Article

Why are there so many different opinions about what lean management is and isn't?

Dear Gemba Coach: I have attended several lean conferences and am deeply interested in the topic, but puzzled about the diversity of viewpoints. Any advice…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How do I introduce kaizen to IT?

Dear Gemba Coach: Based on your experience, what is the best strategy to introduce kaizen as social, ongoing events without start and end dates in…

by Michael Ballé

Case Study

Seasoned Lean Effort Avoids "Flavor-of-the-Month" Pitfall

What comes first in a lean transformation? What comes next? Where do tools like six sigma fit? Here's an overview about how Freudenberg-NOK answered these…

by Chet Marchwinski

Case Study

Linking Lean Thinking to the Classroom

As team members sat down to discuss hiring a new production employee, the conversation gradually centered on the need to determine if operations could be…

by Chet Marchwinski

Article

Lean Roundup: Respect for People

Respect for People is one of the most abstract and yet most concrete tenets of lean, a guiding principle that informs how people work, coach,…

by Tom Ehrenfeld

Article

PDCA, Fitness Apps, and Using Social Media to Improve Our Health

"Health isn't about always being perfect," writes lean coach Tracey Richardson. "Just like in our organizations, we all have imperfect days. It’s how we change…

by Tracey Richardson

Article

When the Toyota Way Meets Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 is not a disruptive force that makes TPS irrelevant, but rather can be an enabler that builds on TPS culture and thinking, argues…

by Jeffrey Liker

Podcast

Handling the Heat of the Kitchen: A WLEI Podcast

Hear how LEI coaches helped a flagship restaurant's kitchen staff find and eliminate waste in their work processes, which led to better performance outcomes in…

by John Cotter and Matthew Savas

Article

Why Is Failure Key to Lean Success?

Dear Gemba Coach: I am a LSS black belt working with a sensei to improve our performance. We conduct many workshops that get results, but…

by Michael Ballé

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Article

Standardize Locally

A few weeks ago, during a day-long meeting with an executive management team, the topic of standardized work came up … again. It’s been popping up in…

by Josh Howell

Article

Learning the Hard and Soft Skills of Lean Coaching

While lean is often associated with process improvement, error reduction, and greater efficiency in a wide range of numbers; most veterans argue that above all…

by Lean Leaper

Article

5 Missing Pieces in Your Standardized Work (Part 1 of 3)

John Shook offers an overview of the five most frequent misunderstandings about this fundamental lean practice and expands on three of them.

by John Shook

Article

Mapping a Reading List to Lean

We humans want to see what is happening, understand how we and our colleagues best collaborate, solve problems, make good decisions, and have an insatiable…

by Jim Benson

Article

Leaning Healthcare

Healthcare is the next great industry to begin the Lean journey. The existing model in which the hospital doctor acting as a skilled craftsperson effectively…

by Dan Jones

Article

GTS⁶ + E³ = DNA (Break the Code for Standardization, Sustainability, and Kaizen)

There's no "formula" for doing Lean well, but there are principles and practices that keep you on track. Read Tracey Richardson's (memorable) advice for leading…

by Tracey Richardson

Article

How do we get started with standard work?

How do we get started with standard work? The literature seems to say there can’t be meaningful kaizen without standards, but although we have procedures…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Learning Through Struggle

LEI coach Danielle Blais reflects on one of the most frustrating (and ultimately, most rewarding) coaching moments she's experienced so far in her career.

by Danielle McGuiness

Article

Standardized Work for Kaizen: Define, Achieve, Maintain, Improve

We can all agree that kaizen (continuous improvement to create more value with less waste) is important, but do you have standardized work for kaizen?…

by Tracey Richardson

Article

So, what are you going to do about it?

What a year for global supply chains! It started quietly, with a few leading firms taking the lead in reintegrating hopelessly disintegrated supply lines. Then…

by John Shook