In today’s fast-paced work environment, maintaining high employee motivation is crucial. However, certain behaviors by management can severely dampen team spirit. This article explores key practices that negatively affect employee motivation and how they can be avoided. Punishing employees and neglecting to encourage them: Sometimes, there is punishment in the organization, and employees know that […]

It’s February 14th and if that date doesn’t ring a bell, you must live under a rock. It’s Valentine’s day! Whether you “believe” in Valentine’s Day or not, it’s the perfect occasion to show some appreciation to someone special and your employees would probably be delighted and surprised if you took the time to show […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #498 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Jeffrey K. Liker. Jeff is Professor Emeritus from the University of Michigan, President of Liker Lean Advisors, and author of the great books in the Toyota Way series. He was previously a guest here […]

What early experience taught you an interesting lesson? These are always fun stories, usually share when acting as a mentor, or perhaps over a drink. Here’s an example from my history, and how this little part taught me some valuable lessons. Those lessons may have helped shape my thinking.   The post What Early Experiences […]

This post continues my series on how I try to understand an unfamiliar shop floor. In the last post I talked about how to see visual management, 5S, and waste. These are usually easy to see. This post continues with unevenness, overburden, and safety, which are usually harder to observe. Unevenness Unevenness, or in Japanese […]

The following material was cut from my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. It just didn’t fit the flow of how the book turned out. You’ll hear a story from one of my podcast guests, and I share some stories from my career decisions. We all make […]

In recent years there has been a big push in Lean world to characterize Lean as “all about learning” to herald a unique feature and personal benefit. This new theme quickly caught on and remains a very popular perspective. But as with most things that are popular, it misses the point. And given the current […]

Many organizations have begun the journey to make their businesses lean. Some have reported early successes while others have struggled or fallen into the rut entitled “flavor of the month.” As is usually the case with this kind of organization change, implementation precedes understanding. What follows are missteps, rework, confusion, organizational angst, and the aforementioned […]

For decades, top Lean promoters and influencers have challenged people with the question: “What problem are you trying to solve?” That’s the wrong question. It is open-ended and will include many problems that have little to do with the core business problems that determine customer satisfaction, business results, and corporate survival. When this question is […]

2024 Preface: I’m re-posting this blog post from 2012 about Lean at Boeing. The WSJ headline emphasizes “speed up,” but that could be the fault of their editors not realizing that Lean means quality and flow go hand in hand. The article shares an example where an employee-driven Kaizen improvement (a small, inexpensive improvement) would […]

When employees get laid off from a company, so do Lean tools. Fewer employees due to layoffs or reduced hiring due to the incorporation of new technologies means less demand for and use of Lean tools. And business leaders always opt for new technologies over employees. At some point, probably soon, AI will incorporate Lean […]

As a former university professor and now emeritus professor, one of my job requirements was to conduct research, write papers, and submit the papers for review and eventual publication in peer-reviewed academic and practitioner journals. I have loved doing research and writing from my days as an undergraduate student, where I did a bachelor of […]

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. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better. Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation Lean is helping the “great GE turnaround” […]

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 […]

In today’s fast-paced world of manufacturing, digital work instructions are revolutionizing the way tasks are carried out on the production floor. By integrating technology into traditional manufacturing processes, companies are reaping the benefits of increased efficiency, improved quality control, and enhanced productivity. In this blog post, we’ll get into the benefits of using digital work […]

“At least two of the major things that are required for continuous improvement to take root: Psychological Safety and problem-solving…” Here’s a clip from my 2023 keynote talk at KaiNexicon, the KaiNexus user conference. I invite you to learn more in my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and […]

It appears that I introduced a new term (again!) in a recent blog post: “Junk Lean.” What is Junk Lean? The phrase expresses the gap between Lean management being understood as a generic term for Toyota’s production system (circa 1988) and how Lean is practiced in reality as popular problem-solving tools (2024). You can call […]

Kerry Creech became President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Kentucky (TMMK) in July 2023. He had joined Toyota as a team member in powertrain quality control in Georgetown, KY in 1990. Toyota’s policy of developing people and promoting from within made this career possible. Kerry Creech got a degree in electrical and electronics engineering in […]

