The Dark Side of Lean Archives

You Want Me to Do What!?!

By Steve Kane - August 24th, 2018

I coach a variety of teams in diverse industries in the area of continuous improvement. A common struggle is overcoming an obstacle that is often perceived as resistance to change. Improvement is Inherent Change for the better s

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

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

Monitoring Agency Revises Date for Peak Lean

By Jon Miller - October 19th, 2011

October 19, 2011 Brussels (AP) One of the world’s leading efficiency trends monitoring agency, the Organization of Practitioners in Lean Enterprise Advancement and Sustainability (OPLEAS) issued a statement today revising the exp

The Business Complexity Accelerator at Toyota

By Jon Miller - April 1st, 2010

There was an interesting article in the Knowledge@Wharton newsletter today. Wharton management professor John Paul MacDuffie interviewed Toyota expert, author and Tokyo University Professor Takahiro Fujimoto. The piece is called Under

Kaizen Goes Kaput? Not So Fast

By Jon Miller - February 13th, 2010

In recent weeks there have been many articles purporting to put the finger on the cause for Toyota’s quality troubles. Most of them are solution-jumping and not worthy of further exposure or response. I felt compelled to address

Toyota’s Mom & Pop Suppliers Feel CCC21 Squeeze

By Jon Miller - August 14th, 2008

Just on the heels of praising Toyota’s supply chain strategy while chiding Boeing’s I came across some articles from earlier this year that give quite a different picture of being a Toyota supplier. “Best in the World

The Secret Lives of Toyota Term Employees, Episode 6

By Jon Miller - January 31st, 2008

Tomorrow is Creative Idea Suggestion Submission Day What happens after a term employee at Toyota becomes a regular employee? Is this the happy ending when the assembly line workers finally feel the warm embrace of President Watanabe? D

The Secret Lives of Toyota Term Employees, Episode 5

By Jon Miller - January 7th, 2008

Do you live with the fear that your job may be gone tomorrow? Toyota group company workers do, according to an article titled Growing Reliance on Temps Holds Back Japan’s Rebound in the Wall Street Journal on January 7, 2008. The

The Secret Lives of Toyota Term Employees, Episode 4

By Jon Miller - December 13th, 2007

Somehow, I Will Get through This Week I have been reluctant to post Episode 4 in the Secret Lives of Toyota Term Employees because the continuing story of the Tahara plant worker Maruo is so bleak. Last week Kevin Meyer at the Evolving

The Secret Lives of Toyota Term Employees, Episode 3

By Jon Miller - September 14th, 2007

The Road to Tahara Prison A Toyota term employee and blogger named Maruo wrote 72 posts over 4 months on his experience working at the Tahara plant. His blog is called Welcome to Tahara Prison (田原刑務所へようこそ). He signe

The Secret Lives of Toyota Term Employees, Episode 2

By Jon Miller - September 6th, 2007

How to Pass the Term Employee Job Interview at Toyota The website “The New – Ask the Term Laborer Porsche” (新・期間工ポルシェに訊け) offers a fascinating glimpse into the secret lives of Toyota term emplo

The Secret Lives of Toyota Term Employees, Episode 1

By Jon Miller - August 26th, 2007

Kaizen and respect for people. These are the words under which Toyota presents itself as a company that builds cars by building people. Yet this is the ideal, and we know that there is always a gap between reality and the ideal. What i

Tell Us Your Lean Failure Stories

By Jon Miller - August 6th, 2007

Recently one of our consultants came back from a sales call having received the question from our prospective client “When has your firm failed in consulting engagements? Tell us your Lean failure stories.” Not having serve

Toyota Number One in the World… in Recalls?

By Jon Miller - May 22nd, 2007

Not two days after imploring everyone to do kaizen like Toyota, we’re reminded that no matter how good you are at lean manufacturing, kaizen, and continuous improvement, if you focus too much on eliminating muda (waste) while ign

Layoffs, Strategy and the Bimodal Hump

By Jon Miller - April 6th, 2007

If you haven’t exercised your neck muscles lately, read the first few paragraphs of the article Short-Circuited: Cutting Jobs as Corporate Strategy and shake your head in disbelief as you scratch Circuit City off of your shopping

Lean Healthcare Plumbs New Depths at ?? Hospital

By Jon Miller - August 14th, 2006

The news from Jean’s workplace, where consultants have been giving Lean healthcare a bad name, has gotten worse. Jean writes: I think we, as a staff are beginning to feel like chicken pluckers in the Golden Plump Place where Fast

When did Toyota Get to be a Company Like This?

By Jon Miller - August 2nd, 2006

Toyota does not sell cars because people crave their sleek design or because the Camry is a status symbol. People buy and drive Toyotas because they are reliable and they have a high resale value. They are well-built and reasonably pri

Giving Lean Healthcare a Bad Name

By Jon Miller - June 5th, 2006

We’re giving Lean healthcare a bad name in Jean’s world. Jean is a nurse at a hospital where Lean healthcare practices based on the Toyota Production System are being implemented. At Jean’s hospital, it sounds like they a

Five Practical Ways to Stay on the Sunny Side of Lean

By Jon Miller - May 12th, 2006

It’s not easy to read so much about the dark side of Lean. I’ve received e-mails this week from readers who are upset that I would post attacks on Lean manufacturing and kaizen. It’s no fun to learn terrible things about your fav

Interview with Darius Mehri, Author of “Notes from Toyota-land”

By Jon Miller - May 11th, 2006

Today we continue exploring the dark side of Lean as we interview Darius Mehri, author of Notes from Toyota-land. Darius is an American who spent three years working as an engineer in Japan at a Toyota group company. He changed the nam

Juxtaposition of an efficient assembly line and stressed workers

Lean Production Does Not Respect People

By Jon Miller - May 10th, 2006

Many of those exposing the dark side of Lean production take aim at “Lean production” as defined in the book The Machine that Changed the World. This book compares the Japanese and U.S. automotive industries and identifies best pra

Kanban cards in a flow with people represented on the cards

Human Kanban

By Jon Miller - May 9th, 2006

Kanban is a material and information flow management tool. They are typically cards attached to containers of parts. The cards contain information about the parts and these cards are reused, traveling with parts. Kanban are used to con

War, Oil and Lean Production

By Jon Miller - May 8th, 2006

Each day this week we will examine aspects of The Dark Side of Lean. Today’s theme is “War, Oil and Lean Production” – admittedly an extreme Left perspective based on Marxist thought and the examination of a murder-suicide at a

How to Give Lean Manufacturing a Bad Name

By Jon Miller - January 18th, 2006

One way that is almost guaranteed to stop a Lean manufacturing effort in its tracks is for management to announce that Lean manufacturing will be used to eliminate jobs. It’s hard to believe that anyone still does this, but the p

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