More Than Metrics

By Steve Kane • March 18, 2016 • 0 Comments

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 counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted. Several years ago I

The Only Genuine Knowledge Is That of Actual Experience

By Steve Kane • January 15, 2016 • 1 Comment

“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 common for people to be trained on a new way of doing things only for

Happy Winter Solstice

By Steve Kane • December 18, 2015 • 1 Comment

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 and contemplate the year that will be.

5 Thoughts On Dealing With Leadership Resistance

By Steve Kane • November 20, 2015 • 1 Comment

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 resistance or reluctance. It was abundantly clear from the survey results that many people deal with the

Improvement Through Personal Fulfillment

By Steve Kane • October 16, 2015 • 0 Comments

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. Uncertainty/Variety: the need for the unknown, change, new stimuli 3. Significance: feeling

Standard Work Saved a Company

By Steve Kane • September 18, 2015 • 0 Comments

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—specifically, the preflight checklist. Like many forms of standard work, the preflight checklist came

AeroFit’s Factory Improvement Team

By Steve Kane • August 21, 2015 • 1 Comment

By Steve Kane 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 aerospace and other high tech applications. Increasing production by even a small amount without adding

What’s This Thing Called Lean?

By Steve Kane • July 17, 2015 • 3 Comments

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 motorcycle stuff to motorcyclists. I thought this was perfect because I

It’s Not Supposed To Hurt

By Steve Kane • February 10, 2015 • 1 Comment

By Steve Kane Getting Started I bought a road bicycle a few years ago for physical fitness. It seemed to be the most enjoyable and least painful form of exercise that I could do from home on a daily basis. Riding, or spinning as cyclists call it, can be a

One Piece Flow versus Mass Production

By Ron Pereira • February 18, 2008 • 80 Comments

In this video we watch the traditional “mass production” manufacturing technique square off against the lean “one piece flow” methodology. Have a watch to see who wins! This is my first attempt at making a video like this. I must admit, talking into a camera is much harder than pressing