Lean in Practice

Lean Meetings: A Better Way 0
- Lean in Practice, Lean Office
- April 19, 2011
Have you been to a meeting lately that seemed to take forever, drifted off the original objectives and agenda, and left you none the wiser of what was really achieved? By applying Lean thinking you will never have to have that experience again. Lean meetings give Structure, visibility and with a little discipline have the ability
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The Speed of Improvement 0
- Lean in Practice
- March 29, 2011
In an earlier post I talked about “The Lean Way to Tie Your Shoes” which illustrates the fastest method to tie your shoe. This post highlighted a number of lean lessons for everyone. A similar cleaver video also demonstrates a number of lean lessons. Before you look at the video let’s examine those lessons: 1. Recognition of time
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The Card Factory Video – Teaching our Youth 0
- Lean in Practice
- February 15, 2011
I know Christmas is over but there is still something to learn from making Christmas cards. The following video explains Lean thinking principles from kids making cards for their families. Now this video is not too different than many others that explain the difference between the traditional push and a better pull manufacturing process. But
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Lean Lessons from a Snowstorm 0
- Lean in Practice
- January 31, 2011
In the northeastern part of the US we have received some record snow falls in the last few weeks. All this snow got me thinking on the way home that there are some lean lessons we can take away from these snowstorms. Forecasts are inaccurate. You can only count on actual demand. We have all
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Ten Ways to Show Respect for People 0
- Lean Basics, Lean in Practice, Lean Management
- January 17, 2011
The power behind Lean is a management’s commitment to continuously invest in its people and promote a culture of continuous improvement. The Toyota Way can be briefly summarized through the two pillars that support it: Continuous Improvement and Respect for People. Many companies fall short on respecting their people. Not for lack of effort but
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7 Deadly Sins of Lean Performance Measurement 0
- Lean Basics, Lean in Practice
- December 16, 2010
Michael Hammer wrote a great piece a couple years ago on the 7 sins of performance measurement and how to avoid them. I thought I would review the list in terms of a Lean measurement system. Vanity: Using measures that make a particular organization look good. Measures that are aimed at making the manager look
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