Michael Ballé: To bring on board: go to the gemba to engage, frame and give the right incentives! By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Tuesday, May 19, 2015

In most organizations I know, executive leadership and middle-management have very different perspectives and mindsets: Executive leadership aims to change things in order to get better, mostly financial results – higher sales, better profit, etc. Middle-management is focused on maintaining the status quo in order to make things run on a daily basis Most work-level employees just hope to get through the day without being blamed, which is no easy ...

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Jeff Liker: Top leaders must go to the gemba to develop leadership in their middle-managers By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Saturday, May 9, 2015

The differences between top and middle management are not only in “developing a lean enterprise,” but they are in different positions in all regards. Let’s start with the assumption that a lean transformation is underway because the company is not already lean. In a traditional organization the top is responsible for results, usually to someone else like owners or a board of directors. They are looking at the enterprise level ...

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Lean Frontiers: Are they differences in getting middle management on board from getting executive management support? By Lean Frontiers, - Last updated: Saturday, May 9, 2015

Jeff Liker: The challenge is to change our thinking and we have learned that this is done by changing behavior By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Monday, April 13, 2015

As Jim Huntzinger notes the question is really about behavior change, which is related to a change in our thinking. There was a reason Womack and Jones called their book Lean Thinking. Lean thinking is a broad concept. It starts with a long-term perspective. Lean leaders believe in their bones that the pathway to building an excellent organization is rooted in developing people. What people ...

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Jim Huntzinger: Each generation matters in sustained behavior change By Jim Huntzinger, - Last updated: Monday, April 13, 2015

Another aspect which most organizations fail to consider, let alone take action upon or develop the infrastructure to achieve, is a succession plan. This holds true for this particular question. The responses thus far, I believe, have this somewhat embedded in their responses on how to deal with undoing traditional management behavior and developing behavior of a lean manager, but organizations also, and definitely for longer term success, ...

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Ask the behavior change experts, not the lean experts By Jon Miller, - Last updated: Thursday, April 9, 2015

The question "How do you undo traditional management behaviors to change to behavior as a lean manager?" is an important one for the success of lean endeavors. However this is not really a question for lean experts. This is a question for behavior change experts. Lean experts can (although we rarely do) attempt to define a set of agreed lean behaviors, but it is not our place to explain how ...

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Michael Ballé: Go to the gemba to learn to learn By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Monday, April 6, 2015

Can we talk about behavior without talking about intent first? Mainstream management theory was born out of applying bureaucratic behavior (in the noblest sense) to business. Bureaucracy was a XIXth century effort to balancer aristocratic behavior (my every whim has to be obeyed, or else...) with rational behavior: a hierarchy of goals pursued by a hierarchy of actions. A manager in the food chain gets instructions from higher up, figures ...

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Jeff Liker: How a Toyota leader defines Lean Leadership! By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Thursday, April 2, 2015

I heard one of the better definitions of a lean leader from one of the Presidents of the Toyota Technical Center, Mr. Yamashina, and I published it in The Toyota Way: Always keep the final target in mind Clearly assign tasks to yourself and others Think and speak based on verified, proven information and data Take full advantage ...

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Steven Spear: Accelerated learning of what to do and how to do it By Steven Spear, - Last updated: Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Certain organizations “punch above their weight,” generating far more value (that accrues to everybody, not just customers or just shareholders, etc.), faster, and more easily. This despite them having access to the same technical, financial, and human resources as all their counterparts——and thereby enjoying the same advantages and suffering the same constraints.(1) The difference? They know much better what to do and ...

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Karen Martin: Realizing there is space for change By Karen Martin, - Last updated: Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Interesting question (especially the first one) and one that all consultants and internal improvement leaders wrestle with (or should be wrestling with). In my experience, any type of personal behavior change starts with awareness that the current behavior may not be the most effective choice to yield whatever result is desired. Getting clear on the target condition is key. Then identify the gap and root causes for it. Then ...

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Lean Frontiers: How do you undo traditional management behaviors to change to behavior as a lean manager? By Lean Frontiers, - Last updated: Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Mark Graban: The focus should be on improvement, in a balanced set of measures, not just a single number By Mark Graban, - Last updated: Thursday, February 26, 2015

Percent value-added is an interesting thing to measure in a process or a value stream, but we have to be careful putting too much emphasis on that metric. Let's say I am managing an optometrist clinic where the average appointment length is 60 minutes. There are three value adding steps: 1) the assistant doing an initial exam, 2) a machine that does an eye check, and 3) the optometrist exam. Those ...

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Jean Cunningham: More than before and less than it will be in the future By Jean Cunningham, - Last updated: Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Percentage of value add for a process should be more than before and less than it will be in the future. Continuously improving toward the customer need. Constantly creating an environment where all people in the process are thinking and experimenting on ways to improve. Celebrating the improvements you have made and anticipating improvements to come. Ensuring the use of the trilogy of business management tools: Strategic Deployment, cross functional process improvement, and ...

