This is the back story to the first Lean leadership course in higher education. To my knowledge, I was the first full-time university professor to teach a graduate course in Lean leadership in the spring of 2001. I created this course because of the profound differences between how conventional businesses are led compared to how […]

It seems whenever a college or university is criticized for tuition increases, the defense given is: “This allows us to provide the high-quality education that students and families deserve.” Everyone accepts that without question – with no critical thinking. Hmmm. Of course, quality in higher education is loosely defined and poorly measured. Despite this, the […]

Years before James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones helped give us the popular version of Toyota’s production system, “Lean production,” there was a professor in Japan seeking to carefully understand and document in detail Toyota’s production system and their overall management system. That professor was Yasuhiro Monden (learn about Professor Monden here). Professor Monden’s […]

I have commented previously (here, here, and here) about how bosses want new hires to possess good critical thinking skills. But, due to a lack of critical thinking, bosses mistakenly ask for critical thinking when what they really want is people who can solve problems. It looks like bosses did not learn much about critical thinking […]

Over the decades, many people have tried to make the business case for Lean in an attempt to gain senior management support. They typically start with arguments based on removing waste or improving efficiency. But that, surprisingly, proved to be unconvincing to most executives. So they moved on to arguments such as improving productivity or […]

This semester I introduced a form for graduate students to use during the semester to document key learning week-by-week. It is called the “Weekly Leaning Reflection.” The course, Supply Chain Strategy, is taught as a hybrid, meaning about 50 percent of the classes are face-to-face and 50 percent of the classes are online. My concern […]

Members of Kaizen Team 1 learning the basics of kaizen before going to the shop floor. Sensei Nakao is at right. I have just returned from Shingijutsu’s 64th Japan Genba Kaizen Seminar. In addition to being a world-class experience, there were dozens and dozens of valuable learnings. I’d like to focus here on one particular learning: […]

Many people – administrators, faculty, students, parents, employers – are far too accepting of poor teaching in higher education. This situation has gone uncorrected for years and years. Students, being the most affected stakeholder, should demand better. But they do not. Why? Perhaps it is because they feel faculty and administrators are indifferent to their […]

Ensuring that your quarterly objectives are both ambitious and achievable can be a balancing act, but several strategies can help: Align with Strategic Goals: The objectives you set for the quarter should be a subset of your larger strategic goals. This alignment helps ensure that your objectives are ambitious – they contribute to big-picture goals […]

I am a big fan of books written during the age of Scientific Management, the predecessor to Lean management. The books date from around 1880 through the 1930s. I have nearly 100 such books. These books help me understand the history and evolution of progressive management practices in industry. In particular, they clearly inform me […]

In this edition: Leading in a Transforming Organisation; Between spaces, scopes, and scales; Webinar/AMA series; Train-the-Trainer / Facilitator (TTT/F); Top posts Leading in a Transforming Organisation Last week’s Leading in a Transforming Organisation in London was a special and productive time. Here are some of the participants sharing afterwards on LinkedIn: Plenty to think about […]

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… 10 Most Clicked Links – First Half of 2023 It’s that time of year – time to reflect – […]

I will be speaking at the Third International Conference on Lean Six Sigma for Higher Education at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 8-9 June 2015. This is going to be a great conference with lots of great speakers. Learn from their experiences and share your own by submitting a paper and by attending the conference. The tile […]

A few of the leading figures in the Lean movement have, for many years, talked about “perfect processes.” Unfortunately, this reflects a perfect misunderstanding of both the nature of processes and of waste (muda), and unevenness (mura) and unreasonableness (muri) as well. Let’s begin with the perfect misunderstanding of waste. The insidious nature of waste […]

Today, organizational culture is a top concern for many business leaders. This is because they have realized that to sustain growth and remain competitive, a culture in line with the strategic objectives is necessary. Financial results are significant, of course, but getting to the next level depends on building a high-performance environment in which innovation […]

Higher education has been undergoing much scrutiny in recent years, from the price of tuition and student debt to time to graduation and job placement. Professors, of course, are not silent in voicing their opinions on what has gone wrong. Their lines of argumentation focus on inept administration, commercialization and corporatization of the university, unwarranted government […]

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 […]

Experiments, as understood in the fields of science or engineering, means to verify or refute a hypothesis using a controlled and repeatable procedure. The tests that make up the experiments are performed systematically, and the results analyzed in an unbiased way using logical thinking. The scientific method is used when conducting experiments and consists of […]

