At the UK Lean Summit on 23 April 2024, James Womack gave a keynote presentation titled “Lean Thinking: Past, Present, and Future” (transcript is here). As I am known to do, I would like to highlight some key passages that caught my attention and offer some comments. Womack: “Dan Jones is my partner of 45 […]

We do not live in a static world. Things change dynamically and at varying rates. An important dynamic that Lean promoters and practitioners should pay attention to is the high rate at which business leaders are trained in classical management compared to the low rate at which business leaders are trained in Lean management. And […]

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 […]

Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts, and videos about how to make the workplace better. Operational Excellence, Improvement, and Innovation I was working in healthcare in 2009 when the WHO […]

Everyone is familiar with Taiichi Ohno’s seven wastes in manufacturing processes. But let’s zoom out from the seven wastes that exist in one specific company to the seven wastes that exist in all of U.S. industry — or for whatever country you care to consider because the situation will be the same as that described […]

Content from the Learning Lab can be leveraged in many ways, from structured workshops, in-person training, individualized learning, or integration with a transformational project. In this video course, learn how you can develop your best applications with the content, with the significant chunk of the time spent demonstrating how to develop virtual structured applied-learning workshops […]

Imagine an NFL team that has been on a losing streak for decades. The owner, who has been at the helm for years, believes that finding the right coach will solve the team’s woes. Every few years (or sometimes more often), the owner blames and fires the coach and hires a new one, but the […]

I don’t like people who dismiss you [Bob]. I may disagree with you but I don’t dismiss you. You’ve provided immense value. — Mr. N.T. To understand such a thing, one needs a rational explanation, which is provided in the quote below by Robert Michels from his 1915 book, Political Parties (p. 24). You see, […]

An essential element in Lean thinking is Kaizen. Kaizen is the Japanese name for continuous improvement. While Kaizen is really about improvement involving everyone everyday it is often associated with a structured event. It is the technique that improves quality, productivity, safety, and workplace culture. Kaizen focuses on applying small, daily changes that result in […]

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #511 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Sam Yankelevitch, a distinguished global operations executive who has dedicated his career to advancing Lean principles, effective communication, and innovative problem-solving. Sam’s journey began with managing international projects and optimizing processes in various industries. […]

 Continuous Learning through Hansei – Reflection Have you ever paused to reflect on the critical moments of your life and realized their impact on your own trajectory and others’ lives? In this special episode of Chain of Learning, I welcome back Isao Yoshino as we celebrate our decade-long partnership and the anniversary of our […]

An obviously fake poster produced to illustrate how action leads to reaction. What a huge miscalculation! When the term “Lean production” was introduced in the fall of 1988 by the researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they thought that business leaders would immediately see its merits and quickly shift from traditional batch-and-queue production system to […]

Lean management has long been a big money-maker for many individuals and consulting companies. But here we are, four decades after the word “Lean” entered the business lexicon, and not much has changed. The obvious conclusion is that success in selling Lean is inversely proportional to change; meaning, the change in top leaders’ preconceptions that […]

On Authority Magazine: 5 Things You Should Do To Become a Thought Leader In Your Industry   Thank you for taking the time to speak with us! Our readers are eager to learn more about you. Could you provide some background information about yourself?   I’ve founded or co-founded 5 companies, actively invested in 30, […]

Porsche is part of the Volkswagen group. Yet, this luxury sports car maker maintained its own style and the shop floor feels (and performs) different from the Volkswagen group. In this blog post, I will look deeper into the main plant in Zuffenhausen and the second manufacturing location in Germany, Leipzig. The next blog post […]

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 […]

Think about the last time you made a major career decision. I’m thinking of one of mine, in particular. Was it about leaving a job for a new one? Changing directions in your career altogether? Was it a debate about which of the job offers you would accept? How easy was that? How long did […]

Hectar’s Audrey Bourolleau and Francis Nappez presented their findings about greenhouse gas emissions in the industrial production of bread baguettes at the 2024 Lean Summit in France. They see a major impact in (1) farming and (2) the production of fertilizer and plant protection products. Together, these categories account for 58% of total emissions but […]

