Tips for Lean Managers Archives | Page 4 of 9

Who Sets the Standard?

By Jon Miller - October 29th, 2009

Over the past few weeks I have had several conversations about standard work and who creates it. In each case I find myself trying to dispel one of the most common myths of the Toyota Production System: that the workers themselves crea

MBWA: Management by Watching the Actual

By Jon Miller - October 23rd, 2009

MBWA was briefly a fad when it was known as Management by Walking Around. Supposedly the visibility of management in the workplace as well as the attention by management improved communication and performance. These days we don’t

Seven Essential Qualities of a Lean Leader

By Jon Miller - October 11th, 2009

Profits are on the minds, tongues and priority lists of a lot of people lately. Companies are aggressively managing costs these days. As a result I am sad to see even some avowed lean leaders turning away from the principles and qualit

Aquatic Life Forms and the Lean Organization

By Jon Miller - October 6th, 2009

One of the guiding principles of the lean approach to product and process design, known as the production preparation process (“3P”) is to learn from how nature does things. Nature, said Johannes Kepler, uses as little as p

A Tortoise and a Hare Get Into a Potato Sack…

By Jon Miller - September 24th, 2009

Jamie Flinchbaugh, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean and founder of the Lean Learning Center has been a regular contributor to Lean Assembly magazine, the Lean Blog as well as Evolving Excellence. Now Jamie has his own blo

The Wizard of Oz School of Lean

By Jon Miller - September 17th, 2009

The question is more than a month old (sorry Brian!) so perhaps it’s already been worked out with the client, but it was a good question I would like to address. Brian asked: Can you please share with me your thoughts on implemen

Three Risks of Implementing Lean without Policy Deployment

By Jon Miller - September 13th, 2009

Ideally the goals of each discrete improvement activity are aligned with the goals of the overall improvement program or change deployment framework and this is also aligned with the strategic direction of the business. Unless you are

I’ll Take My Lean with Water, On the Rocks

By Jon Miller - July 27th, 2009

As an archaeology and ancient history buff it’s always exciting when someone discovers the ruins of a lost city. More so when the lost city is found off the coast and under a few meters of water. There is a great deal of history

Three Hoshin Habits for Effective Execution

By Jon Miller - July 20th, 2009

One of the people I most respect as a business leader often repeats the phrase “go slow to go fast”. There is a nearly identical Toyota way principle which states that slow and deliberate planning will speed up execution of

How do You Say “‘No problem,’ is a Problem” in Romanian?

By Jon Miller - July 9th, 2009

A friend of mine recently took a position in an electronics factory in Romania. He sent me an e-mail and the photo above. One day he came in to work to find this sign on his computer. It says “We don’t have a problem, only

The Power of U

By Jon Miller - July 8th, 2009

My Japanese teachers often spoke about making processes flow “like a single brushstroke”. It was and still is a phrase difficult to translate. Often I would mimic picking up a calligraphy brush and sweeping it in a u-shape

What is the Role of a Kaizen Promotion Officer?

By Jon Miller - June 2nd, 2009

Raghavendra asked, “What is the role of a kaizen promotion officer?” I have never been in a kaizen promotion office (KPO) but have worked with and round them for many years. At worst the KPO is a coordination, preparation,

9 Ways to Struggle at Hoshin Kanri

By Jon Miller - May 31st, 2009

Hoshin kanri is what happened when Management by Objectives met TQC. In essence it is the thorough application of the PDCA cycle to the strategy development and execution process. There are some unique aspects to hoshin kanri due to th

Leader Standard Work and Material Control

By Jon Miller - April 27th, 2009

I am taking some time off with the family this week so any posts will be short and less than fully developed. The emerging thought of the day concerns the relationship between leader standard work and material control principles of

12 Leader Standard Work Questions to Ask on the Gemba

By Jon Miller - April 6th, 2009

Many leaders have heard the buzzword, read the book, picked up a pad and pen and headed out to the gemba to go see. Leader standard work is becoming a standard component of lean implementations everywhere. In essence it has always been

Plan Do Czech Act

By Jon Miller - April 5th, 2009

If there are three things I can’t resist they are Creating lists, Teasing the possibilities out of words, and Attempting to inject levity and fun into teaching kaizen. So please forgive the punning title. The factory tours I part

Accountability for Continuous Improvement

By Jon Miller - March 16th, 2009

Last week a reader by the handle of CILean asked Gemba: I have trouble with staff who appear generally supportive of improvement projects and agree with Senior Management on proposed actions but then fail to implement agreed changes an

Porque é que esta água fria?

By Jon Miller - March 2nd, 2009

That is how the sun sets over the Amazon in the evening. But today let’s talk about how the water comes out of the shower in the morning, which is to say cold. When this happens one is faced with three choices: wait until the wat

10 Ways that Kaizen Develops Better Leaders

By Jon Miller - February 15th, 2009

Here are ten ways that kaizen develops better leaders. #1 Attention The leader well-heeled in kaizen notices the small things and is bothered by them if they seem abnormal. They pay attention to details. #2 Vision The practice of kaize

The Lean Workplace as Classroom

By Jon Miller - February 12th, 2009

The the Harvard Business Review article Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System Kent Bowen and Steven Spear describe Toyota as a “community of scientists” based on the their approach to management. Specifically, th

Kaizen Skills of an Operations Leader

By Jon Miller - February 4th, 2009

Stephen Ondoro is a newly appointed operations leader who asked: “I have been chosen as an operations leader yet it has not been clarified as to the role and scope. What kaizen skills do i need to lead my team successfully? Pleas

How to Arrive at the Vital Few

By Jon Miller - February 2nd, 2009

Alex asked a question “How do organizations determine the ‘vital few’? Any small number of activities that have the largest impact in relation to business planning, launching an TPS implementation project or simply ge

The Essential Lean Blogosphere of 2008

By Jon Miller - January 8th, 2009

Welcoming A New Voice As one of the elder statesmen of the lean community, John Shook is an important new voice to join the lean blogosphere in 2008. In this weekly post he takes a deep look at what give Toyota strength and flexibility

Yaruki: The Will to Win Even in Tough Times

By Jon Miller - December 28th, 2008

RC Bhargava, the Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India recounts the story of Maruti Suzuki and how the company overcame several challenges over the past decades by building a team-based management culture. In an India Times article titled Thin

The PIT Factor in Change Management

By Jon Miller - September 14th, 2008

Forwarded from our mail server to my e-mail inbox tonight was a quote from science fiction author Frank Herbert: “The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action.” It se

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