Article

What does developing people mean?

Dear Gemba Coach,Are people tools? Should bosses use people? What does development mean? How should we think about it?

by Michael Ballé

Article

What Is Information Waste?

Excess information — in our inboxes, hard drives, shared drives, intranet sites, data warehouses, etc., — is waste. This unnecessary "inventory" causes congestion, delays, inefficiency,…

by Steve Bell and Mike Orzen

Article

How do we mid-level managers convince the CEO and senior management that adopting lean practices is worthwhile?

Dear Gemba Coach: The recent webinar on the business case for lean was particularly useful for us because it raised many questions and provided a…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Why We Believe People-Free Plants and Services Prevent Learning

We (Lean Sensei Women) are a group of women from different continents, horizons, and professions who share a commitment to the development of people. We…

by Lean Sensei Women

Article

Nice Car, Long Journey

2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the Model T Ford. This truly is “the machine that changed the world”, even if the…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

How is leadership engaged and trained in lean?

Dear Gemba Coach: How is leadership engaged and trained in lean?

by Michael Ballé

Article

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…

by Art Byrne

Article

Boosting Organizational Resilience Through Jidoka

Jidoka enables operators to build in quality into the production process--and forms a foundation of stability helping a company respond to crisis with resilience. This…

by Tom Ehrenfeld

Article

One Idea for Improving Hospital Emergency Room Care

Sami Bahri, dentist and author of "Follow the Learner: The Role of a Leader in Creating a Lean Culture," suggests an idea for improving hospital…

by Sami Bahri

Article

Transforming a Food Desert to Food Oasis—During a Pandemic

How a group of volunteers used lean thinking and practices to make things better in their community -- and overcome the obstacles thrown in their…

Article

Signs of Progress

Dear Gemba Coach: We've been doing lean for several years now, and the program has had its ups and downs. What are the signs that…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Lean Roundup: Jidoka

"Jidoka captures the principle of building quality into the production process—of designing work so that the people making the product have the means and mindset…

by Tom Ehrenfeld

Article

Cost Reduction, Waste, and Purpose

"Eliminating waste makes it easier to see and find problems, which is the first step to solving them," writes Katrina Appell. "It removes frustrations, which…

Article

How can kanban or lean possibly apply in an office?

Dear Gemba Coach: You often say that one can’t do lean without kanban, and that continuous improvement without kanban is fine, but not lean. My…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How do I quantify kaizen's small improvements?

Dear Gemba Coach: How do I quantify kaizen's small improvements?

by Michael Ballé

Article

How Do You Spread a Lean Transformation from One Site to Many?

Dear Gemba Coach: My CEO has asked me to spread lean to 30 other sites. How should I go about it?

by Michael Ballé

Article

The Time for Healthcare Leaders to Implement Lean Is Now – Stat!

Pioneering healthcare leaders have demonstrated that lean applied to healthcare can help solve the problems of quality, delivery of care, and cost. It’s time for…

Podcast

Seeking the Right Problems to Solve: Catch the WLEI Podcast with Author Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg

Learning how to frame your problem will help you solve it, suggests author Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg. He describes how in this episode of the WLEI podcast.

by Lean Leaper

Article

The Road to Production Hell is Paved with Lack of LPPD

The real work of companies like Tesla who face stupendous challenges in launching a product should have happened long before production commenced, says Jim Morgan,…

by James Morgan, PhD

Article

How to Save Time and Money in Innovation by Reusing Knowledge

Massive books of knowledge or huge lists weren’t very effective ways of getting the engineers he managed to reuse knowledge, notes Jim Morgan, PhD, a…

by James Morgan, PhD