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Karen Martin: Begin where you’re at, seek 50% gains with every improvement, and never stop By Karen Martin, - Last updated: Tuesday, February 10, 2015

It truly does depend on the setting, industry, etc. In manufacturing production, there's no reason to not get well above 50%. In offices, 40% starts being respectable unless the org has implemented cross-functional work cells, technology solutions, sustainable pull systems, work segmentation, etc. (Most pre-improvement office value streams hover in the 5-10% range.) In many patient care settings, you can get above 50% fairly easily. Bottom line: Begin where you're at, seek 50% gains with every ...

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Tracey Richardson: A good goal to start with is a 70% value add process By Tracey Richardson, - Last updated: Monday, February 9, 2015

In the past several months I have had this question come up actually in different industries. So how should one determine or "calculate" value add percentage within a process (micro)? This can be subjective depending upon what you are measuring and how, but I know, based on my Japanese sensei's, you can weave through a process and determine its value add and non value add content/percentages if ...

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The Lean Edge: What should be the target value-add percentage in a process? By The Lean Edge, - Last updated: Monday, February 9, 2015

Jon Miller: Value-added Percentage, and other Parlor Tricks By Jon Miller, - Last updated: Monday, February 9, 2015

"What should be the target value-add percentage in a process?" This is a very interesting question. Oddly, value is one of the least discussed and understood topics in lean. Perhaps this is because there is so much good that can be done simply by tackling the vast amounts of obvious waste in most of our organizations and processes. Even a poor definition of value is good enough, as long as it ...

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Peter Handlinger: Warm heart, cool mind By Peter Handlinger, - Last updated: Thursday, November 13, 2014

The previous posts have clearly given a good framework around which to establish a basic set of competencies. I would like to add that any person moving into a ‘facilitating’ role needs to exhibit what I call a ‘warm heart, cool mind’ behavioural pattern. The reasoning for this is simply that the overriding mission/purpose for anyone in a Kaizen Promotion Office is to develop people (as opposed to showing off ...

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Karen Martin: Technical proficiency and leadership acumen – can you nail the problem statement first time right? By Karen Martin, - Last updated: Wednesday, November 12, 2014

This is a great question and one that nags at me a lot. However, instead of answering the question directly, I’d like to share some fodder for considering whether a KPO is an effective structure for supporting Lean transformation. I’ll begin by sharing some real-world experience… At the Lean Coaching Summit in July, I had the opportunity to watch over 100 people attempt problem solving (one workshop and two extended ...

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Mark Graban: hiring inexperienced employees for the Kaizen Promotion Office is a recipe for failure By Mark Graban, - Last updated: Sunday, November 9, 2014

The other posts answering this question have made me reflect a bit on a troubling trend in healthcare: hospitals far too often filling their KPOs (or process improvement departments) with very inexperienced employees. They are often inexperienced with or brand new to Lean and/or they are also new to healthcare. I'll go out on a limb and say that this is a recipe for failure. What NOT to do is to ...

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Jeff Liker: Strong coaches are there to develop internal leaders and coaches By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Sunday, November 9, 2014

Building on what Tracey said, think of the process of getting to be in a TPS promotion role at Toyota as a funnel with many people applying, a smaller number selected to join the company, and then a winnowing based on performance inside Toyota. People are coached and also watched carefully to understand their strengths and weaknesses. They are given opportunities to build on their strengths and overcome ...

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Tracey Richardson: A checklist of key competences to have the right people in the right place at the right time By Tracey Richardson, - Last updated: Sunday, November 9, 2014

I like the question and I will try to answer from a duo perspective. One being a person who was hired and developed under specific competencies at Toyota and secondly through the lens of the trainer/leader. You know I think its important to not only look at how you promote into a KPO position but also what is the filtering process to bring team members into ...

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Joel Stanwood: Key competencies to hire a team leader for the Kaizen Promotion Office? By Joel Stanwood, - Last updated: Sunday, November 9, 2014

Michael Ballé: Visual control as a technique and visual management as a system are essential to lean practice By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Saturday, November 8, 2014

Overall, I suspect we collectively underestimated the importance of visual control. Back in the day, many of the questions I remember from Toyota sensei where about: is this situation normal or abnormal? How can we tell? As a movement, I believe we have correctly spotted the emphasis on problem solving, but maybe not so much problem finding and problem facing – what Tracey told me Toyota calls problem awareness: how can ...

