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Ask Art: Why Is Something As Simple As Lean So Difficult to Do?
"Recently my good friend Paul Akers of FastCap and lean blogging fame asked me why lean, which appears to be so simple, ends up being…
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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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Ask Art: Why Does Boosting Inventory Turns Matter So Much?
If you want to deliver more value to our customers such that you can grow and gain market share then you should certainly focus on…
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Ask Art: Is “We are customer-driven” a good lean strategy?
Art Byrne is often asked if "customer-driven" is a good lean strategy. The answer is yes - as long as it's done right. Read more.
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Ask Art: Why Focus on Why When Doing A Lean Turnaround?
In switching to lean, understanding the WHY is the most important thing, argues Art Byrne. It helps people overcome their traditional beliefs about how something…
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Ask Art: How Do I Get Senior Leadership On Board with Lean?
Lean transformations are rarely successful without the support and participation of senior leadership. Art Byrne, former CEO of Wiremold, shares his advice to lean practitioners…
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Ask Art: What Was Danaher Like In the Early Days of Lean?
In this personal account of launching lean at Danaher, Art Byrne shares a wealth of insights into how to seed an enduring lean culture and…
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Ask Art: What Role does Human Resources Play in a Lean Turnaround?
Although you shouldn’t expect HR to lead the kaizen effort or set up extensive training programs, there is still plenty for them to do that…
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Ask Art: Why Should I Be Able to Make Every Product Every Day?
Working on the goal of "every product every day" helps all companies realize the benefits of lean as a strategy, says Art Byrne, by developing…
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Ask Art: How is lean the opposite of everything people have been trained to do?
Art Byrne explains why, and how, lean practice is the opposite of what most people have learned about work in any setting
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Ask Art: Is There More to Becoming Lean than Conducting Kaizen Events?
Kaizen events may be a key part of lean transformation, but they're certainly not the only aspect of it. They're just one step on the…
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Ask Art: Does Lean Really Work in A Non-manufacturing Company?
All companies and organizations, whether manufacturing or not, are nothing more than a group of people and a bunch of processes trying to deliver value…
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Ask Art: How Do We Prevent Backsliding?
Backsliding is inevitable. "The key is to anticipate the backslide and take early, aggressive, organized steps to prevent it from happening before it starts," writes…
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Ask Art: Will Lean Work for a Distributor?
Pairing distribution companies with Lean may seem counterintuitive to some. However author of The Lean Turnaround, Art Byrne, says this match actually makes perfect sense.
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Ask Art: Aren’t You a Little “Old School” in Your Kaizen Approach To Implementing Lean Thinking?
When you say “kaizen is old school” you may be seriously off track, argues Art Byrne. Focusing on tools like A3 might be popular and…
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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…
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Ask Art: At What Pace Should A Lean Turnaround Be Implemented?”
Changing from a traditional batch, make-the-month culture to a lean value driven culture takes a lot of time and effort, says Art Byrne. The faster…
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Ask Art: What Do You Focus on When Assessing the Potential Gains From Converting to Lean?
Lean veteran Art Byrne shares the key areas to look at for gains to be realized from lean: focus on sales growth as the result…
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Ask Art: Why Do Most Companies Think Of Lean as Just a Cost Reduction Program?
We shouldn’t be surprised at all that most companies approach lean as a cost reduction program, when it really is better understood as a time-based…
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Ask Art: Why Does Setup Time Reduction Matter So Much?
Setup reduction is a necessary step to go from traditional management to lean--or said another way, from batch to flow and from push to pull.…
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