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 […]

A common feature of large organizations is to have many leadership development programs running in parallel. There is a corporate leadership development program, perhaps division-specific leadership development programs, and then many function-specific leadership development programs: finance, manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, IT, human resources, and so on. Leadership development programs can be “owned” by the training group, […]

A recent op-ed article in my university’s student-run newspaper, written by a soon-to-be graduating senior, questioned the wisdom of cumulative final exams (click here to read the article).  It’s great to see a student putting their critical thinking skills to use. Professors should do the same. The student, Lauren Lustgarten, said: “Instead [of final exams], professors […]

Continuous improvement tools and techniques play a huge role in a company’s lean manufacturing journey. That is to say, depending on which tools and techniques they choose to implement, this can lead to reduced errors, improved productivity, and overall, a greater profitability. There are various continuous improvement tools and techniques that can help a manufacturing […]

Click on image to enlarge. Most leaders introduce Lean by dryly articulating business needs, followed by a high-level explanation of Lean, and then present the technical details of the implementation plan. They leave out the social details, believing them to be unimportant. I call this the “Lean for Owners” method. I would not introduce Lean […]

Now available for download and reading: A PDF preview of the Introduction and Chapter 1 of my upcoming book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. This preview document has been copyedited but is not formatted like the actual print books will be. Click here to get the PDF preview […]

How do we simplify culture change? How do we make it more accessible? How do we simplify that so that an everyday manager can really drive significant improvements in culture? Welcome to another installment of my author interview series in which I talk with Joshua Plenert about his book, How We Go: Culture-Centric Leadership, High-Functioning […]

Will digital transformation of business doom Lean transformation? It might, for certain businesses, perhaps large corporations, but maybe less so for small- and medium-sized businesses that are more people-dependent and whose leaders understand the importance of having a human-centered management system. Corporate investment is increasingly shifting from traditional machinery and employees to robots and software. […]

Companies constantly seek ways to improve process efficiency and reduce waste in today’s rapidly changing business landscape. One approach that has gained widespread popularity is Lean Business Process Management.

In the previous blog post, “Digital Transformation vs. Lean Transformation,” I described the drift away from Lean transformation currently underway as digital transformation and data analytics increasingly gains the attention of CEOs. They are now on a path of seeing digital transformation and Lean transformation as either-or. The former is more difficult than the latter, and […]

Simon Elias, Director of Lean Competency System, recently wrote a blog post titled “Let’s Ban the Eighth Waste.” Simon questioned the addition of an eighth waste, “untapped human potential,” and identified five criteria to determine if something identified as waste actually is waste. So, as I sometimes do, I would like to critique excerpts of the […]

Here is an update on the production and publication process for my new book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. It’s been copy edited. The Kindle version is basically ready for release. You can even pre-order it now. Pre-orders for the print versions will be available soon. The page […]

This year, 2017, is the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI). It is an organization that has inarguably been the most successful and influential in shaping people’s understanding of “lean,” due in part to the central role that its founder, James P. Womack, and his associate, Daniel T. Jones, have played […]

Introduction Greetings and welcome! Get ready to explore “The Comprehensive Roadmap to Project Management Excellence”! This guide covers all aspects of project management and provides you with proven strategies to enhance your skills as a project manager. Let’s embark on a journey towards developing your project management skills using these effective techniques. With dedication and […]

The language used by Taiichi Ohno to guide the development of the Toyota production system (TPS), and in his later descriptions of TPS (in Japanese), was precise (read Jun Nakamouro’s excellent article). In kaizen with sensei Chihiro Nakao, who was mentored and trained by Ohno-san, Nakao-san guides people on the precise use of language. He […]

In my previous blog post, Teachers, Trainers, Coaches, or Faculty?, I gave examples of imprecision associated with Lean that affects people’s understanding and practice, and which has a large impact on people, process, and outcomes. Among other things, I noted how Lean trainers are referred to as “faculty” by both the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) and […]

Most people who are interested in Toyota’s management practice have no interest in the history of progressive management ideas and practices that preceded it. Nor is there much interest in the problems and difficulties faced by those who worked to advance progressive management prior to TPS. I find the lack of curiosity to be unfortunate. […]

Great leadership is indeed a difficult thing to pin down and understand. You know a great leader when you’re working for one, but even they can have a hard time explaining the specifics of what they do that makes their leadership so effective. Great leadership is dynamic; it melds a variety of unique skills into […]

