Article
What? My Pull System Is Supposed to Fail?
Dear Gemba Coach: We’ve given up on installing a pull system – every time we try, our on time delivery rate plummets, and we can’t…
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Article
Working During an Outbreak; What We Can Learn for Later
During this pandemic, Trader Joe’s is demonstrating several hallmarks of lean thinking that help keep employees and customers safe--and creates a better shopping experience.
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Article
The Birth of Lean: How Practices, Principles, and Tools Came Together as a System
Toyota was struggling to survive when Taiichi Ohno and a handful of innovators began experimenting with methods that ultimately became the Toyota Production System. The…
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In your opinion, is lean thinking a common sense way of working or is it counterintuitive? What makes you think that?
Here are all the submissions to the community sound off question: "In your opinion, is lean thinking a common sense way of working or is…
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Ask Art: How Important are Your Suppliers to Implementing Lean Production?
You won't reap the full benefits of lean production without involving your suppliers as an essential part of your value stream. Here's how.
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Case Study
Change in Implementation Approach Opens the Door at EMCO to Greater Gains in Less Time
Many lean thinkers ask how they can accelerate the pace of a transformation or spread it to other facilities. EMCO Enterprise’s Des Moines plant has…
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Article
Why do you lean experts still revere the Toyota Production System? Hasn't any one come up with something better?
Dear Gemba Coach,Since Toyota formulated TPS 50 years ago, many other companies have come up with their own business systems ñ I have been taught…
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How Do Lean CEOs Learn To Improve?
What, and how, do I have to learn? This key question confronts all CEOs who are practicing lean seriously, argues CEO Nicolas Chartier, who shares…
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Article
Reimagining restaurants after Covid-19
The future has never looked more uncertain for restaurants and cafes. The authors share a set of practical lean tips that can guide these organizations…
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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…
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Article
You can do a lot by doing a few things
"Developing a good strategy and actually executing it is really hard," writes Leslie Barker. "What I didn’t fully realize was how powerful just a little…
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Article
Riding the Goodyear Wheel to Innovation Excellence
Norbert Majerus of Goodyear shares the Womack and Jones-inspired model that helped his company overhaul its product development operations.
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Article
The Essence of Developing People and Yourself
Jane Delaney is the CEO of a medium sized software company in the UK. As her company faces crisis upon crisis she finds herself forced…
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How Can I Convince My CFO?
Dear Gemba Coach: Is there a way to put a dollar value (cost savings) on these types of improvements? We have trouble gaining CFO support…
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I don’t get kanban -- I don’t work in production so how would it apply to one-off work?
Dear Gemba Coach: I feel that I still don’t get kanban. I don’t work in production, and I fail to see how stock replenishment would…
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Operator morale has suffered terribly since we implemented cell manufacturing, and the ideas that kaizens generate have been weak. Would you please share your insights on this situation?
Dear Gemba Coach: Operator morale has suffered terribly since we implemented cell manufacturing, and the ideas that kaizens generate have been weak. Would you please…
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I’ve been improving process efficiency for years with value-stream mapping, why did you write that it is misleading?
Dear Gemba Coach: In your previous column you stated that value-stream mapping can be misleading. I’ve been using VSM for years to improve process efficiency…
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Why a Lean Transformation Requires a New Quoting Process, Part 1
How to ensure your lean transformation leads to improved profitability.
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Article
A Lean "Teachable Moment": Starbucks in The Wall Street Journal
John Shook discusses recent news about Starbucks and lean.
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Case Study
Shifting to Value-Stream Managers:a Shop-Floor Revolution Leads to a Revolution in Plant Organization
Two years into a lean transformation, the low-hanging fruit has been plucked and progress has started to slow. Read how a Thomas & Betts plant…
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