The downside of growing lean skill is the gnawing certainty that almost all systems are broken, creating varying degrees of pain for Customers. There is a helpful upside to this world weariness when wrestling with even Toyota ,(see here) or Lexus, the subject of this 3 part blog. That upside is the question “What is […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader.General George S. Patton Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.Napoleon Bonaparte Plenty of misconceptions about this one. We seem to think that developing our strategy entails asking each member of […]

Thanksgiving Day has evolved over the years as an important holiday. It is not just about feasting and merrymaking. The tradition of Thanksgiving dinner teaches us to appreciate the finer things in life. It is about showing one’s gratitude for the blessings that we are showered with. In all the hustle and bustle of getting […]

This is the first in a series of posts about learnings from the Van of Nerds tour of 11 manufacturing sites in Northern France completed on September 9. First, I describe who we are, why and how we went on this tour. Then, to make this post more than just an introduction, I appended a […]

In this article, I will briefly run through the process of workload balancing; what is it, what does it do, and how do you do it? I will follow up that description with an actual case in a manual assembly process of a shutter used in an internet connector. It is a funny case because […]

FEATURE – Whether improvement efforts are paying off and people are internalizing a lean way of thinking is a constant worry for many leaders. Here’s a trick to gauge how well – or how poorly – things are going in your transformation. Words: Darren Walsh, Senior Lean Coach, Lean Enterprise Academy Have you wondered why your […]

A blog like this would usually be titled “Best of…” but I don’t subscribe to the idea of “best” when it comes to knowledge transfer. How can you compare the benefits of person A picking up the right bit of knowledge at the right time to help them with their own situational conundrum, to person […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) In a previous blog I introduced the idea of Economy I & II The former comprises private sector companies like Apple, Amazon, Toyota and GE. These companies face withering competition every day. As a result, they’re wonderful at creating value, but not so good at creating jobs. Economy II, by contrast, […]

I’ve long relished intentional periods of solitude to reflect and renew.  I’ll often take advantage of the six mile stretch of beach between Morro Bay’s [hopefully] extinct volcano a couple blocks from my house and the next seaside village of Cayucos.  Aside from a handful of surfers there is almost no one on the beach, […]

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 […]

SOP A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions that provides clear and consistent guidance on performing a particular task or activity. SOPs are designed to help ensure that work is performed consistently and in compliance with relevant regulations and guidelines. They can be used in various settings, including businesses, government agencies, […]

Recently I was on The Lean Solutions podcast with Patrick Adams. Patrick and I are good friends, this is my third time as a guest on his podcast and I wrote the foreword to his book, Avoiding the Continuous Appearance Trap: 12 Questions to Understand What’s Truly Underneath Your Culture. Patrick also signed up for […]

INTERVIEW – Ahead of this week’s Lean Global Connection, we talk to one of the speakers, who is trying to create a foundry that is lean from the start. Interviewee: Dariusz Dziuba, General Manager, Cranfield Foundry Planet Lean: Can you please introduce Cranfield Foundry to our readers? Dariusz Dziuba: We are modern and environmentally friendly […]

This is the perspective of Cécile Roche about what we saw in the Van-of-Nerds tour in September, 2022: The risk when we talk about digital, even more than when we talk about Lean, is to worry about processes before worrying about products. We must never forget that a process is never an end in itself. […]

We’re living through some crazy times and dealing with issues that were not anticipated during planning sessions.  Every day we’re confronted with new information, new analyses of facts and opinions, creating new decisions that need to be made that can dramatically impact our lives.  The organizations, and individuals, that are handling the chaos (or opportunity!) […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) “Think outside the box” “Ducks in a row” “Low-hanging fruit” “Let’s take this off-line” Why do these and other corporate clichés make us cringe so? Well, they’re often used by lazy people to express stale, tired thinking. If we haven’t thought about something deeply, why burden people with inanities? If we […]

The title of this blog is a line from a poem by the Spanish poet Antonio Machado. He died in 1939 so would have no idea that his poem “Traveler, your footprints” holds a key lesson for strong lean thinking (and life!). The poem (translated by Mary Berg and Dennis Maloney) goes a bit like […]

