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How lean should a lean line design be?
Dear Gemba Coach: I’m in manufacturing engineering and have been asked to design a lean line. I’ve participated to several kaizen…
Read article What are you going to do about your plant’s ‘cats and dogs’?
Dealing with "cats and dogs,” parts or products that are typically small volume, high variety, hard to make, or all of the…
Read article When should I push and when should I praise?
Dear Gemba Coach: I am in charge of a service activity and have started a lean approach with a sensei. In…
Read article Q & A with the Authors of Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream
A Conversation with Robert Martichenko and Kevin von Grabe, authors of Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream: rethinking your supply chain and…
Read article Value-Stream Mapping at FAA Office Improves Information Flow
Lean management principles and tools originated on the shop floor to improve manufacturing processes but in its first value-stream mapping…
Read article Should I pursue waste elimination or lead-time reduction?
Dear Gemba Coach: We’re having a heated debate in our company over whether to pursue cost reduction through waste elimination by…
Read article How Do You Find – or Develop – the Right Sensei to Lead Lean?
Dear Gemba Coach: We have become skilled at indicating what goes wrong, but solving the problems is not our strength.…
Read article Toyota the Bad Guy
Recently I am cornered frequently by beleaguered lean change agents eager to show me their scars inflicted by re-energized resistors.…
Read article How Do I Keep My Lean Team Motivated for the Long Term?
Dear Gemba Coach: My team often feels that they are alone in their improvement efforts. Even after all our work…
Read article Lean Transformation: Thinking, Learning, & Experimenting For Today’s Complicated Operating System
Matt Zayko, an LEI faculty member, notes that many organizations that have tried to implement lean in the past 20 years have…
Read 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…
Read article NUMMI Closes and is Crushed by N.Y. Times Columnist Bob Herbert
New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. closes its doors for the final time this Thursday, April Fools' Day. It is a…
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