Dear Gemba Coach,

Aren’t there laws of lean, just as there are laws of physics? And why aren’t these clearly articulated yet?

Dear Gemba Coach,

I’m a lean consultant, and have been hired by a large service organization to develop an A3 problem solving training program for their middle-management. Why is it so hard to engage middle-managers in rigorous analysis? It’s not that they don’t understand the concepts or that they don’t feel it could help. They often just don’t seem to get it. How can I do my work here?

Perfecting Patient Journeys co-author Beau Keyte talks with The Leaning Edge host Debra Levantrosser about the central role of collaborative learning in improving continuous improvement.

Dear Gemba Coach,

I’m a lean consultant, and have been hired by a large service organization to develop an A3 problem solving training program for their middle-management. Why is it so hard to engage middle-managers in rigorous analysis? It’s not that they don’t understand the concepts or that they don’t feel it could help. They often just don’t seem to get it. How can I do my work here?

When the Ambulatory Surgery & Critical Care Tower opens in 2015, it will represent a three-year lean design and construction collaboration among builders, architects, trade contractors, healthcare provides, patients, and patient families. The design of both the facility and future operations is being shaped directly by patients and those who care for them. Input from nurses, doctors, therapists, technicians, and patient parents heavily influenced design decisions—from incorporating emergency room hallways that protect the privacy of abused children to the number of electrical outlets in each neonatal intensive care room.

LEI Chairman and CEO John Shook explains management PDCA: improving the way we align people with process to achieve purpose, connecting macro level business objectives with micro levels of value creation throughout the organization.

LeanCor CEO Robert Martichenko believes many Lean Thinkers consider the term “lean warehousing” an oxymoron.

“Let’s face it,” he tells journalist Tonya Vinas, “most lean purists believe that all transportation and warehousing functions are pure waste. Considering my entire career has been in logistics, I’ve become a little defensive at this notion.”

In an interview that includes a diagram with elements of a lean warehouse, Martichenko notes that global supply chains with extended lead times are causing many companies to view logistics – and warehousing -- as ways to gain competitive advantage and deliver more value to customers. The interview covers such issues and questions as:

• Is the term “lean warehousing” an oxymoron?
• Is warehousing a commodity?
• How do lean and warehousing come together?
• What are the main things supply-chain professionals should focus on for “strategic lean warehousing”?
• What should they focus on for “tactical lean warehousing?
• Is there a specific toolkit or approach for implementing the lean warehouse?
• What must a leader do to drive lean warehousing?

 After reading the story, consider these next steps ...

 Supply chain professionals will learn how to apply lean principles in logistics and warehouses at two special workshops being run by the Lean Enterprise Institute at LeanCor’s working operations center:

• Go and See the Lean Supply Chain, June 25-26. 2013
• Lean Warehousing and Distribution Operations, June 27-28, 2013

Dear Gemba Coach,

I’ve been interested in lean for over two years now, and can’t quite understand why after 20 years there are still so many points of view, and no apparent single message under the lean banner. What are your views on this?

The Lean Enterprise Institute's webinar "A Roadmap to Lean Healthcare Success" with John Toussaint, MD, CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, drew thousands of Lean Thinkers from North America and around the world who had more questions than we could answer in 60 minutes.

Most of the questions fell into several themes such as leadership, sustaining gains, involving people, and the A3 management process. What follows are your questions representing those themes and Dr. Toussaint’s follow-up replies.

Dr. Toussaint will go into even more details about lean healthcare at the 4th Annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, June 5-6, 2013, in Orlando, FL.