Steve Kane, Author at Gemba Academy

Steve Kane

Steve has a diverse career ranging from being responsible for a large medical device sales territory, plant manager where he leveraged lean methods to drive improvement, and VP Operations at Specialty Silicone Fabricators where he led the lean efforts of the company. He has served on the western region board of The Association for Manufacturing Excellence and has worked with the Michigan Lean Learning Consortium and the California Central Coast Lean Forum.

81 Articles

Following Their Moral Compass

By Steve Kane - April 28th, 2017

By Steve Kane As an aviation enthusiast and airplane pilot, I take an interest in pretty much all kinds of flying. YouTube provides seemingly endless entertainment for people like me. I recently started watching lots of videos on p

Getting Executive Buy-In

By Steve Kane - March 24th, 2017

A common struggle in the lean community is the perception that if senior leadership doesn’t drive lean, then the rest of the organization can’t be lean. As Masaaki Imai put it, the three most important requirements in em

McProcess

By Steve Kane - February 17th, 2017

I recently saw the movie “The Founder”— the story of Ray Kroc and the McDonald’s empire. The movie does a good job of illustrating what one can do with the right opportunity, enough drive, and a lot of moral flexibility. We’l

How Do I Teach My Team?

By Steve Kane - January 20th, 2017

I like to think that a large part of a leader’s job is to teach, coach, mentor and inspire. And, working for people who do this well is often a great experience. The trouble is that there is typically little, if any, training

Facing the Firing Squad

By Steve Kane - December 16th, 2016

By Steve Kane I recently had the opportunity to watch a value stream mapping training event in an administrative process. These types of events are enjoyable for me because I always learn something new. The lesson learned th

Lean Virtual Collaboration

By Steve Kane - November 18th, 2016

By Steve Kane In my previous role in the medical device manufacturing industry I was involved in Job Instruction and Job Relations. Both were incredibly valuable to the organization. A few months ago Gemba Academy took on the proje

Lean Lessons from Tough Mudder

By Steve Kane - October 21st, 2016

By Steve Kane May 2016 I had the bright idea that I’d register for the Michigan Tough Mudder Mud Run, then find a way to get in shape (ready, fire, aim). I had seen ads and social media posts from finishers and thought t

Protect the Process

By Steve Kane - September 16th, 2016

This article is a continuation of the series based on best practices from the Gemba Academy community. Part 1: Don’t Let Perfect Get in the Way of Good Part 2: Create a Learning Path It’s easy to get consumed with KP

Create a Learning Path

By Steve Kane - August 19th, 2016

This article is a continuation of the series based on best practices from the Gemba Academy community: Part 1: Don’t let perfect get in the way of good Part 2: Create a Learning Path Lean, for many organizations, involves transfo

Don’t Let Perfection Get In the Way of Progress

By Steve Kane - July 15th, 2016

The Gemba Academy team is in a great position to interact with many lean practitioners around the world. With a thousand or so subscribing organizations and presumably hundreds of thousands of Gemba Academy users, we’re able to see

Safety In Numbers: What Message Are We Sending?

By Steve Kane - June 17th, 2016

Guest contribution by Jamie Parker “Don’t tell the team. I don’t want to be the reason our number goes back to zero.” These are the words a front-line team member shared with her plant manager after sustaining an injury. You se

A Supervisor’s Strategy to Make Lean Stick

By Steve Kane - May 20th, 2016

By Steve Kane Michelle Trejo is a production supervisor for Specialty Silicone Fabricators, Inc. in Paso Robles, California. She believes in Lean and she believes in her people. Michelle has many leadership successes to her credit.

Inspiring a Bias for Action

By Steve Kane - April 15th, 2016

Jamie Parker practices Lean and is passionate about learning and sharing Lean leadership. She has 15 years’ experience in operations management / leadership across retail, service, and manufacturing environments. Jamie serves as

More Than Metrics

By Steve Kane - March 18th, 2016

By Steve Kane I’ve had some conversations recently about what a successful lean journey looks like. Of course, we talked about key performance indicators and monitoring metrics. As the saying goes, not everything that can be coun

Say No

By Steve Kane - February 19th, 2016

By Steve Kane I’ve recently committed to more short-term responsibilities in and out of work than I should have. We’ve all be in this situation before, leaving ourselves with insufficient time to meet all the demands we’ve put

The Only Genuine Knowledge Is That of Actual Experience

By Steve Kane - January 15th, 2016

“The only genuine knowledge is that of actual experience.” ~ Chinese proverb Training is a big part of lean transformation. Countless hours and dollars are spent in training rooms, seminars, and classrooms every year. It’s comm

Happy Winter Solstice

By Steve Kane - December 18th, 2015

By Steve Kane I always enjoy the holiday season. Not only because of the holidays themselves, but also because of the renewed energy I get from ending one year and beginning another. This is the time to reflect on the year that was

5 Thoughts On Dealing With Leadership Resistance

By Steve Kane - November 20th, 2015

By Steve Kane Gemba Academy recently conducted a one-question survey. The question was “What are you struggling with on your continuous improvement journey?” The most common response was related to dealing with leadership resistanc

Improvement Through Personal Fulfillment

By Steve Kane - October 16th, 2015

By Steve Kane Tony Robbins is well known for his motivational speaking, books, interviews and articles. A consistent theme in his work is the six human needs. 1. Certainty: assurance you can avoid pain and gain pleasure 2. Uncertaint

Standard Work Saved a Company

By Steve Kane - September 18th, 2015

By Steve Kane I’ve been an aviation enthusiast most of my life. I started flying sailplanes a couple of years ago and recently transitioned to power planes. The first lesson in flying is an introduction to standard work—specifical

Aerofit Fittings - Courtesy of Aerofit.com

AeroFit’s Factory Improvement Team

By Steve Kane - August 21st, 2015

Chris Ferrier, Manufacturing Engineer with AeroFit, was challenged to increase production on a manufacturing line by one part per hour. While this might sound easy, making it happen isn’t. AeroFit makes fluid fittings for aer

What’s This Thing Called Lean?

By Steve Kane - July 17th, 2015

By Steve Kane My introduction to lean occurred many years ago while working in the motorcycle business. I went to work for a BMW Motorcycles dealer in California as a parts and accessories specialist. My job was to sell cool motor

How Do You Fight A Fire With A Garden Hose?

By Steve Kane - June 19th, 2015

By Steve Kane Many years ago, I was visiting a friend’s house in Southern California. It was a 1950’s ranch style house with a straight walkway from the street to the door. There was a tall palm tree where the walkway met the s

What Do You Demonstrate and What Do You Tolerate?

By Steve Kane - May 8th, 2015

By Steve Kane I attended the AME Regional Conference in Denver last week and had some great conversations with Lean practitioners from a wide variety of organizations. It seems the topic of discussion in Lean circles has gravitated a

Showered With Creativity

By Steve Kane - April 17th, 2015

By Steve Kane I spent the this week working from the Gemba Academy studios in Fort Worth, Texas. During my visit the subject of overburdening came up a couple of times:once in discussion with Gemba Academy’s business developmen

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