Article

How do we solicit feedback from the shop floor without being overwhelmed by the enormous amount of ideas?

Dear Gemba Coach: I think we all know that the "suggestion box" has gone by the wayside.  How do we solicit feedback from the shop…

by Michael Ballé

Article

The Five Whys

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m a lean coach and teach A3s in my company. Every lean book mentions “5 why,” and I can see the power…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Kanban As A Learning Strategy

Toyota’s Kanban legacy—and its underlying ideas—have far more direct lineage with today’s digital economy than most folks realize; and capture the core elements of the…

by Michael Ballé, Jacques Chaize, Dan Jones and Orest (Orry) Fiume

Article

What the heck is a dojo?

ear Gemba Coach: What is a “dojo”? I hear about it but don’t find it referenced in the lean tools. Is it important?

by Michael Ballé

Article

What's wrong with taking a tools approach to lean management?

Dear Gemba Coach: I keep hearing that a tool approach to lean is wrong, but tools deliver results – how can that be wrong?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Is Lean Scientific?

Dear Gemba Coach: I often hear that lean is like the scientific method. As a lean consultant, I facilitate kaizen events, and find it hard to…

by Michael Ballé

Article

Why is it still so hard to convince executives to adopt the lean spirit?

Dear Gemba Coach: Why, in your experience, after all these years of preaching lean, is it still so hard to convince executives to adopt the…

by Michael Ballé

Article

What's your definition of lean?

Dear Gemba Coach: My company is adopting lean, which has so many definitions that I find it confusing. What's your definition and why can’t all…

by Michael Ballé

Article

What's the main quality I should look out for in hiring a lean coach?

Dear Gemba Coach: I’m in the process of hiring a Lean Coach for my team and I wondered if there was any one quality I…

by Michael Ballé

Article

How do we pass the baton from one lean leader to the next?

Dear Gemba Coach: What are your thoughts about ensuring that a lean transformation persists past a leader’s tenure at an organization?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Is there a spiritual dimension to lean?

Dear Gemba Coach: Is there a spiritual dimension to lean?

by Michael Ballé

Article

Building a Lean Culture at Turner Construction: A Talk with SVP Charlie Murphy

"Whether it’s safety, quality, production system, to me it just makes sense for us to contribute to the improvement of the whole industry," says Turner…

Article

Mapping a Reading List to Lean

We humans want to see what is happening, understand how we and our colleagues best collaborate, solve problems, make good decisions, and have an insatiable…

by Jim Benson

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…

Article

Our Burning Platform and Using the 5 Whys to Think More Deeply about Corrective Action

A call to action: As lean thinkers, we should join with our diversity, equity, and inclusion experts to help transform our business cultures. We must…

by Christopher D. Chapman

Article

The Deeper Purpose of Problem-Solving

Why problem-solving in a lean setting is a unique opportunity to think about how we think and develop expertise where it counts.

by Régis Medina

Article

How can I keep our lean management effort from becoming bureaucratic?

Dear Gemba Coach: Isn’t there a risk that all these lean tools in the workplace turn into yet more bureaucracy?

by Michael Ballé

Article

A Lean "Teachable Moment": Starbucks in The Wall Street Journal

John Shook discusses recent news about Starbucks and lean.

by John Shook

Case Study

Massachusetts General Looks to Lean

Northeast Proton Therapy Center uses lean principles to increase capacity to treat life-threatening diseases.

by George Taninecz

Case Study

Cultivating a Lean Problem-Solving Culture at O.C. Tanner

O.C. Tanner is in the appreciation business. It develops employee reward and recognition programs and manufactures a wide variety of emblems, rings, trophies, and other…

by Doug Bartholomew