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Why Does Our Recognition Program Just Feel So Bad?
Dear Gemba Coach: My company has put an employee of the month program and other related efforts to reward good behavior. So why does it…
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The End of the Beginning
NUMMI closes today. The GM-Toyota joint venture assembling motor vehicles in California lasted 25 years - a very long time for a joint venture -…
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You Gotta Have Wa
In July, just prior to the Major League All Star break, I introduced you to The Mental ABCs of Baseball. Now that the pennant races…
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Material Handling
Moving necessary materials through a production process within a facility. In a lean production system material handling does much more than just deliver materials. A…
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A Simple Question Without An Easy Answer
Our understanding of Lean (and how best to talk about what it is with others) evolves over time, just like our capability to practice it.
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Can Lean Know-How Come Home?
When you decide to stop making things, you lose the ability to make things, argues Eric Buehrens: not just the displaced assembly workers who have…
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Why Toyota Won and How Toyota Can Lose
Simon & Schuster has just re-issued The Machine That Changed the World, which Dan Jones, Dan Roos, and I co-authored 17 years ago. Doubtless, our…
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Why do the characters in your books struggle a lot with lean?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’m new to lean and I’ve just finished reading “The Gold Mine” and “The Lean Manager” and enjoyed them thoroughly – thank…
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What Do I Tell My Leaders When Experiments Fail?
When experiments fail, it's natural for a leadership team to get nervous. But in the context of lean, they shouldn't be - it's just a…
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Action Plan for Hard Times
Last week I pointed out that the big leaps in applying lean thinking have all been made in hard times. I therefore urged everyone to…
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Lean Beyond the Factory
I've been thinking a lot recently about just what a business really is. As a lean process thinker, my best answer is that a business…
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Ask Art: Is There More to Becoming Lean than Conducting Kaizen Events?
Kaizen events may be a key part of lean transformation, but they're certainly not the only aspect of it. They're just one step on the…
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Who Owns Your A3? (Part One)
LEI Director of Strategy and Operations Mark Reich shares how he learned a key lesson from his time at Toyota: always ask who owns the…
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How to Scale Up Positive Social Change
Far more households globally have access to a mobile phone than a toilet, notes Ann Mei Chang, a tech executive turned social innovator and author.…
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Leading with Respect is Not a Soft Skill: An interview with Mike Orzen
By definition, a hard skill is a skill that can be defined, measured, and taught. Does that sound like it describes leadership? Probably not, but…
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