Lean Archives | Page 21 of 68

What Is a Lean Daily Management System?

By Ron Pereira - August 7th, 2020

If you’ve been practicing lean for any amount of time you’ve likely heard about gemba walks, leader standard work, and obeya. To be sure, as individual lean tools and concepts they’re powerful. But, when you combine

GA 331 | Leading and Learning at Toyota with Katie Anderson

By Jessica Bush - August 6th, 2020

This week’s guest is Katie Anderson. Ron and Katie discussed Katie’s new book, the roles of a leader, joy versus happiness, and much more. Katie also shared some special stories about esteemed Toyota leaders like Isao Yos

What’s in the Continuous Improvement Attic?

By Jon Miller - August 3rd, 2020

Whether we’re talking about houses, management systems, or vacation plans, it’s almost always a good idea to build from the foundation up. Even when we think we already have a firm foundation, it’s worth checking befo

GA 330 | The Power of 3P with Adam Lawrence

By Jessica Bush - July 30th, 2020

This week’s guest is Adam Lawrence. Ron and Adam talked all about 3P, including the steps involved and how it can be used for product innovation. Adam also shared a very interesting anecdote involving cat litter, corn flakes, and

Where to Start with the Daily Management System?

By Jon Miller - July 27th, 2020

Where do we start? This is one of the most common questions people ask throughout the continuous improvement journey. This is true not only at the very beginning but also at various stages. The word “continuous” is misleadi

Team Learning vs. Individual Learning

By Steve Kane - July 24th, 2020

Gemba Academy has been helping people gain proficiency in Lean and Six Sigma through Green Belt and Black Belt certification courses for several years. These certification courses have always included one-on-one coaching via phone or v

GA 329 | Gathering Lean Stories with Dewey Mauldin

By Jessica Bush - July 23rd, 2020

This week’s guest is Dewey Mauldin. Dewey, who works for Daimler Trucks, shared some of the experiences that have stuck with him over the years. Dewey specifically touches on takt time, purchase processes, and more. A MP3 audio v

How to Think about Zero

By Jon Miller - July 20th, 2020

For the past few months, businesses have grappled with the question of how to operate without its employees, customers and suppliers breathing the same air. As we enter the summer, professional sports leagues must figure out how it wil

Measurement System & Sampling Horror Stories

By Ron Pereira - July 17th, 2020

Yesterday, during our weekly Black Belt coaching call I was talking to my friend Joni (hope it’s ok to mention you, Joni!) about the importance of sampling and measurement systems. As some folks know – especially those I

Infographic: Lean Best Practices for the Remote Team

By Kevin Meyer - July 16th, 2020

Feel free to save and share this infographic we created on lean best practices for the remote team! Some tips for continuing to be effective during and after COVID while working from home.

GA 328 | Lean in Hospitality with Aaron Davidson

By Jessica Bush - July 16th, 2020

This week’s guest is Aaron Davidson. Aaron explained how he and his team use lean in the hospitality industry, including some unique examples involving cleaning hotel rooms, gambling, and more. A MP3 audio version of this episode

5S and Five More Working from Home Hacks

By Jon Miller - July 13th, 2020

For many knowledge workers it looks like working from home may be here to stay for a while. Some have found that working from home has improved productivity, due to time saved not commuting or other reasons. For others, the home enviro

GA 327 | Continuous Improvement and Humanitarianism with Andrew Parris

By Jessica Bush - July 9th, 2020

This week’s guest is Andrew Parris. Andrew, who works for an NGO called Medair, explained how continuous improvement can be used in a humanitarian context. The global component Andrew discusses proves how versatile these principl

When Customer-Supplier Partnerships… Aren’t

By Kevin Meyer - July 3rd, 2020

Many years ago I wrote about how many companies were trying to get a one-time boost in working capital by extending their purchasing terms from typical net-30 to net-90 and even net-120. In some cases they were even partnering with b

GA 326 | Lean and Law in the UK with Adam Marsland

By Jessica Bush - July 2nd, 2020

This week’s guest is Adam Marsland. Adam, a Continuous Improvement Expert at a law firm, explained how lean is being leveraged in the legal industry in the UK. Adam also gave an overall “state of the union address” on

Six-Month Reflection Questions, Adjusted

By Jon Miller - June 29th, 2020

I’m in the habit of looking back every six months, asking myself a few questions, and setting intentions for the future. In Lean terminology this is known as reflection, or hansei. January through June 2020 will go down in histor

GA 325 | Lean in the Non-Profit Sector with Lauren Wisniewski

By Jessica Bush - June 25th, 2020

This week’s guest is Lauren Wisniewski. Lauren shared her experiences helping non-profits incorporate lean, including the benefits and barriers they encounter. This episode is a great example of how lean applies to more than just

Better Problem Solving with Empathy Maps

By Jon Miller - June 22nd, 2020

Maybe things have always been this way. But it seems like we are increasingly shouting at each other rather than working things out. How should we respond to a pandemic? How can we revive the economy? What to do about police brutality?

Pivotal Hubris Moments – Architecting, Detecting, or Preventing Your Demise

By Jessica Bush - June 19th, 2020

The following article was written for Gemba Academy by Mohamed Saleh, PhD Do you ever look back at an event and think, “Oh, there are so many things that I would have done differently? If only I would have known what I know now while

GA 324 | From Software Engineers to Face Shield Manufacturers with Radek Pietruszewski

By Jessica Bush - June 18th, 2020

This week’s guest is Radek Pietruszewski. To help fight COVID-19 in Poland, Radek and his software engineering colleagues figured out how to quickly manufacture thousands of face shields. He and Ron discussed the details of this

Towards Non-scale Management

By Jon Miller - June 15th, 2020

People think Taiichi Ohno’s book Toyota Production is about TPS. It’s not. It’s even arguable whether he ever envisioned the Toyota method as a system or set out to build one. There is no native word in Japanese for &

Respect for Humanity: To Be Lean or Not to Be, That Is the Question

By Jessica Bush - June 12th, 2020

The following article was written for Gemba Academy by Mohamed Saleh, PhD Many of us grew up admiring figures like Gandhi, King Arthur, Michael Jordan, figures of faith, and our own parents for how they inspired us. They gathered follo

GA 323 | Pivoting From Furniture to Personal Protective Equipment with Jeff Kaas

By Jessica Bush - June 11th, 2020

This week’s guest is Jeff Kaas. Jeff explained how Kaas Tailored went from making furniture to making PPE in response to COVID-19. Jeff also shared some of the mistakes they’ve made, including reverting to batch production.

Lean Thinking for Solving Systemic Problems

By Jon Miller - June 8th, 2020

People are marching worldwide in protest of police violence. They are demanding wide-ranging changes to law enforcement and criminal justice. This is bringing the systemic problem of institutional racism into mainstream consciousness.

GA 322 | Tailoring the Kata Model with James Newell

By Jessica Bush - June 4th, 2020

This week’s guest is James Newell. Ron and James explored the ways James has tailored the kata model to better suit different teams and industries. A MP3 audio version of this episode is available for download here. In this episo

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