Lean Basics

Top 3 “Old School” Apps for Lean 0
- Lean Basics
- May 8, 2012
We have all heard the saying “there’s an app for that.” And for most things this is surprisingly true. But for Lean there really are no shortcuts. The tools are not particularly difficult which is in-part its success. Learning what tools to use in what situations takes some experience if you are not familiar. Now
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Gemba Walks: Go See, Ask Why, Show Respect, and Follow Up 0
- Lean Basics
- April 18, 2012
My friend and blogger Tom Southworth recently delivered a short presentation on Gemba Walks. Tom presented this lesson as part of CONNSTEP‘s “10 Minutes: 5 New Ideas” series. In just 10 minutes, learn the vital steps needed to ensure your gemba walk is a successful one. You’ll learn the reasons why this is a necessary
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Debunking Six Common Misconceptions of Standardized Work 0
- Lean Basics
- March 14, 2012
Last week I featured a guest post on standard work as a mechanism for facilitating and empowering improvement. By documenting the current best practice, standardized work forms the baseline for kaizen or continuous improvement. As the standard is improved, the new standard becomes the baseline for further improvements, and so on. Improving standardized work is
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Lean Rules to Live By 0
- Lean Basics
- February 13, 2012
Rules create structure in our systems. Without rules there would be in chaos. Lean rules provide the guidance needed to implement improvement, explaining the “why” behind lean tools and the Six Sigma methodology. Lean rules also help develop new solutions to problems. For everyone in an organization, these rules help structure activities, connect customers and
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That’s Kaizen – FastCap Style 0
- Lean Basics, Sharing Best Practices
- December 22, 2011
Many think Kaizen is about some sort of 5 day event where you shut down and make improvement. Maybe this idea is fed by consultants in some manner but Kaizen in fact is not this. It is about small incremental change. The type of change that makes it easier to do your job. Change in
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Using U Shaped Cells 0
- Lean Basics, Sharing Best Practices
- November 15, 2011
Generally a horseshoe or U-Shaped work area layout that enables workers to easily move from one process to another in close proximity and pass parts between workers with little effort. Work cells do not need to be in a U-shaped configuration though this is often common due to maximizing product throughput with minimal use of
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