Article

The Snowstorm on Your Server

When looking for a place to implement 5S, your company's server or shared drive might not be the first to come to mind. And yet…

by Eric Ethington

Article

LPPD Under the Sea: Efficient Product Design with Subsea 2.0

In this excerpt from the new book Designing the Future, authors Jim Morgan and Jeff Liker share the case study of TechnipFMC's work on a…

by Jeffrey Liker and James Morgan, PhD

Article

Expanding Our Perspective on Lean Management, Part 1: A Creative Ethic

To explore the idea that there may be other angles for understanding lean management principles than purely business or analytical perspectives, a group of lean…

by Joanna McGuffey and Thomas Richert

Article

Why We Believe that Lean is About Changing Our Own Behaviors, and Not Just Accumulating New Knowledge

Lean repeatedly pushes us to develop new competences (or recover lost know-hows) through kaizen and problem solving. This collection of short articles from seven leading…

by Lean Sensei Women

Article

Don't Start with Tools!

Starting off your lean transformation with one of the various tools at your disposal is certainly tempting. But according to Craig Stritar and Mark Rosenthal,…

by Mark Rosenthal and Craig Stritar

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Is There No Other Lean Exemplar Than Toyota?

"I believe that while Toyota isn’t the only lean exemplar out there," writes Michael Ballé, "it still gives us a flawless example of what lean…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Don't Retire Your Knowledge--Reuse It

Companies can tackle the problem of the surge of retiring baby boomers by adopting the lean principle of knowledge reuse, says recently retired lean thinker…

Article

The Road to Becoming a Lean Leadership Team Has Potholes

Lean veteran Orry Fiume shares the story how the leadership team at The Wiremold Company took on the challenging work of transitioning from being traditional,…

by Orest (Orry) Fiume

Article

The Lean Power Stance

"Yoga is more than the physical movement of postures," writes Rachael McKay, an industrial engineer at lululemon athletica and yogi. "As a result of [practicing],…

Article

Standardized Work or Kaizen? Yes

Some lean folks LOVE to quote the Taiichi Ohno observation that “there is no kaizen without standards," notes John Shook, adding that it is less…

by John Shook

Article

The Essence of Developing People and Yourself

Jane Delaney is the CEO of a medium sized software company in the UK. As her company faces crisis upon crisis she finds herself forced…

by John Shook

Article

LEI Expands Global Network

When I founded the Lean Enterprise Institute in Boston in 1997, I wanted to create a global network of non-profit institutes working horizontally to advance…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Value Stream Walk, Management Walk or….Just Walking Around?

Gemba Walks can raise consciousness about problems and the possibilities for dramatic improvements, says Jim Womack. Or they can serve as a means of reinforcing…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

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 -…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

The “Right Sequence” for Implementing Lean

One of the best things about leading the Lean Enterprise Institute is that I travel widely to learn how things are going across the Lean…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

Article

Dueling Sensei and the Need for a Standard Operating System

Recently I witnessed a sight I’ve seen too many times before.  I was visiting a company when a new sensei (Japanese for “teacher”) arrived to…

by James (Jim) Womack, PhD

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

Why don't people learn from experience?

Dear Gemba Coach: On the gemba, we have many problems to manage every day. People don’t seem to learn from their experience. Is there any…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Can Great Lean Companies Develop Great Lean Managers?

Dear Gemba Coach: I know that not everyone can fulfill the lean ideal—but shouldn’t the system of managing folks who fall short be more consistent…

by Michael Ballé

Article

We struggle to set target conditions. Is there a system to do so?

Dear Gemba Coach: We work with Toyota Kata, which we find very helpful, but we struggle to set target conditions. Is there a system to…

by Michael Ballé