September 2009 - aleanjourney

Problem Solving Rules 0
- Lean Basics
- September 27, 2009
Murphy’s law is an adage that broadly states: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” It is therefore inevitable that businesses must solve problems. One of the key characteristics of successful organizations is effective problem solving. Many in the Lean community optimistically refer to problems as opportunities for improvement. As I always say TPS
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Visual Board for Production Supplies 0
- Sharing Best Practices
- September 25, 2009
In our work environments it can be far too easy to be complacent in our surroundings. Many companies are trying to find ways to manage their production or service costs. We need supplies to do our jobs and many times we are unfamiliar with the cost of these supplies. Unfornuately ordering of supplies is usually
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Lean Resources from LMSPI – Breakthrough Newsletter 0
- Lean Resources
- September 23, 2009
Today we are going to highlight a consulting firm from Tennessee called the Lean Manufacturing Solutions Partnership, Inc (LMSPI). LMSPI seeks to be a Lean manufacturing resource that establishes a lean enterprise within each manufacturing management team. They define a Lean Enterprise as one that aligns the efforts of entire company leadership and staff to
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The Importance of Going to the Gemba 0
- Lean Basics
- September 21, 2009
The other day while working with a team on a rework reduction activity the team leader learned a great lesson. He learned “Genchi Genbutsu” which literally means “actual place, actual thing”. It is commonly referred to as “Go See the Problem”. The team had made several improvements to reduce manual entries of data to reduce
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The Roots of LeanSigma 0
- Lean Basics, Lean Resources
- September 17, 2009
The other day I came across an interesting video called the Roots of LeanSigma. This video was done by the TBM Consulting Group who claims to have coined the term LeanSigma in 1997 with Maytag after a successful improvement effort including both Lean and Six Sigma. I am not sure how many people are familiar
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How Can Making Toast Teach You About Lean?0
- Lean Resources
- September 15, 2009
What simpler, more familiar, process is there than making toast? No matter your background, education, or culture everyone has made toast at some point. Why not use this process to explain kaizen and teach people how to “see” the eight wastes? Well that is exactly what the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership (GBMP) has done in
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