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Dave Meier: Make visual what matters! By Lean Frontiers, - Last updated: Tuesday, October 28, 2014

When I was at Toyota we called visual management the “visual factory.” I never really heard visual control or visual management (or it was just another way of saying what we did) until after I left Toyota. It didn’t really matter what we called it as long as we understood what it meant. I think maybe the term “control” was a bit offensive to people and it was softened to visual ...

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Tracey Richardson: Visual control is micro, visual management macro By Tracey Richardson, - Last updated: Tuesday, October 21, 2014

I will answer your question regarding visual control versus management based on how some of my Japanese trainers, coordinators and leaders articulated it to me and how I personally practiced it during my time at the TMMK plant in hourly and salary positions. This question comes up all the time and it can turn into semantics very easily, similar to asking someone what are the 5S's. I ...

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Peter Handlinger: Visual is the key – 70% of our sense receptors are dedicated to vision By Peter Handlinger, - Last updated: Monday, October 20, 2014

To me it is less a question about whether it is 'visual management' or 'visual control' but more about the 'visual' component. Dealing with the semantics of management versus control, if pushed, I would liken the 'control' to a closure of the feedback loop of an activity whereas the 'management' component a broader description of the tools used and more importantly what one does with them (Jon, Jeff and Samuel have given great explanations of this ...

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Steve Spear: All tools are based on key capabilities By Steven Spear, - Last updated: Monday, October 20, 2014

In answering the question about the use of particular tools, it helps to anchor in the fundamentals first and then elaborate on the use of tools in pursuit of those fundamentals second. In engineering, for instance, we start with Newtonian mechanics and then introduce tools like finite element analysis for testing the integrity of structures, or we introduce concepts of feedback and control before introducing matlab and other tools for simulation. ...

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Sammy Obara: visualize normal from abnormal and target problem solving By Samuel Obara, - Last updated: Monday, October 20, 2014

I agree and think that there may be subtle differences (or similarities) between visual control and visual management. But the second question on floor management development system and its role, can be better explained by what Toyota calls the 4 phases of FMDS. Visual Management is the entirety of phase 3: Visualization of abnormalities and target problem solving. The official name for phase 3 is just “Visual Management”. ...

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Jeff Liker: Visual control means displayed information is acted on By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Sunday, October 19, 2014

Often we talk about the difference between visual displays and visual control.  Visual displays mean information is shown, while visual control means information is acted on.   One type of visual is the metric board where we represent the actual versus target, another is the andon which physically warns us of an out of standard condition, while a third type is a physical indicator of the state of the operation versus standard ...

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Jon Miller: Visual Management, Visual Control and Shop Floor Management? By Jon Miller, - Last updated: Sunday, October 19, 2014

The question from an aeronautics COO is "How do you explain the difference between visual management and visual control and what is the role of shop floor management in it?" I spent some years as a Japanese-English translator as well as interpreter. In some ways I feel it is my duty to go back through the entire vocabulary of lean and right the wrongs due to poor translation, for they are ...

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Is there a difference between visual management and visual control? By The Lean Edge, - Last updated: Sunday, October 19, 2014

Tracey Richardson: Every termination is a failure By Tracey Richardson, - Last updated: Wednesday, August 6, 2014

This is always an interesting topic to discuss, because there are so many contributing factors weaving us through an exhausting web to find the actual root cause(s).    I remember a story during my time at the TMMK plant years ago, I will leave names and specifics out to protect the innocent. A higher level leader had all his ducks in a row to terminate a person after several failed attempts ...

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Peter Handlinger: Set the expectation every one must train others By Peter Handlinger, - Last updated: Monday, August 4, 2014

Other than having a good look at the practice of recruitment and succession planning criteria it is assumed that this person is already in the position. Clearly incompetence is not going to benefit the business or, in the longer term, the incumbent so the short answer is clear - remove. But before this process is establish it might be an idea to go back to basics and have a look at these measures (I know they ...

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Michael Ballé: Talk to them until they change or leave By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Sunday, August 3, 2014

Difficult question, and I’m not sure I have answer. I guess the place to start is clarify what “competent” means. To my mind, a competent person: Agrees on basic job role and responsibilities: not always obvious, for instance, the salesperson in a company I know considers his role is to respond to request for quotations from customers, whereas his CEO would like to see him do some cold calling as well. ...

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Karen Martin: Sit down with resisters and ask “Why?” By Karen Martin, - Last updated: Sunday, August 3, 2014

I'm with Orry re: the "mandate Lean" message. And I've never seen a large-scale transformation where one of the senior leaders simply couldn't get on the bus and needed to find a new home. However, there are all types of resistance for all types of reasons. And "mandating" can be done with finesse, reason, data, etc. or it can be heavy-handed, command-and-control, etc. So I'd need more details to understand ...

