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Engineering Checklists

Dear Gemba Coach: How do I apply standardized work to product development?

by Michael Ballé

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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

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Ask Art: Where Will the Biggest Resistance to Lean Come From?

Resistance to Lean will come from every part of your organization, senior management included, says Lean veteran Art Byrne. Knowing where the biggest resistance will…

by Art Byrne

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Orchestrating Your Product Development Process with Milestones

"Effective milestones are an important part of a company’s development process, especially in today’s era of team-based sprints and stand-ups," writes Jim Morgan. "Yet many…

by James Morgan, PhD

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A Real S&OP Opera

Have you been implementing Lean but are still losing money due to inconsistent customer demand? Well, don't blame the customer. Brent Wahba suggests a different…

by Brent Wahba

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What Experience Tells Me About How Change Happens

Dave LaHote reflects on his earliest experiences learning lean thinking and practice. "We all became increasingly better at making improvements and solving problems using simple,…

by Dave LaHote

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Want to Be a Better Leader and Coach? Listen to Yourself

Conduct this simple two-step analysis to learn whether you’re practicing the communication behavior that encourages a culture of engagement and continuous improvement.

by Deborah McGee and David Verble

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How to Develop Lean Leaders and Still Get Work Done

Three years ago the leadership team at Cardinal Health asked LEI to help them create a program specifically designed to develop lean leaders within the…

by Eric Ethington

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Book Value: What Every Manager Should Know About Training

Jeff Morrow, lean coach and faculty at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, reviews and recommends Dr. Robert Mager's 1999 book, What Every Manager Should Know About Training.…

by Jeff Morrow

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Do Managers "Get" Lean?

Dear Gemba Coach: You mentioned during the webinar that plant tours reveal how well managers 'get' lean. Can you be more specific?

by Michael Ballé

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Why Is It So Hard To Sustain Lean Gains?

Dear Gemba Coach: Why is it so hard to sustain lean gains?

by Michael Ballé

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Is it really necessary for a sensei to act obnoxiously?

Dear Gemba Coach: Is it really necessary for a sensei to act obnoxiously?

by Michael Ballé

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Properly Applying Auto-Eject Isn’t Automatic

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m working on improving the design of our machines for lean manufacturing, and hear that an auto-eject feature can support this work.…

by Michael Ballé

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Competing with China

There are two sea changes going on in the world economy. The first is the rise of the “low cost” producers in China and the…

by Dan Jones

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3 Lessons Maersk Learned from Adopting Hoshin Kanri

Deploying hoshin kanri at Maersk was challenging, recounts Agne Nainyte, who shares the details of this work that helped the organization shift from firefighting to…

by Agne Nainyte

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Ask Art: Why Switch from Batch to Lean?

Switching from batch production to a complete lean enterprise produces benefits far beyond immediate financial results, argues Art Byrne. Read this for details on your…

by Art Byrne

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Dear Professor, Am I Ever Glad You Covered Lean in Class!

Since 2008, the Lean Enterprise Institute has sponsored the Excellence in Lean Accounting Award to fund scholarships helping pairs of students and professors attend the…

by Chet Marchwinski

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How to Make Your Supplier Your Lean Partner

Lean practitioner Randy Dobbs says working with suppliers to improve the extended value stream of his company has been one of the most rewarding aspects…

by Randy J. Dobbs

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Three Faces of Lean Management 

In the latest issue of The Management Brief, Jeffrey Liker urges the lean community to move beyond tools and templates—because lean is a way of…

by Jeffrey Liker

Faculty

David Graham

David’s lean knowledge came from 17 years with the North American Parts Operations Division of Toyota, where he applied lean concepts to the launch of…