. Also, quick changeover means less downtime, which translates to more efficiency, productivity, and parts! How is a quick changeover achieved? […]

Over the course of 20-plus years, top administrators made a grievous and potentially fatal error: They allowed the price of education (tuition, board, meal plans, and fees) to exceed its value. The same has happened in some European countries — notably, Great Britain. In public higher education, hundreds of millions of dollars in funding was […]

Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is a step-by-step approach for identifying all possible failures in a design, a manufacturing process or assembly process, or a final product or service. “Failure modes” means the ways, or modes, in which something might fail. Failures are any errors or defects, especially ones that affect the customer and […]

FEATURE – At a recent Lean Day, our editor was reminded of the immense potential of Lean Thinking applied to government. After a few sleepy years, is lean in the public administration having a comeback? Words: Roberto Priolo, Editor, Planet Lean When I first ventured into the lean world, now over a decade ago, I […]

Implementing a quality improvement strategy is a proactive way for organizations to gain an edge in a highly competitive landscape, especially during an uncertain economy.  Most organizations begin the transformation by taking an unflinching look at operations and identifying which processes are in the most urgent need of improvement. From there, they set to the […]

One-piece flow is strongly connected to lean manufacturing. It moves each product to the next stage as soon as it is completed at the previous stage in the value stream. This brings lots of benefits. While I have written about one-piece flow before, in this post I would like to go into detail on the […]

The Gallup 12 Engagement Hierarchy is a framework created by the Gallup Organization to help organizations understand and improve employee engagement. According to Gallup, employee engagement is “the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization, and are willing to put in discretionary effort to help the organization achieve […]

Reposted from 2014… It’s Valentine’s Day. I’ll be on a flight home from Boston later, hoping to see my wife at least a little bit on this day. Anyway, we never go out to dinner on Valentine’s Day proper — our attempt to help “level load” the restaurants (and we get plenty of chances to […]

Getting Started With Tube and Joint Systems Continuous changes in consumer demand require manufacturers to stay on their toes and be adaptable. If you’re working in antiquated workspaces or using outdated equipment, you may be inhibiting your company’s ability to evolve with the world around it. Modular structures built using Geolean’s tube and joint systems […]

This was a big mistake on the biggest stage for the biggest American sports league. I wouldn’t say it ruined the game, but it was, at minimum, a distraction that the announcers mentioned many times. Between the Super Bowl turf itself and the huge painted logos, this seemed to create safety issues for the players […]

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to […]

This (the link below) is an article, written I think mainly by Ken Schwaber (and also by Jeff Sutherland). I have been told that many people contributed to the experiments and thoughts implied by the discussion in the paper.  This experimental development of Scrum has been stated by Sutherland and Schwaber in several (all?) of […]

Over the course of 20-plus years, top administrators made a grievous and potentially fatal error: They allowed the price of education (tuition, board, meal plans, and fees) to exceed its value. The same has happened in some European countries — notably, Great Britain. In public higher education, hundreds of millions of dollars in funding was […]

LinkedIn Learning is an online platform that offers courses and tutorials on various topics, including business, technology, creative arts, and more. The platform was created to help individuals and organizations upskill and reskill. It has become increasingly popular as more people seek to improve their knowledge and careers. In this article, we’ll take a closer […]

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 Don’t be a tool(head). Many improvement professionals find themselves transitioning from being an individual […]

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 […]

This *FREE* interactive series of seminars first ran in the Fall of 2022, and it is back due to popular demand! This unique series of seminars will be a great learning experience. Don’t miss it! The *FREE* Spring 2023 series will kick off on Friday, 10 March 2023 and continue each Friday through 28 April. […]

Productivity is a crucial aspect of business success and refers to the output produced per unit of input. Simply, it measures how effectively you utilize your time, resources, and skills to achieve your goals. In this post, we’ll explore the concept of productivity and how it works in detail. I. Introduction Definition of productivity Importance […]

What is Poka-Yoke? Poka-yoke (poh-kah yoh-keh) is a Japanese term that means “mistake-proofing” or more literally — avoiding (yokeru) inadvertent errors (poka).  What’s more, it’s one of the most fundamental tools of lean six sigma, and one of several lean manufacturing tools, that is designed to help organizations eliminate waste, streamline processes, and increase efficiency. […]

Exploring the pros and cons of Atarimae, Waigay, Kodawari, Kansya and more. The 10 Japanese words we learned from consulting to Toyota group: Atarimae Waigaya Kodawari Kan Kotsu Hansei Monozukuri Kansya Kaikaiku Kamishibai Jikoutei kan ketsu and more importantly we’ll explain how they can help you. We’ll get to the 10 Japanese words shortly, but […]

This article explores organisational structures and roles, on the understanding that most roles are structured on a hierarchical basis – and can be universally defined using the acronym RASCI: Responsible – “operational team-leader/manager” role. Accountable – “top-level/executive/buck-stops here” role. Supporting – “team-member/participant/supplier” role. Consulted – “subject-matter expert/arbiter/customer” role. Informed – “stakeholder/regulator/key-contact” role. Leadership & Management […]

Manufacturers of all kinds seek to achieve continuous quality improvement because it ensures the consistency of products delivered to customers and protects against the competition. It also paves the path to compliance with industry-specific standards. This is crucial in the automotive sector because defective vehicle parts may lead to expensive recalls or worse accidents that […]

“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 […]

We’ll get to the 10 Japanese words shortly, but first, we’ve put a couple of health warnings below to avoid a deluge of salty messages 🙂 By the way, each of the 10 words will be elaborated on in future posts, with a small story to illuminate. HEALTH WARNING 1: There’s a whole debate in […]

What does operational excellence mean? How can leaders create a culture of continuous improvement? And what does leadership really mean and look like? In his book The Façade of Excellence: Defining a New Normal of Leadership, John Dyer seeks to answer these questions by exploring four different leadership styles and illustrates through stories what it […]

Investing in the development of employees is the most important and rewarding thing a manager can do. For some reason, though, it’s often the last thing on a manager’s “to do” list. People development without proper planning in place normally results in internal and external conflict, which leads to confusion, low productivity, less motivation, and […]