What is the Importance of the 5S Methodology? To ensure high productivity levels and employee performance, one of the first things you should take care of is the planning and optimization of processes. This is where the 5S methodology comes into play. Incorporating the 5S methodology into the daily operations of a company means much […]

Click here and here to learn what happens when a higher education rapidly transitions from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ market, a shift made possible by a bad economy, high tuition costs, limited job availability for graduates, outsourcing, and oversupply of educational institutions. I’ve commented numerous times on the shift in higher education from a […]

I, along with two other colleagues, are working on a small but highly informative book tentatively titled Kaizen Forever: The Teachings of Chihiro Nakao. Look for the book in the second half of 2015. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you some thoughts on Chihiro Nakao, founder of the famous kaizen consulting company, Shingijutsu, and […]

In an ever-evolving business environment, it’s crucial to understand the effective management of assets through a comprehensive software system like SAP. This system optimizes the life cycle of assets, streamlining processes within the maintenance department. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use SAP to manage your assets effectively. Step-by-Step Asset Management with SAP First, […]

I am not fundamentally opposed to online higher education, particularly for courses that are not in students’ major, where explicit knowledge is high and tacit knowledge is low, serving students in remote locations, or similar rationale. Yet it seems, whether we like it or not, that higher education is heading towards a two-tier higher education […]

Within the Lean community, 2014 seems to be the year that the “Respect for People” principle finally gained traction. As I reflect back on this, I think about why it took so long for this to happen. And I think about why it has been so difficult for people to recognize the importance of the “Respect […]

Should universities give money to professors for improving teaching, or should they spend the money for other purposes such as scholarships or reducing the price of tuition or eliminating fees? The need to improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching is beyond question (see What is Good Quality Teaching?, Are You Satisfied With 10 Percent?, 45 Teaching Errors, and The […]

Throughout my first five years as a professor, beginning in 1999, I carefully followed the news and trends of higher education. Peering over the horizon, it was clear that Lean management could help university administrators address current and future challenges – but only if they were open minded and willing to change. Ten years ago, […]

In 2009, John Shook wrote an article, “Toyota’s Secret: The A3 Report.” Being a Toyota veteran, nearly everyone outside of Toyota believed it to indeed be Toyota’s secret. John said in the article, “[this] deeper method of thinking… lies at the heart of Toyota’s sustained success.” A3 reports, a way to teach people how to […]

I wanted to share some comments from Larry Culp, the CEO of GE and GE Aerospace, on Lean at the company from this article: Why GE’s Larry Culp Is All-In On Aerospace He has also been “all-in on Lean” for a long time going back to his years as CEO of Danaher (and in previous roles there). Note […]

My father, Cesare Emiliani, was a professor and long-time department chair of the geology department at the University of Miami. He was an accomplished scientist (one of Nobel Prize winner [1934] Harold Urey’s graduate students, with future Nobel Prize winner [1960] Willard Libby serving on his Ph.D. thesis committee) and a man whose knowledge spanned biology, chemistry, physics, geology, arts, […]

In some organizations, the leaders who are good at putting out fires are considered the best managers. But what if, instead of putting out fires, leaders had the luxury to spend time on fire prevention? What if, when the rare flame was spotted, every leader was skilled in identifying and correcting the root cause? These […]

I watched this video and learned several discomforting facts: Fake Lean organizations far exceed Real Lean organizations. New overhead functions were created enabling managers to delegate Lean. Lean will be around a long time, but perhaps under a different name, because the same problems will exist. Management remains the obstacle. Lean start-ups will revert to […]

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of June 2023.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.     What Are Mistakes? Why Do We Make Them? – Mark Graban shares excerpt from his book The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation.   Win-Win […]

In a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, “Colleges Need a Business Productivity Audit” (28 December), authors Frank Mussano and Robert Iosue argue that colleges should be audited as business are “to identify unprofitable practices.” Audits are the answer to structural problems when one knows nothing about process improvement. While audits, done well, can […]

INTERVIEW – In this Q&A, the Chief of Transformation of oil and gas company TechnipFMC tells us about their experience implementing Lean Product and Process Development. Interviewee: Allison Weber Roberto Priolo: What are the key differences between a Chief Engineer system and a traditional approach to new product development?  Allison Weber: In our experience at […]