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Pascal Dennis: No cement-heads – ever! By Pascal Dennis, - Last updated: Saturday, August 2, 2014

Orrie’s response to the question of incompetence reflects deep & rare learning. I can only add supporting comments. I’ve found that transformation obstacles generally bubble up in the following sequence: Technical – weak standards or adherence to standards for core activities Organizational – team structure, org structure etc. People – competence, motivation, mental models etc. Systemic – governance obstacles, e.g. rewards & recognition structure, core beliefs & values, relationship ...

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David Meier: Respect doesn’t mean that pamper or coddle people. Attitudes issues are adressed one on one By David Meier, - Last updated: Saturday, August 2, 2014

Sheesh I am not sure where we got the idea that respect for people means we all stand around and sing Kumbaya! It certainly does not mean that you are unable to address performance issues! Here are a few statements from Toyota about respect- -"We respect people by challenging them." (giving people legitimate challenges to improve and use their thinking and ability to make the process better). People like challenges, but ...

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Orry Fiume: The CEO must remove all barriers to lean, and some barriers are people. If one person must leave the company, do so with respect By Orry Fiume, - Last updated: Friday, August 1, 2014

The problem that you cite is a common one. Below is an excerpt from an article that I wrote for the Journal for Organizational Excellence a few years ago. The at the beginning of the article explains that Lean is a Strategy, not a manufacturing tactic or cost reduction program. This excerpt is the part of the article that discusses things the CEO must do to increase the likelihood ...

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Jean Cunningham: It’s respectful to the entire workforce to ensure standards of performance are maintained By Jean Cunningham, - Last updated: Friday, August 1, 2014

Performance management is important in every company. When there is standard work it is even easier to coach on performance. One outcome of performance management is improved performance. One is termination. It is respectful to the entire workforce to ensure standards of performance are maintained.

How does lean deal with sheer incompetence? By , - Last updated: Friday, August 1, 2014

Dan Jones: What will happen to lean after you leave By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Friday, August 1, 2014

The definitive test of lean is what you leave behind after you leave the team, department or organisation you are responsible for. Can they continue their problem solving and continuous improvement journeys or will they revert to past behaviours? Business results from lean here and now are great but sustained results on into the future depend on the capabilities you developed while you were in charge. You can tell very ...

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Michael Ballé: Every one loves innovation but hates innovators By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Friday, August 1, 2014

Everyone loves innovation, but everyone hates innovators. What you describe, I fear, is a normal, same old, same old situation. Lean is mostly about technical improvements and self-reflexion but has little to say about the political aspects of change. Every change, any change is bound to challenge the status quo and people are ready to do so to varying degrees. The pace of change that accompanies any lean approach to ...

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David Meier: Do Lean with people rather than to people By David Meier, - Last updated: Sunday, July 6, 2014

This sounds like a classic case of doing lean "to" people rather than with people. But let's go back to the original question- the fact of the matter is that the challenges of getting lean grow as you proceed. People think that if you get lean life is supposed to be easy. The opposite is true. Use the famous "low hanging fruit" analogy. After the "low fruit" (easy stuff) is ...

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Art Byrne: How much respect do you show your people? By Arthur Byrne, - Last updated: Sunday, July 6, 2014

He should a] get someone to help him that understands what to do and how to go about it. The right outside consultant and a strong internal KPO would help a lot. And, b] he should examine his own behavior and approach. Does he show respect for people. Does he communicate well to all stakeholders. Is he hands on and leading or does stay in his office and issue orders. Does he create a culture where ...

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Jean Cunningham: It must feel lonely at the top! By Jean Cunningham, - Last updated: Sunday, July 6, 2014

It must feel lonely at the top. If we approach this as a lean problem, then let’s work on that gap. He feels alone and wants other people related to the organization to be with him. Let’s consider many supporters as the desired state. Let’s consider getting such great results that the question of "how" never arises as the desired state. Using 5 Why’s, we can begin ...

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Tracey Richardson: Watch out for conflicting KPIs By Tracey Richardson, - Last updated: Sunday, July 6, 2014

This question/situation reminds me of the power-point slide we have all seen where the arrows are going in different directions. Since I'm not there to see it leaves me to make some assumptions because I do not have the ability grasp the situation, get the facts and ask why. At times when I'm at a conference I hear similar stories about lack of "buy-in" ...

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Sammy Obara: Lean creates disruption as it challenges the status quo By Samuel Obara, - Last updated: Friday, July 4, 2014

I think the answer to this short question will be a very long list of items to do or to stop doing. But at the same time, I believe we should be very cautious to make such a list past item #1. Item #1 in my view would be to perform a diligent genba assessment, finding then the causes and the root causes for the current situation. Only after item #1 has been concluded, we can ...

