Leadership Strategies for Effective Problem-Solving and Innovation Have you ever wondered why some organizations consistently outperform their competitors?  Why is it that despite operating in the same market space, using similar resources, and facing the same regulations, some companies achieve extraordinary success while others struggle to keep up? And how come some organizations are able […]

In manufacturing, a common sentiment is that the line (or generally the process) must run. There is some truth to that, but—counterintuitively—for a system to run well you need to know when to stop it too. This is my second post in a series giving you an overview on when it may be better to […]

I’m excited to host and moderate this upcoming webinar on January 17th at 1 pm ET. Register here, it’s free: A Poka-Yoke Primer: Mistake-Proofing and Error Reduction It’s being presented by John Grout, an expert on mistake-proofing and author of the free PDF eBook, “Mistake-Proofing the Design of Health Care Processes.” Here is a preview […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) The past several blogs we’ve looked at how to improve the Jury Selection process: 1. Jury Panel Selection –> 2. Jury Selection –> 3. Court Case Our purpose is to increase flow and reduce overall cycle time. In other words, jurors get picked quicker, and court cases get processed quicker. What […]

What is the profile of a Lean leader; that rare leader who has successfully made the transition from Classical management to Lean management? What do they believe in? What do they say? What do they do? The four slides below are from my 2010 Lean leadership training workshop (Module 4 of 4). They sketch some […]

This post is built around excerpts from the book The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. Read more about Toyota, including stories and key lessons learned in the book. Download a free preview of the book Welcome to an exploration of Toyota’s revolutionary approach to mistake-proofing, a concept that has redefined […]

The five slides below are from my 2010 Lean leadership training workshop (Module 4 of 4). They were homework assignments. They are questions that Lean professionals rarely ask, and have even less interest to understand root causes and countermeasures. That is why I gave this homework assignment to workshop participants. Needless to say, most people […]

The seven slides below are from my 2010 Lean leadership training workshop (Module 3 of 4). I always emphasized to top leaders the importance and necessity of daily kaizen in transitioning from classical management to versions of Lean management that mirror Toyota’s management thinking and practice. Even though the word kaizen suggests “incremental improvement,” that […]

The slide below are from my 2010 Lean leadership training workshop (Module 2 of 4). By now, we know this. Or, if we’re truthful, we think we know this. But there is always more to learn. It turns out there are two different types of blame: overt and covert. Most Lean professionals are highly attuned […]

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 […]

Poor Fred Taylor. Almost everyone blames him for today’s bad leadership and management practices — not valuing workers, viewing workers as interchangeable, not respecting workers, driving workers to work harder, etc. — when in fact Taylor’s ideas about the new Scientific Management system were cherry picked by top leaders and used within their status-quo oriented […]

The five slides below are from my 2010 Lean leadership training workshop (Module 1a of 4). The purpose of this module was to educate top leaders in the things they likely do not understand or misunderstand about Lean management — the things that almost everyone missed then (and even today). The three slides showing quotes […]

Twenty years ago, this is how I collected feedback from my Lean leadership training workshops. It was much better than the 1 to 5 Likert scale ratings because it required participants to reflect and think. By 2014, Lean leadership training courses became commoditized and very confused. So, I started to move away from that to […]

What is CEOs’ magic formula for correcting poor business results? Lay people off, close facilities, squeeze suppliers for lower prices. How smart is that? It’s not smart. It is tradition, one that most top leaders refuse to let go of. In the image below, you see the result of smart leadership. The CEO engaged people […]

Few people think of Lean management in the bigger context of the macroeconomy. Meaning, what Lean management can do to help avoid painful recessions that throw people out of work, destroy wealth, and erode confidence. That’s unfortunate, because if they did they would see Lean management as far more than process improvement or respecting people. […]

When it comes to running a successful manufacturing business, one of the most critical factors is maintaining a highly engaged workforce. Employees who are invested in their work and feel valued by their employer are more likely to be productive, innovative, and loyal over the long term. However, keeping manufacturing employees engaged can be easier […]

Welcome to 2024! Happy New Year! 2024 has already started of course, and with the valued help of over 20 contributors I iterated several times over the holiday period on this article posted on the blog here yesterday: From Flow to Business Agility – your comments/reactions etc on LinkedIn greatly appreciated Also new is a section on […]