Operational Excellence (OpEx) is a strategic approach thatfocuses on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes to achieve superior performance. In the manufacturing sector, OpEx encompasses a range of methodologies and practices designed to streamline operations, reduce waste, enhance quality, and increase productivity.  For manufacturing leaders, designing and implementing a robust operational excellence management […]

“Operational excellence begins with having the right strategy, but it’s realized through relentless focus on execution and continuous improvement.” Jeff Bezos – Amazon Operational excellence is crucial for business leaders aiming for continuous improvement because it establishes a framework for consistently delivering high-quality products and services while optimizing processes and reducing waste. By focusing on […]

Maintenance metrics are crucial for any organization aiming to optimize its maintenance operations and enhance the reliability of its systems. Let’s explore four essential maintenance metrics: Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), Mean Time to Repair (MTTR), Failure Rate, and Reliability. Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) Definition: MTBF is a measure of how reliable a system […]

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 […]

Professionals working on quality don’t usually discuss what it is. Instead, they assume a shared understanding that often isn’t there. Individuals with training in different approaches generalize from different experiences and talk past each other. In meetings, these divergent views are often not aired; in the uninhibited environment of social media, on the other hand, […]

I don’t think I ever shared this article that I co-authored and had published in 2014… so it’s time for another “Throwback Thursday.” I’ll share a summary of it here in this post. I think this still applies here in 2024. In the evolving healthcare landscape, fostering a culture of continuous improvement is essential for […]

  In this episode of the People Solve Problems podcast, host Jamie Flinchbaugh is joined by Patrick Elwer, a Senior Principal Engineer at Intel Corporation. Patrick brings over 34 years of experience to the table, with a significant portion of his career dedicated to improving Intel’s work processes using lean product development principles and agile […]

Introduction: The Lean movement is visible and vocal but small and weak. But did you know there is also a vibrant anti-Lean movement? The anti-Lean movement is invisible and quiet but large and strong. It is comprised of tens of millions of CEOs worldwide who make the decision, past and present, to resist, reject, or […]

Are you looking to transform your business strategy into actionable results? Join us for our upcoming webinar, “Leveraging a Strategy to Execution Framework: A Journey of Transformation,” presented by Karen Friedenberg. This insightful session will take place on July 23 from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm ET. It’s part of the free KaiNexus Continuous Improvement […]

Scientific thinking has become very popular within the Lean community since the publication of Toyota Kata in 2009. If something is popular in the business world, it often means that it is recognized as conceptually easy to grasp, easy to do, easy to talk about, or all three. When something becomes popular, it is likely […]

Lean manufacturing is the continuous improvement methodology of choice for companies around the world. It’s a people-oriented practice that focuses on reducing production lead times within your operations. These practices create a framework that emphasizes eliminating activities that do not add value for the customer, and focuses on reducing cycle, flow, and throughput times. These […]

Preconceptions enter our brains without being aware that it is happening. They are formed prior to experience and in the absence of reasoning. Preconceptions are powerful because they come to us from authority figures and as such they become embedded in the realm of spiritual belief and even superstitions. Therefore, people are strongly attached to […]

The last plant of my visits to Mercedes-Benz  as part of my Grand Tour of German Automotive, was not a car plant, but the world’s largest heavy-duty truck plant, in Wörth (albeit it is technically a separate company, not Mercedes-Benz but Daimler Truck). Seeing three parallel heavy-duty truck assembly lines popping out a truck every […]

Keep up the good work. All the books, articles, opinions, criticism of the wrong interpretation of lean, your work on the Shingijutsu teachings… I think that your contribution to Lean is unmatched. I was sad to see that you announced your retirement a while back, but I still see that you write from time to […]

Two-Year Comparisons in Major League Baseball Stats: A Strikeout, not a Homer It’s just over halfway through the 2024 Major League Baseball season. Tuesday is the annual All-Star Game featuring National League stars (such as my two favorite players, Shohei Ohtani and Elly De La Cruz) facing off against the American League stars. Baseball is […]

Scientific thinking has become very popular within the Lean community since the publication of Toyota Kata in 2009. If something is popular in the business world, that often means it is recognized as conceptually easy to grasp, easy to do, easy to talk about, or all three. As is often the case when something becomes […]