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Jeff Liker: A CEO might be a good at lean but poor at leading change By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Friday, July 4, 2014

The reality is that if you are making a major change in an organization you are bound to create some enemies. You will be clashing with the interests of some people who either have an opposing viewpoint, or some personal issue with you succeeding, or perhaps fear you are going to make their lives more difficult. Lean has the potential to be very disruptive. Reducing inventory is designed ...

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The Lean Edge: What would you do if you were a CEO and you tried lean the right way and were passionate about it but you seemed to be failing at every turn getting all your stakeholders angry? By The Lean Edge, - Last updated: Friday, July 4, 2014

What about Kaizen events By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Wednesday, June 11, 2014

As with all lean tools and techniques their effectiveness depends on how they are used. I helped to introduce Five-day Kaizen events into the UK and later to Europe and they proved to be very powerful in demonstrating the potential for improving work and eliminating waste. In particular they helped lean pioneers learn what really goes on at their front lines so they could become more effective lean leaders. I also ...

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Sammy Obara: Kaizen every day, everywhere, by everyone By Samuel Obara, - Last updated: Tuesday, June 3, 2014

I think Toyota had some pressing reasons to make Kaizen part of their culture. But I can’t think of any one more evident than the elimination of waste itself. Perhaps that was what compelled Toyota into making Kaizen, a culture. It is a shared value and belief. It is everyone’s expectation. Kaizen every day, everywhere, by everyone. At Toyota Japan they call it Kaizen Teian, which is ...

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Tracey Richardson: Kaizen is not an event, it’s about Everyday-Everybody-Engaged By Tracey Richardson, - Last updated: Tuesday, June 3, 2014

I always like to discuss the concept of Kaizen in my sessions. I feel it's often very misused and even misunderstood in the Lean world. As far as that goes you can say the same about Lean I suppose. There are so many different definitions and articulations of that concept out there across different industries. I always say Kaizen without value to the ...

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Jeff Liker: Kaizen events are mainly a tool to open the minds of the leadership By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Monday, June 2, 2014

I have personally been involved, along with my associates, in leading kaizen events for over 15 years. We never used a very rigid format. They could range from 2 days to 5 days. I had associates who were formally taught by shingijutsu and preferred 5-day events and were exceptional at leading them. They were quite exciting and were especially so in the early days. There was ...

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The Lean Edge: Kaizen events: good thing or bad thing? By The Lean Edge, - Last updated: Monday, June 2, 2014

Tracey Richardson: Learn the thinking, not just the doing, why, how, where, what, when? By Tracey Richardson, - Last updated: Saturday, May 24, 2014

Looking through the lens I see lean through, I think the word "sensei" can be subjective.    I think each and every one of us can have a different definition of what a sensei is based on our own experiences.    These differences doesn't necessarily make any of us right or wrong, just perception I suppose; and what our current knowledge base is compared to others on the journey.   ...

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Michael Ballé: No real lean without a sensei By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Sunday, May 4, 2014

I believe the “sensei” idea was introduced in Lean Thinking for a reason: we seek new words when the current vocab doesn’t quite capture the specific thing we’re trying to describe. Sure, the word “sensei” originally means teacher in Japanese. Certainly, consultants will try to turn it into something they can put on their business card (regardless of whether they’re legitimate or not). Absolutely there’s an amount of unnecessary mystique ...

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Sammy Obara: Sensei means professor By Samuel Obara, - Last updated: Saturday, May 3, 2014

I am not sure what is just semantics when we differentiate a consultant from a sensei. Is consultant a title and sensei a role? Is that a matter of posture? In Japanese, sensei means simply professor. I strongly believe that a sensei can be a consultant and perhaps vice versa. In fact, some of my Toyota senseis became consultants after they retired. Now, how good a consultant were they? Some Toyota senseis ...

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Jon Miller: From whom do you wish to learn? By Jon Miller, - Last updated: Thursday, May 1, 2014

In lean we have a credentialing problem. At least in the United States, practically anyone can become a lean author, expert or consultant. Ironically, lean lacks good standards for credentialing. This problem has been covered up by the vast amount of low-hanging fruit that it is easy to hang up a lean shingle not fail too badly for a while. Enduring success on the lean journey however, the scientifically unverified ...

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Jeff Liker: A sensei lights the fire of the kaizen spirit By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Thursday, May 1, 2014

A dictionary definition of a “sensei" is simply someone older then you as age is respected in Japan. It also is a formal title for a teacher of some sort. Most relevant it is a title to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill. This definition says it is earned, not granted by ...

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What is the role of a sensei in lean? By The Lean Edge, - Last updated: Thursday, May 1, 2014

Mike Rother: Next Generation Lean Practice By Mike Rother, - Last updated: Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Question:  How do you make time for improvements? 
I find it difficult to ask my people to make time for improvement work when they’re already completely busy doing their regular work. You may be making too much of a distinction between regular work and improvement. That might have sufficed in the 20th Century, when efficiency and cookie-cuttering the mass model seemed to be two universal business goals. A “Generation” is approximately the ...

