Article

Turn To Lean in Times of Crisis

Lean thinkers need new tools and new mindsets to face today's daunting challenges, argues Jim Womack, who shares examples of how this has sparked great…

by Lean Leaper

Article

Should I Use Lean for Headcount Reduction?

Dear Gemba Coach: My company wants to reduce its fixed costs. And as part of this my management has asked me to apply the lean…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Why it’s Better to Focus on Value, Not Waste

Learn the benefits of shifting your focus from eliminating waste to increasing value, along with two of the best value-creating opportunities, according to LEI Senior…

by Katrina Appell, PhD

Article

Planning the Purposeful Turnaround

The capability to repurpose, and then to redesign and retool, is critically important in these challenging times, says Josh Howell, who adds: I hope you…

by Josh Howell

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Understanding the 4S Help Chain, Part 1: Lessons from NUMMI on How to Manage Work Disruptions

What are the four critical characteristics of an effective help chain? Matt Zayko, a technical coach for LEI's Lean Product and Process Development team, explains.

by and Matt Zayko

Article

Dealing with Standard Costing in Lean Organizations

If you are in the accounting department in a lean manufacturing company, and your company uses a standard costing system, it is inevitable that the…

Article

Finding a Countermeasure to the Great Resignation in Making Jobs Better

Watching an associate improve his work process prompts some ideas on how to attract and retain employees who are at risk of quitting.

by Matthew Savas

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

Expanding the Purpose of Catchball

Learn how catchball, the process of colleagues tossing ideas back and forth to improve them iteratively, helps get the job done while building capability simultaneously.

by Josh Howell

Article

What is your psychology of change?

Dear Gemba Coach: Do you have a psychology of change? And if so, what is it? Where should we start?

by Michael Ballé

Article

I Don't Know What I Don't Know, But Spread the Word

In her first piece for the Post, Lesa Nichols reflects on one of her most powerful learning experiences while working as a powertrain manager at…

by Lesa Nichols

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Riding the Goodyear Wheel to Innovation Excellence

Norbert Majerus of Goodyear shares the Womack and Jones-inspired model that helped his company overhaul its product development operations.

Article

Why 'Yes Chef!' Is No Longer the Answer

In order to meet the changing demands of today's restaurants, chefs must learn to evolve from old-school methods of the "brigade system" and learn to…

Article

Lean Consumption, Lean Provision, and Lean Solutions

Here’s some good news for the Lean Community. I was recently in Spain where I toured a facility belonging to an American company whose U.S.…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

What would "process points" be in software development?

Dear Gemba Coach: Thank you for your previous column that has raised profound questions for me to work on with my software development teams. For…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Lean and Forecasting

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m in charge of the forecasting department in my company. My colleagues in production have been doing lean for several years and…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How do we deal with a command-and-control boss?

Dear Gemba Coach: Our boss always says, “It’s not my job to tell you how to do yours!” But then he tells us what to…

by Michael Ballé

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Should we plan according to what we can do, or the other way around?

Dear Gemba Coach: Should we plan according to what we can do, or the other way around?

by Michael Ballé

Article

I’m not sure I understand solving problems one by one.

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m not sure I understand solving problems one by one. I thought listing problems and pushing hard to get them solved faster…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Is "lean" now just an over-hyped word that is losing its value?

Dear Gemba Coach: I have spent the day with a group of people in the LeanIT, Agile, ITSM, IT4IT, DevOps, etc. worlds.  We were all…

by Michael Ballé