Article

Ask Art: Why Are the Four Lean Fundamentals So Important for Making a Conversion to Lean?

A review of the core lean elements reveals how — and why — lean management leads to higher enterprise performance.

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: How Much Time Does It Take to Complete a Lean Transformation?

Though you can never be "finished" with the essential work of creating a continuous improvement culture, here are a few ways to determine whether you're…

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: How Do You Motivate Managers to Adopt Lean?

Leading an enterprise-wide lean transformation requires everyone at every level to adopt new approaches to their work. Here are some tried-and-true strategies that leaders can…

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: How Well Do Companies Follow Toyota's 'Respect for People' Principle?

Comparing traditional command-and-control management shows why this lean management tenet benefits both employees and the organization.

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: Is Lean a Good Cost-Reduction Program?

A point-by-point comparison demonstrates why lean thinking and practice is a business strategy, not merely a cost-cutting strategy.

by Art Byrne

Article

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.

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: What's So Important About Reducing Setup Times?

An overview of the strategic and tactical benefits of eliminating waste from changeovers demonstrates why it should be a focus of manufacturers’ kaizen efforts.

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: What is the Best Lean Leadership Development Program?

Leaders learn and adopt lean thinking the same way everyone else does: by practicing it. Here are a few ideas that will help you get…

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: Why Should I Focus on My Balance Sheet to Grow Earnings?

Lean practitioners understand that focusing on this financial statement is the best way to achieve higher sales and lower costs.

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: How Do You Align Incentives for a Lean Turnaround?

A veteran lean leader offers practical strategies for incentivizing employees during a transition to lean management.

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: Why Do I Need a Kaizen Promotion Office (KPO)?

A veteran lean leader explains why companies seeking to cultivate a lean culture should establish an internal team to oversee the effort and explains how…

by Art Byrne

Article

Ask Art: Do You Prefer a Handwritten or Computerized Process for Visual Management?

You can — and should — focus on more critical operational questions than how to set up your visual management systems. Here are the questions…

by Art Byrne

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Lexicon Term

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology that aims to eliminate defects in any process. With its data-driven approach, Six Sigma has been widely adopted…

Article

My CEO would like to install a lean culture and has asked me to specify a few basic lean values we need to implement. Where should I start?

Dear Gemba Coach: My CEO would like to install a lean culture in our company and has asked me to specify a few basic lean…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Do lean-minded finance professionals make a difference in appraising lean initiatives?

Dear Gemba Coach: I would like to ask lean-minded fellow finance professionals if they make a difference in appraising lean initiatives from other investments in…

by Michael Ballé

Article

You Are Not Different: Make universal lean principles work locally

Lean principles are universal, argues Orry Fiume, but the application of them is always local. Don't use this challenge as an excuse to avoid Lean.

by Orest (Orry) Fiume

Article

Grasping the Real Situation

Emmanuel Jallas visits a well-respected company that is vocal about its lean transformation. Upon further investigation he finds that like so many places, lean was…

by Emmanuel Jallas

Article

What Is Your Leadership Model?

In this reflection based on his work as CEO Lean is a leadership model: for more than 60 years now it has been developed, analyzed,…