I remember 14 years ago, as we were finishing the book Better Thinking, Better Results, Orry Fiume (retired vice president of finance and administration at The Wiremold Company) told me: “It’s a good thing not every company is Lean, otherwise there would be 30 percent unemployment.” Fortunately, we don’t have that to worry about. But […]

The 20th anniversary of the book Lean Thinking was marked on 21 September 2016 by an interview of James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones. The interview was interesting from a number of perspectives. Below are some thoughts and critiques of selected passages from the interview: Jim Womack: Our aim was to give people a license […]

For nearly 20 years, I have been engaged in teaching the leaders of “brownfield” businesses about Lean leadership. As with all other trainers, we teach company leaders in batches and accept the many abnormal conditions that lay in front of our eyes: Long queue time to align everyone’s schedule Some leaders miss the training due to […]

Continuous improvement is not a one-time project or initiative; it is an ongoing continuous improvement mindset and culture that should be fostered throughout the organization. It involves encouraging all employees to seek opportunities for improvement, identifying and eliminating inefficiencies, and continuously enhancing processes, products, and services. It requires management and employees to embrace change, learn […]

In this edition: Leading in a Transforming Organisation; Train-the-Trainer / Facilitator (TTT/F); Keynote, webinar, and media pages; Agendashift Academy update; Top posts Leading in a Transforming Organisation The “London Event” (June) now has a proper name, a confirmed venue, and already a strong list of delegates signed up. In October it transfers to Melbourne, Australia, […]

The 20th anniversary of the book Lean Thinking was marked on 28 and 29 September 2016 by an interview of James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones. Below are some thoughts and critiques of selected passages from the interview: From Part 1 of the Interview Jim: …organizations struggle to make good margins, customers report declining […]

Distinguishing between the Toyota Production System (TPS) and Lean Manufacturing is challenging. The TPS is often considered the original lean manufacturing model, its Western equivalent. While these terms are frequently interchanged, subtle variances in their conceptual bases and application merit attention. Let’s dig in! Terminology Deciphered The Toyota Production System epitomizes Toyota’s managerial philosophy and […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more Joining us for Episode #476 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Ken Pilone, who has more than 30 years experience in Organization Development in Government, Retail, Automotive, Distribution, and Aerospace. He recently retired from Providence Health & Services, working most recently as the Senior Manager […]

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of May 2023.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.     Eight Tips for Managing Up – Steve Kane shares some tips for managing up in a rapidly changing, or continuous improvement, environment.   Reflections on True North – Pascal Dennis […]

What follows is a critique of the article “Dealing with Lean’s Crazy Relatives” by James P. Womack published on Planet Lean, 26 September 2016 (Note: bold text is in the original article): Dealing with Lean’s Crazy Relatives Comment: Disrespectful title. Blames people; should blame the process instead. Diminishes the important work of great contributors to the […]

In today’s digital age, ongoing learning is essential to remain up-to-date. The good news is that several companies, such as Google, provide free courses to enhance one’s skills. Whether you aspire to enter a new field or desire to broaden your knowledge, the following five Google courses can be beneficial. Machine Learning Crash Course The […]

One thing we know for sure is that executives of big corporations hate government taxes. They will do just about anything to avoid paying any kind of business tax to any government entity, and they will spend very large sums of money to reduce their tax burden. Corporations spend money on internal tax departments staffed with […]

Welcome to the “Directory of LinkedIn posts with attachments” on leanmanufacturing.online, your one-stop resource for all things related to Lean Manufacturing and Process Excellence. This page serves as a comprehensive directory of insightful LinkedIn posts, each an exploration of various aspects of Lean Six Sigma, TPM, TPS, and other significant methodologies within the field of […]

One thing we know for sure is that executives of big corporations have never been fond of salaried or hourly employees. The reason is simple: They cost too much. Costs include wages, health insurance and other benefits, savings plan contributions, payroll taxes, workman’s compensation, labor lawsuits, and so on. There is even the cost of […]

One thing we know for sure is that executives of big corporations are frustrated at the slow pace and quality of organic innovation. Some of the problem is due to slow decision-making, bureaucracy, and the batch-and-queue stage-gate processes. These combine to reduce the curiosity and thinking required for innovation to flourish. Not knowing the root cause, […]

When I was at KaiNexicon last week, our hotel in Austin had a Starbucks in the lobby. I’m a pretty regular drinker of the Nitro Cold Brew beverage at Starbucks or other coffee shops when I can find it. I like the soothing cool drink on a warm day. Cold brew coffee (in regular or […]

One thing we know for sure is that executives of big corporations are frustrated with leadership development programs. Internally-run programs have a high fall-out rate either through employee performance problems (e.g. book smart, but not practical smart) or poaching by recruiters. Leadership development programs supplied by third parties typically over-promise and under-deliver. Sure, corporate leadership development […]

