Tips for Lean Managers Archives | Page 8 of 22

No Excuses, Respect for People and Finishing Strong

By Jon Miller - November 19th, 2009

We often make excuses about why we can’t do something, whether it’s solve a problem, improve our situation or just get things done. My friend Róbert shared an inspiring video of a speech by Nick Vujicic. Nick is a man with

The 5 Universal Laws of Gemba Management

By Jon Miller - November 2nd, 2009

When we say something is “not rocket science” we mean that it is not hard to figure out or to do. If managing people were as easy as rocket science I am sure a rocket scientist would have figured it out by now. Groups of pe

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

Tips for Lean Managers

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