Given what we know today about the benefits of Lean management to organizations and people, it is surprising that Lean is not widely recognized as a much better alternative to conventional management. Neither CEOs nor workers demand Lean management as a solution to their problems. As a result, there is low demand for Lean from […]

Who would have ever thought that tenure’s undoing in public higher education would be caused by higher education’s failure to achieve one of its most fundamental objectives: Teach people how to think critically. There is a growing push to eliminate tenure for faculty in public higher education. Every argument that I have seen to support this […]

One problem that has long been a concern is how to turn managers into effective coaches when they have little or no practical experience with kaizen and have never personally engaged in basics such as set-up reduction, visual controls, creating a flowline or kanban system, etc.? This is in addition to the constraint we face […]

INTERVIEW – Cleveland Clinic has been on a lean journey for a few years now. In this interview, their Medical Director and Chief Nursing Officer talk continuous improvement, metrics, and sustaining results. Interviewees: Lisa Yerian and Meredith Foxx Roberto Priolo: When and how did the lean journey of the Cleveland Clinic begin? Lisa Yerian: In […]

Introduction When it comes to managing health and safety, risk assessment is the foundation. The process involves identifying hazards, evaluating risks, and implementing safety measures. Here’s a helpful five-step guide to conducting a thorough risk assessment. Step One: Spotting the Hazards The journey to risk assessment begins with a keen eye for hazards. These could […]

Chihiro Nakao leading genba kaizen at Whitcraft LLC in Connecticut. Photo by Bob Emiliani. Here is your chance to listen to and learn from someone who helped develop, improve, and expand Toyota’s production system! This is a rare opportunity to learn genba kaizen from Chihiro Nakao. Nakao-san has more than 50 years of genba kaizen […]

The OKR (Objective Key Results) method has gained popularity as an objectives management approach for both development and product goals. However, the “by the book” approach is often dogmatically applied, relying only on a few simple rules and hints from the OKR books. This “copy-and-paste mentality” does not deliver the expected results and often leads […]

I have long been concerned about organizations that struggle with Lean transformation and the impact on the company, its employees, and other stakeholders. People’s lives and livelihoods depend upon Lean, so it’s no small matter when Lean succeeds or fails. This has been a major focus of my work for over 20 years because I […]

Continuous business improvement refers to the ongoing process of identifying, analyzing, and enhancing various aspects of a company’s operations and processes. This process management approach constantly seeks ways to make the organization more efficient, effective, and competitive. This article will describe many of the most popular continuous improvement techniques and methodologies. These and other improvement […]

Branding, promotion, and the stated or implied close association with Toyota; e.g. “…Toyota, the leading lean exemplar in the world…” In this statement, the former university researchers who gave us Lean take credit for Toyota’s work. See the image below to understand why the statement makes no sense and is factually incorrect. “The practical expression […]

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is the archetype of lean manufacturing. Lean is often used as a synonym for the Toyota Production System, and that is generally quite accurate. It is also sometimes referred to as the “Westernized” version of the Toyota Production System. However, there are some smaller differences in the underlying approach, as […]

Why is rigorous thinking and the Business Model Canvas vital for entrepreneurs? The BMC has been a popular tool and method for the entrepreneurial world. Books are written, workshops are attended, and people talk about it. Yet hardly anyone seems to do one, and many who do will not maintain it. This bothers me, and […]

The Lean column reflects the design of Lean by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones (i.e. Lean in 2017). In the previous post, Why Lean Keeps Thriving, I used the image at right to show how Lean has drifted far from it’s original interpretation in 1988 as being synonymous with the Toyota Production System (exclusive […]

I recently posted a truncated version of the graphic below with caption: “Not perfect, but close. It’s about right.” The response was overwhelmingly positive. A great majority of people recognized it as a unique comparison, one that they had never seen before, and also an accurate comparison that effectively captures differences that actually exist (click […]

This is the back story to the book Critique of Lean. Lean is a product. Products are designed. Designs have weaknesses. Critique of Lean examines weaknesses in the product and its design. In the nearly 30 years since the term “Lean” was introduced, we have a just handful of examples of (Real) Lean transformation. Unfortunately, there […]

The Lean Enterprise Institute’s Lean Transformation Framework encompasses five questions. The first question is: “What problem are we trying to solve?” For most people, it is a reasonable first question to ask. But there are two other important related questions: 1. Who should answer that first question? and 2. Is there a common answer? In LEIs Lean Transformation Framework, it […]