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Dan Jones: Finding Time For Improvements By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Making time for improvement is a choice. The single most important thing a CEO can do is set an example by making time in their diaries. The successful lean pioneers I have known all spend a day a week out in the organisation and talking to customers. This sounds hard to do but if you think about it the place where the most expensive discretionary time exists in any organisation ...

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Michael Ballé: Lean is the strategy! By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Tuesday, April 22, 2014

The CEOs I know that have visible success with lean don’t see lean as something you do when you finally get around to it. They see lean as their strategy. There is an interesting Ohno comment about visiting the gemba doing more harm than good is work standards are not visible. Certainly, one of the main risks of managing by walking around is focusing on what people are doing right there ...

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Pascal Dennis: Kaizen is the work By Pascal Dennis, - Last updated: Monday, April 7, 2014

Building on Dave’s excellent insights, who has time for the hugely wasteful & mechanical ‘five-day kaizen events’? Dave’s suggested 1-hour-per-week Quality Circle is not only more time-efficient, but reinforces the central TPS principle: Kaizen is the work. Absent of this core principle, is Lean any more than a set of tools? If we accept it though, Lean comes to life and allows us to take on more & more complex ...

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Art Smalley: This is honestly more about leadership than lean By Art Smalley, - Last updated: Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Be forewarned - this response may come off as a somewhat brutal but I was frankly appalled by parts of the above question. Maybe I am just getting old and cranky? If so you have my apologies in advance. In order to explain my extremely visceral reaction to the submitted question I will address the statements made one by one for clarity. For starters you state that “As CEO of my ...

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Dave Meier: In Toyota improvement ideas and efforts were expected but voluntary By Lean Frontiers, - Last updated: Wednesday, April 2, 2014

As CEO of my company I have a grasp of lean and have experienced it in my career, but now that I'm CEO, I find it difficult to ask my people to make time for improvement work. They’re already completely busy doing their regular work. Moreover, this company is in the outdoor sports industry, and many people join these companies because they want time to climb, backpack, canoe, etc., and ...

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Sammy Obara: Conitnuous improvement is more than repetitive improvement By Samuel Obara, - Last updated: Wednesday, April 2, 2014

As CEO of my company I have a grasp of lean and have experienced it in my career, but now that I'm CEO, I find it difficult to ask my people to make time for improvement work. They’re already completely busy doing their regular work. Moreover, this company is in the outdoor sports industry, and many people join these companies because they want time to climb, backpack, canoe, etc., and ...

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Jon Miller: No Time for Kaizen? Check Your Assumptions By Jon Miller, - Last updated: Sunday, March 30, 2014

The Lean Edge: How do you make time for improvements? As CEO of my company I have a grasp of lean and have experienced it in my career, but now that I'm CEO, I find it difficult to ask my people to make time for improvement work. They’re already completely busy doing their regular work. Moreover, this company is in the outdoor sports industry, and many people join these companies because ...

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Mark Graban: No time for improvement? Then find time By Mark Graban, - Last updated: Sunday, March 30, 2014

The Lean Edge: How do you make time for improvements? As CEO of my company I have a grasp of lean and have experienced it in my career, but now that I'm CEO, I find it difficult to ask my people to make time for improvement work. They’re already completely busy doing their regular work. Moreover, this company is in the outdoor sports industry, and many people join these companies because ...

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Karen Martin: Start the conversation By Karen Martin, - Last updated: Sunday, March 30, 2014

The Lean Edge: How do you make time for improvements? As CEO of my company I have a grasp of lean and have experienced it in my career, but now that I'm CEO, I find it difficult to ask my people to make time for improvement work. They’re already completely busy doing their regular work. Moreover, this company is in the outdoor sports industry, and many people join these companies because ...

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Jeff Liker: The key is to learn to level the workload for improvement By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Sunday, March 30, 2014

The Lean Edge: How do you make time for improvements? As CEO of my company I have a grasp of lean and have experienced it in my career, but now that I'm CEO, I find it difficult to ask my people to make time for improvement work. They’re already completely busy doing their regular work. Moreover, this company is in the outdoor sports industry, and many people join these companies because ...

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Tracey Richardson: If you don’t have time to do it right first time, when will you have time to do it over? By Tracey Richardson, - Last updated: Friday, March 28, 2014

The Lean Edge: How do you make time for improvements? As CEO of my company I have a grasp of lean and have experienced it in my career, but now that I'm CEO, I find it difficult to ask my people to make time for improvement work. They’re already completely busy doing their regular work. Moreover, this company is in the outdoor sports industry, and many people join these companies because ...

