Lean Roundup #2

There were a number of good posts within the Lean community this month to help you on your journey. I have rounded up some of posts that I found particularly noteworthy.

July, 2009

Do You Know Your Pathway to Lowering Transactional Costs? – Chris Haydon shares the importance of knowing your transactional pathways and the cost implications of all of them.

How Does Your Team React to New Person – Mark Graban shares a discussion about another way to judge your transformation to a “lean culture” by gauging the team’s reaction to a new person.

Inexpensive (But Powerful) Visual Controls – Ron Pereira reminds us that simple no-cost visual controls can be effective.

One Point Lesson: Kamishibai – Jon Miller talks about the use of a lean tool called Kamishibai board, the use of a visual management board to perform standardized work checks.

The Trouble with Performance Reviews by Jeffrey Pfeffer – John Hunter brings awareness about the weaknesses of performance reviews from an article by Jeffrey Pfeffer (The Trouble With Performance Reviews).

Lean Accounting is the Key – Bill Waddell discusses the weaknesses of standard cost accounting and how lean accounting uses “real numbers” based on cash.

The Ongoing Struggle Between the Crises of the Day & Improvement Work - Connor Shea shares statement of the tyranny of crises and improvement and provides several countermeasures to reduce crisis time and increase improvement time.

Evolving Sources of Information – Kevin Meyer highlights an article by Baekdal about the sources of information in the market that makes you think about future evolution.

How Far, How Fast : The CPO Game - Konstantin Penz explains the role of the chief procurement officer in transformation in today’s economic environment.

You Can't Forget Eli – Bill Waddell reminds us about the power of Theory of Constraints by Eli Goldratt in pursuit of Lean flow.

Training - Tom Southworth talks about the second, often ignored, pillar of Lean - Respect for People. More specifically, that most companies ignore their "most important assets" - their people.

A Lean Roadmap - where do we start?- Norm Bain shares his approach on where to start your Lean Roadmap

Lean Job Guarantees are Practical - And Ethical – Ralph Bernstein highlights a column about employee who come up with process improvements should not lose their job as a result.

I'll Take My Lean with Water on the Rocks – Jon Miller talks about the classic “rocks and water” metaphor and the “iceberg” metaphor as it relates to continuous improvement and behaviors.

On the Nature of Commitment - Xavier Quesada Allue explains the difference between “hard commitment” and “soft commitment” and why it is important.

Signs of Hope for Customer Focus – Mark Graban brings attention to recent reports by companies to strive harder to please customer in this down economy.