Warehouse management challenges aren’t new, but with increasing consumer demand for e-commerce orders and accelerated shipment scheduling, they certainly feel more pressing these days. If you’re experiencing warehouse management challenges that you know are holding back your facility’s profitability, know that there are solutions available to you. Here’s a look at 5 of the most […]

As the COVID-19 vaccine rolls out, and as government mandates and workplace safety requirements continue to shift, manufacturers across the country are wondering how best to return to work. From operating with skeleton crews to running at partial capacity for months, it can be hard to figure out how you’ll phase your team back to […]

At the time of this writing, COVID-19 is a global pandemic. This is an incredibly serious issue; hundreds of thousands of people have become ill, and many have died. Containment in the US and elsewhere is bringing businesses, governments, cities, and normal life to a halt. But there are many businesses that have to figure […]

With the Super Bowl not far behind us and discussions already underway for what to expect next season, we’ve been surrounded by talk of the teams, coaches, and strategies employed. Oftentimes, we talk about the team with the strongest offense. After all, the team with the strongest offense will likely move the ball down the […]

The Toyota Production System The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an original manufacturing philosophy that aims to eliminate waste and increase efficiency. It was developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation during the second half of the 20th century and has benefited many automobile manufacturers. But, it has since been studied and modified to work with […]

The Toyota 3M Model stems from the Toyota Production System and has helped many business leaders to manage and eliminate inefficiencies within their processes. In the past, companies have created new products or revenue streams to increase their profits. However, by implementing lean manufacturing tools and practices, and the Toyota 3M Model, companies have discovered […]

In a previous blog, about the secrets of a great Team Leader start of shift brief, we ended with the following statement: “A final word on Change Points. In my opinion we can quickly give a Team Leader 3 simple skills, Change Point management being one of them” Over the years we’ve spent a lot […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) Last month we enjoyed a family vacation in one of our favorite cities – San Francisco. Something for everybody. Our son Matthew got to visit the Children’s Museum, my wife Pamela saw Alcatraz, and later Carmel-by-the-sea… I took the family for dinner and a stroll in North Beach, San Fran’s Little […]

By Pascal Dennis (bio) A lovely Japanese word, no? It rolls off the tongue, and ends with a long, pleasing ‘nnnn…’ What’s it mean? Here are some definitions: Horizontal sharing, best practice sharing, lateral deployment, shared experiential learning… I like the last one. Shared — experiential — learning. Yokoten entails not just cognition (knowing), which […]

Those of us somewhat interested in chess, or perhaps curious thanks to blockbuster shows like The Queen’s Gambit, have been following the chaos in the world of grandmaster-level chess, particularly the feud between world champions Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann.  Chess is one of the few competitions where even at the highest levels there are […]

Our Gemba Academy team was at The Association for Manufacturing Excellence annual conference in Dallas last week, the largest lean conference in the world.  By all accounts it was a great success, with over a thousand people excited about finally being able to get together in person again to network, participate in workshops, and hear […]

As leaders and continuous improvement practitioners, we’re committed to learning and to creating a “learning organization”. But how? Any leader seeking to create a learning organization must cultivate both the technical skills for problem-solving and the social skills of coaching for problem-solving. This is the foundation of what lean and continuous improvement is about – […]

In mid-2022, I was invited by the Brazilian business school Grupo Voitto to give a virtual keynote at their annual international leadership conference, the QP Summit 2022, to speak about leadership, learning, and my book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn. Previously, in 2021, I participated in Voitto’s webseries “Culture of Excellence” with an interview […]

How can you easily apply scientific thinking to everyday problems and strategic challenges? And how can you better coach others to think? How can you apply the Toyota Kata improvement and coaching practices in your organization? I was excited to learn earlier this year that Sylvain Landry was releasing a book – titled Bringing Scientific […]

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate interest in substantially improving the strategies and tactics used to advance Lean management to gain more widespread interest progressive management among top business and other leaders. You may love it. You may hate it. Either way, please read it and reflect. I welcome your feedback. Lean Mgmt […]

A tetralogy of books unlike any others in the long history of progressive management.Hundred year-old questions finally answered. If you are like most people, you wonder why top leaders remain committed to old ways ways of leading and managing organizations. Wonder no more. These four books demystify by going deep behind the scenes to reveal […]

The early days of Lean management (circa 1988-2000) emphasized Toyota-style kaizen and thus Type 1 Lean management. Yet the subsequent decades-long piecemeal introduction of discrete Lean tools and the eager uptake of each Lean tool by practitioners and companies alike, one by one, resulted in the rapid devolution of Lean management to Type 2. Discovery […]

