Article
Apples & Oranges: Value-Stream Mapping in a Low-Volume/High-Mix Environment
Here's how one LVHM company mapped its complex value streams — and discovered the path to next-level productivity that enabled it to transform the business…
View article
Article
Ask Art: What's Wrong with Organizing By Function?
While you might be able to survive and be profitable using a traditional functional structure the fact is that you will be leaving a lot…
View article
Article
Why We Believe that Lean is More Than A Manufacturing Approach
Is Lean thinking a thing of the past from glorious manufacturing times in the late twentieth century? Or, on the other hand, is it possible…
View article
Article
Ask Art: How One-Piece-Flow Supports Quality
"One-piece-flow is the key to quality improvements," writes Art Byrne. "In my experience it is pretty common to get a 10x or better gain in…
View article
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…
View article
Article
When the Toyota Way Meets Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 is not a disruptive force that makes TPS irrelevant, but rather can be an enabler that builds on TPS culture and thinking, argues…
View article
Article
Ask Art: Why Do Most Companies Think Of Lean as Just a Cost Reduction Program?
We shouldn’t be surprised at all that most companies approach lean as a cost reduction program, when it really is better understood as a time-based…
View article
Article
What Are the Most Valuable Ways You Learned Lean?
Each approach to learning lean brings value into my work and improves my capabilities. There isn’t one way (for me) to get there. Each situation…
View article
Article
What “Co-Learning” Across Industries Looks Like in Practice
"In April, as part of a 2-day capstone learning event for Cardinal Health, we brought the newest wave of Lean Leader graduates together to visit…
View article
Article
Book Review: Learning to Scale, a "Practical Field Guide" to Lean Growth
In his new book Learning to Scale, author Regis Medina has "successfully translated each concept of the TPS and lean strategy into a clear and…
View article
Article
Can a manufacturer use lean management to advance its environmental and social sustainability strategy?
Dear Gemba Coach: Can a manufacturer use lean to advance its environmental and social sustainability strategy?
View article
Article
Is there such a thing as lean manufacturing engineering?
Dear Gemba Coach: I keep reading about lean engineering and lean design. Is there lean manufacturing engineering?
View article Article
Toyota's New Material-Handling System Shows TPS’s Flexibility
Art Smalley, LEI author and faculty member, reports on Toyota's new material-handling system for assembly areas that he saw in action at an engine plant…
View article Article
A Trip to the Dentist That You’ll Enjoy
At AME's annual conference in Covington, KY, two weeks ago, Sami Bahri used his book, Follow the Learner, to base a great one hour keynote,…
View article Article
What is the Theory of Constraints, and How Does it Compare to Lean Thinking?
The following article reviews the Theory of Constraints (TOC), first published in The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox in 1984, and compares…
View article
Case Study
Leveraging Lean to Get the Oil Out
Aera Energy LLC, a California oil and gas company, relies on lean principles to improve key processes, including drilling new wells, repairing existing ones, and…
View case study
Article
Reach for Your Mind Before Your Wallet
Josh Howell shares how the lean principle of reaching for your mind before your wallet can mitigate risk through careful planning and a willingness to…
View article
Case Study
Seasoned Lean Effort Avoids "Flavor-of-the-Month" Pitfall
What comes first in a lean transformation? What comes next? Where do tools like six sigma fit? Here's an overview about how Freudenberg-NOK answered these…
View case study Case Study
Linking Lean Thinking to the Classroom
As team members sat down to discuss hiring a new production employee, the conversation gradually centered on the need to determine if operations could be…
View case study 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…
View case study