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The Lean Edge: How do you make time for improvements? By The Lean Edge, - Last updated: Friday, March 28, 2014

Steve Spear: How do temps fit in with See, Solve, Sustain, Spread By Steven Spear, - Last updated: Sunday, March 23, 2014

Whether or not temporary workers are a benefit or a hinderance to an organization depends on how senior leadership chooses to employ them. First, we have to recognize that certain sectors have large fluctuations in work load——isn’t HR Block the single largest employer of temporary workers each tax season——that flexing headcount is unavoidable. Second, let’s recognize the dynamics by which exceptional performance altitude is achieved. It depends on having a steep ...

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Jeff Liker: A variable employee base (temps) is necessary to provide stable employment through the major ups and downs of the market By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Tuesday, March 18, 2014

First off there is no real “lean stand” on this issue and perhaps no lean stand on much of anything as lean means so many different things to different people. Second, speaking strictly about The Toyota Way the two pillars are respect for people and continuous improvement. In order to accomplish respect for people as partners in the business, and invest the time it takes to develop their capabilities to ...

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Michael Ballé: Start with the person and learn with them By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Sunday, March 16, 2014

Let’s look at this differently: let’s not start by wondering how to most efficiently organize temp labor, but let’s start from the fact that temporary workers are persons, just like any one else that works in the firm. Temporary workers are an essential part of the lean system because they help us be more flexible to volume variations no one knows how to handle internally. Temporary workers add value. Temporary ...

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Tracey Richardson: As a leader at any level 50% of your job is to develop your people By Tracey Richardson, - Last updated: Friday, March 7, 2014

So being raised at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK), I had the pleasure of seeing our temporary worker program evolve over many years to meet the needs of the company in an ever-changing market. I was also fortunate to be involved in certain areas of curriculum and training in the mid 2000’s for the program. Internally the term “variable workforce” is often used which implies exactly ...

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The Lean Edge: What is the place of temporary workers in lean? By The Lean Edge, - Last updated: Friday, March 7, 2014

Dan Jones: Starting The Leadership Journey By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Monday, February 24, 2014

Let me add to all the excellent advice to start by building the problem solving capabilities to improve the processes or value streams that create value for customers. The one lesson I have learnt time and time again is that lean cannot be "done for you", you have to do it and lead it yourself. As the natural inclination of management is to reach for an expert to solve a ...

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Dave Brunt: lean transformation framework By Dave Brunt, - Last updated: Wednesday, February 19, 2014

With our colleagues at the Lean Enterprise Institute we at the Lean Enterprise Academy are constantly assessing how to articulate our approach to Lean Transformation. We use a house as a visual to articulate Lean Transformation and our view of what it takes. John Shook recently shared a video about this which you can watch here: http://www.lean.org/LeanPost/Posting.cfm?LeanPostId=135#.UvTSDf2KPLQ Firstly WHAT? A lean organisation attempts to create flow of value through systematic PDCA ...

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Sammy Obara: First aks yourself: “how not to start with lean”, then go find a good sensei By Samuel Obara, - Last updated: Wednesday, February 12, 2014

The question on "how to start with lean" allows for a wide range of answers and perspectives, probably most or all of them correct. Without more background information, I guess a safe answer would be to find a good sensei. An easier question would have been how not to start with lean. Perhaps understanding that could be as helpful. Top places I believe you should never start: 1) learning how to use the ...

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Mike Rother: Do You Want Type-I or Type-II Lean? By Mike Rother, - Last updated: Sunday, February 9, 2014

Question:  How do I start with Lean? I think Michael Ballé is right to suggest you begin by asking, "What kind of Lean are we talking about?"  Specifically, you might first decide if you want Type I Lean or Type II Lean.  That decision will influence the spirit and everything you subsequently do to deploy Lean in your organization. Type I Lean is associated with increasing the efficiency of already-existing concepts of ...

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Jon Miller: Get a good diagnosis By Jon Miller, - Last updated: Sunday, February 9, 2014

"How do I start with lean?" Loaded question. If you were a doctor and a new patient walked in and asked, "How do I get healthy?" what would you answer? Free advice has consequences. Pay to be asked some good questions. The might include... How will you be able to recognize lean culture? Why does your management want a lean culture? What behaviors does the management recognize today as non-lean? What level of personal commitment ...

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Michael Ballé: Is it lean learning we’re talking about? Or lean squeezing? By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Saturday, February 8, 2014

It depends. What kind of lean are we talking about? First, there’s lean lite – you want to improve the operational performance of this or that process. In this case, find a consultant you can work with, do a model case, usually through mapping the existing process with a team and drawing out a future state process and then implementing it. Then, being convinced of the effectiveness of this approach (unless ...

