Article

Ask Art: Why is Takt Time So Important in a Lean Turnaround?

Takt time represents the beat of the customer, or, the rate of demand, says Art Byrne: "As the primary focus of the lean company is…

by Art Byrne

Article

How Often Should We Change Takt Time?

Dear Gemba Coach: How often should we change takt time?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Misunderstandings About Value Stream Mapping, Flow Analysis, and Takt Time

Value-stream mapping is not flow analysis, but rather a simple tool that guides you through the process of analysis to improve flows and design better…

by John Shook

Article

Takt Time Thinking for a Low-Volume High-Mix Company

Dear Gemba Coach: Our company produces custom products that cannot be easily forecast in terms of when they will be ordered, and in what format.…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How do I convince management to run to takt time, not as fast as possible?

Dear Gemba Coach: I have always struggled with convincing management about the importance of running to takt time, since the mindset is typically run as…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How do you apply takt time to service work?

Dear Gemba Coach: How do you apply takt time in fields like services where customer demand is not known?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Ask Art: What Happens When Standard Cost Accounting Meets Takt Time?

Trying to become a lean enterprise while retaining traditional standard cost accounting is an exercise in futility. It was developed for a steady state environment…

by Art Byrne

Article

Coaching Effectively Within Takt Time

When time is of the essence and work just needs to be done, how do you help someone improve their work or solve a problem…

by Jeff Smith

Lexicon Term

Takt Time

Takt time is a calculation of the available production time divided by customer demand. For example, if a widget factory operates 480 minutes per day…

Article

Time To Make Time

When the people in a lean system don't value time, everyone is cheated, says John Shook, in this fascinating reflection on the role that time…

by John Shook

eBook

The Birth of Lean: Conversations with the Founders of TPS

Fascinating interviews with the founders of lean. Learn about the origins of the Toyota Production System from the people responsible for its creation. As its pioneers…

by Takahiro Fujimoto and Koichi Shimokawa

Article

Why We Believe that Pull Flows Are Too Often Overlooked

In this incisive series of articles on the essential value of pulled flow, the lean sensei women argue, in the words of Catherine Chabiron, that…

by Lean Sensei Women

Case Study

Build Your “House” of Production on a Stable Foundation

Faced with downtime on key pieces of sophisticated equipment in a machine-intensive environment, Delphi's Plant 1 launched a successful improvement effort by focusing on rigorous…

Article

Dentist Drills Down to the Root Causes of Office Waste

Applying lean concepts to dentistry isn't as difficult as, well, pulling teeth. Dr. Sami Bahri, driven by a gut feeling that the traditional method of…

by Chet Marchwinski

Article

Are You Managing By The Right Numbers?

Knowing the key metrics to track will help you and your team start your learning journey, says Tracey Richardson. She shares the key figures that…

by Tracey Richardson

Case Study

Thrustmaster Comes Around

The following Lean Enterprise Institute case study reveals how Thrustmaster of Texas successfully adopted lean thinking and practices to make sustainable improvements in a short…

by and David Drickhamer

Case Study

For Athletic Shoe Company, the Soul of Lean Management Is Problem Solving

When it began a lean transformation in 2003, New Balance, the only athletic shoe manufacturer that still makes some products in the U.S., focused on…

by Chet Marchwinski

Article

Why We Believe that Lean is More Than A Manufacturing Approach

Is Lean thinking a thing of the past from glorious manufacturing times in the late twentieth century? Or, on the other hand, is it possible…

by Lean Sensei Women

Case Study

Herman Miller’s Experiment in Excellence

With initial support from the Toyota Supplier Support Center, Herman Miller cultivates experimental thinkers who make process improvements every day. Their work has yielded dramatic…

by David Drickhamer

Article

Learning to Help Anna Elevate Her Game

Anna was trained by NUMMI to identify and solve challenges via experiments with her team, notes Jeff Smith, sharing a story from NUMMI; she had…

by Jeff Smith