Choose to use Process Excellence projects as the mechanism for solving your critical business issues. Relentlessly communicate the importance of continuous improvement and encourage all staff to embrace the Process Excellence methodology. Choose your best people to lead projects and help them succeed. Participate in monthly project reviews. Understand the Process Excellence methodologies well enough […]

PDCA, also known as the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, is a continuous improvement methodology that can improve production efficiency. Here are the steps for using PDCA to improve production efficiency: Plan: Identify an area of production that needs improvement and define the problem or opportunity. Develop a plan to address the issue, including setting goals and targets […]

Updated 2022-11-17: Renamed network #2, minor edits elsewhere Expanding slightly on yesterday’s LinkedIn post (linkedin.com), your organisation in 5 networks: Network #1: Your reporting network. This is just your formal structure – typically a hierarchy, perhaps with the occasional bit of dual reporting thrown in – seen here as lines of communication. Because sideways communication […]

What is unavoidable — in Teams we work with people. And we work also with people outside the Team.  But let’s discuss that topic in another post. The next obvious thing to say is that people are complicated, each person by herself or himself, and in a Team of seven then, we get a lot […]

As co-author of Introduction to Manufacturing, I received the first print copies with trepidation:: Did they print it on good paper? Does the book stay open flat without paperweights on each side? Are all the numbers and cross-references accurate? Are the pictures sharp and the colors vivid? … For the paperback edition, so far, it’s […]

FEATURE – This nurses-led experiment in Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic is proving successful in getting more patients discharged on time and avoiding surgery cancellations. Words: The Orthopedic-Traumatology Surgery team BACKGROUND In the context of the economic crisis of 2008, as it struggled to address the high demand for knee replacement surgery and a long waiting list, […]

Would you consider customer experience the most important indicator of strategic performance for your organization? More than 45% of organizations do. Indeed, a healthy relationship with your customers is among the critical traits of successful, growing, and sustainable businesses. Understanding, tracking, and improving your workflow efficiency is important to ensure your customers are satisfied with […]

If you’re reading this article, Objectives and Key Results (OKR) is probably familiar to you. If you’re having success with OKR, congratulations! I would love to hear about your learnings.  On the other hand, if you still need to realize the benefits promised by OKR or OKR is a frustrating initiative for your organization, I […]

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… Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation Does Deming Still Matter? Yep.  Don’t blame the grass, blame the gardener Frustrated at […]

Thanks, everybody, for reading my blog here in 2022. And for listening to podcasts… so many podcasts again this year! Here are a few numbers, before we get to the most-read posts of the year. Podcast Numbers This year, I released 34 new “Lean Blog Interviews” podcast episodes. More still to come in 2023. Thanks […]

I saw a story on the NBC Nightly News last night about the ChatGPT / OpenAI tool, and they used examples of asking the AI bot to explain concepts to a 5-year-old. After asking a similar tool to explain Lean in healthcare, I posed this question (it was more of a command, I guess): Explain […]

Although the Christmas-preparations can put us under stress, it still seems that during the few weeks before and around Christmas we are more caring and loving. We are much more of a family person all of a sudden, we think about world peace, we have more compassion, patience with others and start overflowing with altruism. […]

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 this journey because without learning we cannot improve. 10. […]

This article is the first of a three-part series dedicated to educating you about low-cost, high-impact lean solutions available for eCommerce and fulfillment. Each article will focus on a different portion of your warehouse’s process, from picking and restocking to assembly and inspection to repackaging, packaging, and shipping. If you have questions about any of […]

This article is the second installment in a three-part series dedicated to educating you about low-cost, high-impact lean solutions available for eCommerce and fulfillment. Each article will focus on a different portion of your warehouse’s process, from picking and restocking to assembly and kitting to repackaging, packaging, and shipping. If you have questions about any […]

This article is the final installment in a three-part series dedicated to educating you about low-cost, high-impact lean solutions available for eCommerce and fulfillment. Each article focuses on a different portion of your warehouse’s process, from picking best practices to kitting and assembly, and finally packaging and shipping. If you have questions about any of […]

We’ve talked at length about the uncertainty that has surrounded us all for longer than we care to remember. This uncertainty has manifested itself in the workforce in countless ways, including high rates of absenteeism, massive supply chain issues, and increased instances of employee burnout. We’ve also talked about what it takes to get through […]