I have written so many books it can be confusing for people to figure out what they should read. These slides will help you identify gaps in your knowledge that my books can help fill. For additional information on each title, please visit the book web page here. Suggested ReadingDownload

CASE STUDY – By leveraging Daily Management (DM), Supergasbras was able to change its trajectory and add more value to the customer in a critical sector for society. Words: Adriana Carneiro and Robson Gouveia Supergasbras belongs to SHV Energy, a global distributor of off-grid energy, which provides 140,000 tons/month of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) to […]

Pull systems like kanban and reorder point are a cornerstone of inventory management and fluctuation reduction in lean manufacturing. The production is managed based on ACTUAL consumption. Theoretically, it is also possible to include expected but not yet actual consumption. In this post, I will explain to you the concept behind it and why I […]

My last four blog posts have explained kaizen in ways that go beyond the simplistic understanding of kaizen as “continuous improvement.” Kaizen: A Simple Tax Abatement Strategy Kaizen: A Simple Employee Wellness Strategy Kaizen: A Simple Innovation Strategy Kaizen: A Simple Leadership Development Strategy They are intended to help people better understand the power of kaizen and […]

It seems most people think kaizen is easy to know and do, when in fact it is challenging and of strategic importance to any business. Therefore, efforts should be made to master kaizen. Instead, people are overconfident and they make changes to kaizen without fully comprehending the effect that the changes will have on people […]

Here are eight questions that my students ask me from time-to-time, along with my answers, which you may be interested in as well: All your degrees are in engineering. How did you get into Lean management? Dilbert cartoons frequently present a stereotype of engineers as those who seek facts, logic, and good decision-making, and are […]

The researcher found the eight essential people skills after a decade of investigation. The researchers study and review the feedback and opinions from hundreds of industry, government, and academic areas of people. These eight essential skills of people were declared as one of the excellent skills of project leaders for managing tenacious – individuals in […]

By Pascal Dennis I used to think the so-called ‘Seven QC Tools’ were second nature to everybody. Now I realize that our younger friends & colleagues may not have been as fortunate as we (somewhat) wily veterans. When I graduated engineering school in the 1980’s (prehistoric times) Ed Deming, Joe Juran, Philip Crosby and other […]

Think deeply about this: What activity did Toyota employees engage in to eventually get to what became known as the Toyota Production System and The Toyota Way? What was Toyota’s secret? It was kaizen. But, not just any type of kaizen. It was Toyota’s own creative adaptation of kaizen to meet its evolving business needs, […]

A recent article, “If Colleges Are Dismantled, Consider the Impact on Their Cities” (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 16 October 16), makes a good argument for the negative effect that unbundling university services can have on a community. But what is more important is the impact that unbundling can have on students. The passage of […]

Interview of Professor Bob Emiliani in the 20 October 2016 issue of Production Manager magazine (Poland). According to you, Toyota Production System has its roots in the American Progressive Era. Why? The technical basis of the Toyota Production System (TPS) is rooted in Industrial Engineering (IE) developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor and Frank Bunker Gilbreth circa […]

Memorial Day is a time when we come together and honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice to their country. Since its formal creation in 1971, Americans come together to honor the fallen by visiting cemeteries, memorials, or holding family gatherings to celebrate the freedom that was earned through sacrifice. In addition to picnics […]

Is Lean thinking the same as kaizen thinking? Kaizen thinking is a unique way of thinking that is learned when one participates in Toyota-style kaizen. This type of kaizen is rooted in industrial engineering (IE) methods and is practiced for the purpose of improving productivity, with a goal of reducing cost (where “cost” is understood […]

…very helpful when it comes to learning from history to better understand the present. Click to on the image to enlarge it. One of my great interests is to read books and papers from the early days of industrial engineering and its transformation into progressive management. This time period, circa 1890-1935, interests me because Scientific […]

Here are 13 words that I appreciate more and more with each passing day: “Our way of thinking is very difficult to copy or even to understand.” Fujio Cho, former president and chairman of Toyota (and who worked under Taiichi Ohno), said this about Toyota’s management practices in the context of Toyota managers – not […]

Originally posted a few years ago, I’m reposting this for the holiday here in the U.S. The post Memorial Day – A Day of Remembrance by Mark Graban appeared first at Lean Blog.

Fifteen years ago, Art Byrne suggested to me that the title of our book about The Wiremold Company’s Lean transformation should be Lean Strategy. I resisted that suggestion because I did not view Lean as a corporate strategy, despite Art’s firm belief that it is. Who was right, me or Art? First, let’s ask an important question: […]