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 […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guests for Episode #495 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are Catherine Chabiron and Fabrice Bernhard, who are discussing her new book Learning to Scale at Theodo Group: Growing a Fast and Resilient Company. Catherine Chabiron is a board member for the Institut Lean France, […]

In the latest episode of People Solve Problems, Jamie Flinchbaugh has an engaging discussion with Steve Spear, the Founder of See to Solve LLC and Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management. Steve, renowned for his expertise in operational excellence and leadership, delves into the intricacies of problem-solving and collaboration. The conversation focuses on […]

(Comment on LinkedIn | Hacker News) Preamble: You may have noticed that I don’t use words like ‘waste’, ‘improvement’, or ‘flow’ nearly as much as my history in Lean-Agile [1, 2] might suggest. Recently [3] I expressed what could be interpreted as a lack of enthusiasm for a more recent term, ‘cognitive load’. Not to […]

It’s that time of year again when many are making personal resolutions for change. But as I said yesterday I recommend forgetting the whole concept of resolutions and concentrating on setting goals instead. For most managers the beginning of New Year means establishing a new set of objectives. This is a good time to reflect […]

Happy New Year! As advocates of Kaizen, the philosophy and practice of continuous improvement, we recognize the value of each new year. We value each employee and each improvement idea. As the late Masaaki Imai taught, Kaizen means everybody improving, everywhere, and every day. However, 2024 stands out distinctly from the previous three years. This […]

In industry, I often find the view that machines must run. The reasons given for this are that the machines were expensive investments, labor cost will accumulate, and the customer is waiting for products, hence the line must run. There is definitely some truth in this. However, the conclusion that the line must not stop […]

With a heavy heart, I’d like to honor and remember David Mann, a noted author in the #Lean Management community, who passed away on the 26th. You can read his obituary here. David’s outstanding book, Creating a Lean Culture was in its 3rd edition. The book was a Shingo Publication Award winner and was translated into many languages. Here is […]

Make this New Year a great year by living your life well every day.  I have put together a list of good advice that I have come across over the years to consider as you go forth into another New Year. Good advice: Live in the moment. By all means have long term goals but then avert […]

This blog’s greatest hits of 2023: Nissan’s Quick Response Quality Control (QRQC) Runners, Repeaters, and Strangers among Components Where do “Value Stream Maps” come from? The Fox Knows Many Things, But The Hedgehog Knows One Big Thing Deming’s Point 4 of 14 – End the practice of awarding business on the basis of a price […]

For nearly 25 years, I have advocated for the concept of visual controls used in the shop or office to be applied to leadership development. Much like a checklist or leader standardized work, I view visual controls — combinations of key images and words (more of the former than the latter) — as an important […]

Last year, I looked at the free throw statistics of Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons. News headlines talked about how much he had improved his free throws, so I looked at one of his performance metrics (free throw percentage) to see if the increase was “signal” or “noise.” Why write about basketball? Well, there […]

The most read articles of 2023, book and podcast recommendations  Dear Subscribers and Readers, Thank you for your continued readership and support. 2023 marked another year of continuous improvement, improving organizational culture, and driving excellence in the workplace.  Following a brief hiatus in November, the Operational Excellence Mixtape is back at a new home on […]

If you’re involved in the manufacturing industry, you’ve likely heard the term “operational excellence” before. But what exactly does it mean? In short, operational excellence refers to the continuous improvement of processes and systems to optimize efficiency, reduce waste, and increase productivity. In this blog, we’ll delve deeper into the concept of operational excellence in […]

One of the most critical concepts in Lean organizations is the idea that it is essential to eliminate waste. Why is it so central to the practice of Lean? The principles of Lean say that the ultimate goal is to provide perfect customer value. Anything that provides value to the customer is preserved. Everything else […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) Last blog we began to build a SIPOC analysis around a high level Jury Selection process: 1. Jury Panel Selection –> 2. Jury Selection –> 3. Court Case What can mess up the process? Last time we discussed an important Direct Cause: Poor information flow at step 1 Here’s a possible […]

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of December 2023.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.     Advice to Young Lean Professionals – Bob Emiliani shares advice that could help young lean professionals better succeed and avoid much stress and anguish.   Signs of a Failing Lean […]