Define your business: Start by clearly defining what your business does, its target market, and its unique value proposition. Set goals and objectives: Identify your short-term and long-term goals and the specific objectives that will help you achieve them. Conduct a SWOT analysis: A SWOT analysis is a tool that helps you assess your business’s […]

What does “winning” mean to you as a leader?  What is a leader’s role in creating a winning culture and organization? How do leaders create a clear strategy and connection with purpose so that employees understand how their activities fit within the company’s overall vision? Billy Taylor Shows Us How Continuing my author interview series […]

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 […]

Elsasser pointed out that in the phase space of any organism, considered as a purely physical system, is in general of very high dimension. He argued further that the states in this phase space which are compatible with life will generally tend to be sparsely distributed in such as phase space; specifically, they will form […]

As we approach the arbitrary end of the year, many organizations are beginning the planning cycle for next year.  Part of that process should be identifying what projects and activities should be stopped, for several reasons – performance, alignment with strategy, and so forth.  However, equally if not more important is creating a process (and […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) In this piece I focused on our personal qualities that make Lean so hard to sustain (e.g. our innate trickiness and laziness). A number of folks asked me to talk some more about organizational elements that hinder Lean. Lean’s foundation is Standards and Connections – (Rules 1 and 2 of the […]

As many of you know we, at Sempai, have been busy testing our new Lean Toolkit App (SempaiGuide) with some amazing manufacturers. We all know the pitfalls of creating something innovative without talking to your customer (the Sinclair C5 springs to mind) and so we wanted to test, test and test some more to make […]

Most leaders who adopt the continuous improvement management style focus mainly on performance indicators that can be measured for good reasons. Metrics like cost, production throughput, error rates, customer satisfaction scores, and other quantifiable business metrics guide decisions related to improvement priorities and provide insight into the impact of implemented changes. However, many factors that […]

Some hosts showed digital twins during the Van of Nerds tour de France last September, but none mentioned the cyber-physical systems touted as a key component in Industry 4.0. Furthermore, we also found that the meaning of digital twin had drifted away from detailed simulations of physics and chemistry as part of a cyber-physical system […]

CASE STUDY – The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the application of Virtual Healthcare across the world. In South Australia, this has been implemented in urgent care. Words: Pamela Everingham, Darren Daff and Denise Bennett In South Australia, COVID cases were minimized through border restrictions until late 2021. As the state was re-opened, SA Health was committed […]

Make an impact by leading and learning with purpose You’re a learner. A leader. A coach. A team member. A human being. And you want one thing…to create a meaningful impact. How can you do that? The answer may surprise you: knowing everything isn’t a requirement. Instead, it’s about embodying and creating these characteristics that […]

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of November 2022.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.     Going To The Electronic Gemba– John Knotts talks about how to go to the “electronic Gemba!”  with 1) A Wall Walk, and 2) A Functional Analysis.   The Good Karma […]

It’s no surprise that our work habits and routines are changing due to the fast-paced work environment and unpredictable events. In light of the new normal of working remotely, along with teams located around the world, more organizations are keen to adopt digital solutions to keep everyone on the team in the loop.   Among the […]

Here are three simple steps that can help improve change management within an organization: Communicate effectively: The reasons for the change, its benefits, and the resources and support available to help employees through the transition. Effective communication is essential for successful change management. Here are a few tips for communicating effectively during the change process: […]

It’s all about your people and their skills As you walk the aisles of the Smart Expo and lean in to listen to the sessions during Digital Manufacturing Week, it would be easy to think that Digital Manufacturing is solely about sensors, data, things and machines. As you explore the wonderful & innovative solutions I’d […]

Yesterday I learned of the passing of Norman Bodek and I have been reflecting on the impact this great man had on my life and career – and the lean and business world in general. A quarter century ago I was a new operations manager trying to figure out how to improve a large medical […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) What’s the leader’s Job One? To ensure that all people are working on the right things. Rather bland, but true, no? Respect for humanity means I won’t waste my team’s time asking them to do stupid or wasteful things. Here’s an extreme example to illustrate the point: One of the most […]