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What Is Information Waste?
Excess information — in our inboxes, hard drives, shared drives, intranet sites, data warehouses, etc., — is waste. This unnecessary…
Read article How Can Lean Take Root in a Crappy Culture?
Dear Gemba Coach: I've done a lot of working with lean, and recently started my first coaching/consulting gig. And while…
Read article Takt Time Thinking for a Low-Volume High-Mix Company
Dear Gemba Coach: Our company produces custom products that cannot be easily forecast in terms of when they will be…
Read article Why Is Failure Key to Lean Success?
Dear Gemba Coach: I am a LSS black belt working with a sensei to improve our performance. We conduct many…
Read article PDCA at the Plate
We know that "lean" is all about plan-do-check-act (PDCA). The challenge we all face in our everyday work is to…
Read article Fulfillment-Stream Measurement Systems: Driving Action in Real Time
Derek Browning, a lean supply chain executive at LeanCor, takes time out from a lean logistics conference to answer questions…
Read article What Are the Different Types of A3s?
What are the different types of A3s and what are they used for?
Read article Method vs. Tool
Dear Gemba Coach: I think that TPM, JIT, SMED, Heijunka are methods and the 5S, VSM Kaizen are tools. Perhaps…
Read article What Level of a Problem Requires an A3?
Here are some thoughts to help you determine what type of problem you have, and how to apply A3 thinking…
Read article Getting Over Gemba-phobia
“I work in a company where leaders think gemba walks are scheduled visits to the factory to look at performance…
Read article Performance versus costs, part 2
Dear Gemba Coach: I’ve read your recent column on performance versus cost with great interest, as I believe we’re currently having…
Read article Gemba Walk Checklist
Jim responds to this question from his Gemba Walks webinar: “Do you find it easier to complete your Gemba Walk…
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