Lean organizations make use of Daily Management systems, a structured process to focus employee’s actions to continuously improve their day-to-day work. Daily Management empowers employees to identify potential process concerns, recommend potential solutions, and learn by implementing process changes. Daily Management, if done right, can be a critical tool in any organization’s toolbox to engage […]

I loved a recent New York Times article about Chef Gordon Ramsay, including this part: “Ramsay said that when he makes a mistake, he owns up to it. He has been candid about the misjudgments that led to the closure of Amaryllis, his fine dining restaurant in Glasgow, and admits that he has opened restaurants […]

 From Operational Excellence Expert to Transformational Change Leader What if you could have a new superpower that would unlock your leadership potential? One that is so simple yet will amplify your impact, open doors to the C-suite, and accelerate engagement across your organization so that you deliver more business results while realizing your vision […]

Sometime in late 2000 or early 2001, I coined the phrase “Fake Lean” (learn more about the origin of the phrase here). “Fake Lean” meant organizations that practiced “Continuous Improvement” without “Respect for People.” In recent years, some people have been using it as a pejorative term which was never my intent. But now, nearly […]

In my last post I looked at some general tips on how to see the shop floor. Most of them involve focusing on the right areas of the shop floor, and avoiding interesting but not relevant technical details. This post will discuss different aspects that can be observed. Here, too, try not to see everything […]

As a previous keynote speaker at this event, and as a friend and colleague of KaiNexus CEO Dr. Greg Jacobson, I was very excited to learn that he will be one of the keynote speakers at next week’s event. It’s the Healthcare Systems Process Improvement conference, as presented by the Society for Health Systems (which […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) In an era of breath-taking innovation, is there anything more important? The ‘Essential Eight Technologies’ – Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Drones, 3-D Printing, Big Data Analytics, and Distributed Ledger Technology (‘Blockchain’) – make disruption almost inevitable. Prosperity, and in some industries, survival, depends on an organization’s ability to […]

Maybe you don’t have buy-in from Executive leadership for a Lean transformation or maybe you do. You know your organization can fall behind the competition if you aren’t actively looking for ways to streamline and improve processes. One way you can combat this is by implementing continuous improvement or Kaizen. If you’re looking for ways […]

I’m pleased to share the newly released JFlinch Learning Lab, which offers the video content I’ve provided to my clients in a private offering over the past many years. This subscription at $79 per year includes around 100 videos not available elsewhere across courses which include management systems, culture change, strategic thinking, process design, as […]

As I recently shared on LinkedIn, I really appreciated the annual shareholder letter that was published and shared by Larry Culp, who has been CEO of General Electric for just over five years now (the first-ever outsider CEO in over 125 years). First off, I can’t help but notice that the photo shared at the […]

Please review the questions and understand the sample answers provided. Then, consider how you could answer these questions based on your experiences. Once you complete the next module, write down your answers and practice delivering them until you can confidently articulate them. Having pre-prepared and rehearsed answers will help you come across as a seasoned […]

Understanding the Dynamics of Corporate Leadership In the complex world of corporate governance, the CEO, CFO, COO, and CHRO each play a vital role in the success of a company. These high-level executives bring unique skill sets to the table, and their responsibilities are crucial in shaping a company’s culture, growth, and stability. Understanding these […]

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 […]

If you work in the manufacturing industry, you know how crucial it is to reduce lead time in order to stay competitive in the market. Lead time refers to the amount of time it takes to get a product from conception to delivery. The longer the lead time, the more it costs to produce and […]

For a long time, I’ve heard the phrase “the hidden factory” used to describe various forms of waste in a factory, including rework operations and activity. I was surprised to hear Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun refer to this in a news story using a similar phrase, “shadow factory.” Boeing Wants to Close Its ‘Shadow Factories.’ […]

My friend Emiel van Est wrote an insightful blog post titled “Has Toyota Lost Its Way?” You must read it. In the post he provides strong evidence that The Toyota Way, as described in Toyota’s 2001 document, and later in the 2020 update, may no longer be operative in Toyota Motor Corporation or its 17 […]