Lean thinking, green thinking
Isao Yoshino, of Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn fame, once told us: “There is no secret to Toyota – we are just serious, that is all.” With all the noise about the environment, it’s hard to think this important […]
-
-
Start with product takt time
Michael Ballé, Eivind Reke, and Yu-Hsiu Josh Hung Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) is arguably the most impactful aspect of Lean Thinking. After all, product development is where customer value is created: why should customers choose your product over […]
-
To succeed with lean you can’t side step learning
On the long train trip back from the gemba yesterday evening, a consultant next to me was checking his slides on the “management culture transformation” program he was selling. I couldn’t help myself from sneaking a peek: it had it […]
-
Why I believe in lean thinking
There are stormy days ahead. The climate forces we’ve woken up will be slow and unstoppable, triggering both natural and human catastrophes. We know that. We don’t know what and when – or how we’ll react. Rather than live with […]
-
Design your lean business model on growing your customer base
To enter the world of lean you must first change your mind about a fundamental assumption of how to measure the value of a company. A company’s value is not, as financiers would have it, a monetary multiple of its […]
-
The Helping Organization
“Look at their eyes!” I remember one of my senseis trying to explain to me standard work. “Look at their hands. Look at their feet.” I was watching an operator on a line, pen and paper in hand, with a […]
-
The thinking roots of lean thinking
What are the roots of lean? Some people have it going back to the arsenal in Venice, which I was fortunate to visit, but then again, most of industry probably comes from there. Others see the Gilbreths, Taylor and co. […]
-
Success starts with the continuity of customer satisfaction
People expect things to work, every day, before all else. Bosses, however, expect their staff to follow orders, before all else. Whatever your job is, don’t get fooled in thinking that success is defined by your boss’ approval. Bosses change, […]
-
Bad Boss Self-Check
“I don’t have time for this stuff!” How many times have you heard yourself think that as people let you down or get stuck on the simplest problems, as they get overwhelmed by the epidemic and/or their confinement? There is […]
-
The false hope of silver bullets
Have you wondered: am I infected without symptoms? Am I contaminating others unknowingly? Years of gemba walks in hospitals have left this typically hypochondriac author with memories of irrationally leaving shoes on the doormat, carefully stripping, putting all clothes in […]