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Karen Martin: Start with a demonstration activity and engage the leadership team By Karen Martin, - Last updated: Saturday, February 8, 2014

While I agree whole heartedly with all of the responses so far, I'm going to offer an alternative viewpoint from pragmatic perspective. Many of the organizations I've worked with that have made significant progress on the Lean journey, didn't begin with the ideal: "what problem do you want/need to solve?" In several cases, they had no idea what Lean was; they simply knew that they wanted to improve their performance. ...

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Steven Spear: Start with a ‘model line’ so that leadership can learn to see and solve problems By Steven Spear, - Last updated: Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Becoming an exceptional organization, one capable of short term reliability and longer term responsiveness and agility requires building skills that accelerate feedback, correction, and learning. The reliable mechanism is starting with a ‘model line’ incubator in which leadership is connected to creating and harnessing a problem seeing problems solving dynamic and then using that incubator as a developmental tool to propagate those skills broadly. PERFORMANCE LEVELS AS FUNCTION OF LEARNING ...

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Jeff Liker: One of the first aims should be to develop people to use a systematic process for improvement By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Many, many people have been in your situation. The top wants lean, which they have some understanding of from somewhere, and they want you to go get it. “Develop a plan. Find a consultant.” You are correct that there are almost as many flavors of lean as there are consultants. And who knows what flavor your management got exposed to from the conference they attended, or the board member, or ...

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Daniel Markovitz: Start by identifying a specific problem to solve By Daniel Markovitz, - Last updated: Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Start with lean by identifying a specific problem to solve — preferably one that has a serious impact on the company’s ability to serve its customers. One company I know that has made incredible strides started its journey with the president (upon seeing their D/C filled to the ceiling with unshipped goods), setting a corporate goal for same-day shipment of orders. Once a problem has been identified, I believe that ...

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Pascal Dennis: What problem are we trying to solve? By Pascal Dennis, - Last updated: Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Very good question. Here are some thoughts for posting How Do I Start with Lean? I'd suggest you begin by asking the most basic & difficult question: "What problem are we trying to solve?" Growth? Profitability? Throughput? Quality? Safety? What are possible causes? Malignant market forces? Core technologies at risk of becoming obsolete? Empty new product pipeline? Decaying factories? Apathetic, stagnant or hostile work force? Dysfunctional mental models? You can begin your analysis with analytical ...

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The Lean Edge: How do I start with Lean? By The Lean Edge, - Last updated: Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Michael Ballé: continuous flow is the key to improving quality By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Tuesday, January 21, 2014

I find that creating continuous flow cells is still 1) as powerful as ever and 2) as difficult as ever. Lean tools, in my experience, have been used to improve the productivity of existing lines or cells, but people balk at creating cells wherever it’s not obvious. Sadly, they miss the opportunity to radically diminish lead-time. In one high-tech company, after several years of doing lean, the CEO finally rolled-up ...

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Art Smalley: Lean Conformance vs. TPS Performance By Art Smalley, - Last updated: Tuesday, January 7, 2014

The main question asked here is "have workplaces moved to multi-purpose cells or do we still see isolated operators on the shop floor (現場 / Genba)"? The statement implies that was what “Toyota” was teaching us 20 years ago.  Well that last part I sort of doubt it. In reality that is partly what the observer was learning or partly what the instructor was relating at the time. Unfortunately that ...

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Jeff Liker: TPS experts within Toyota will always want to drive in the direction of the ideal of one-piece flow By Jeff Liker, - Last updated: Monday, January 6, 2014

Experts within Toyota on TPS will always want to drive in the direction of the ideal of one-piece flow. They believe in this quite passionately. In a Toyota assembly plant this looks like a super long continuous flow line. The plastics plant look like a process island of molding machines though there is a clear flow of raw materials to finished bumpers that are built in sequence ...

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What is the true value of a work cell? By Jon Miller, - Last updated: Monday, December 16, 2013

"Twenty years later, have workplaces moved to multi-process cells or do you still find many isolated operators?" The answer to this question is not either-or, but a "Yes" to both. Progressive workplaces are moving closer to cells, and we still find many isolated processes a.k.a. islands. Agile development, scrums, sprints and so forth engage in cell-like continuous flow within non-production environments. Hospitals and clinics are being designed for patient flow, moving ...

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Karen Martin: Cells are rare in service environments because Flow is hard to achieve By Karen Martin, - Last updated: Sunday, December 15, 2013

Cells—and a looser version that I refer to as co-location—are still rare in the service and knowledge work sectors. Part of the reason is that individuals, work teams and departments in these environments typically juggle many processes that support many value stream. To create flow and, therefore, reap the benefits of cellular structure, the first thing that has to happen is what I refer to as “work segmentation.” People have ...

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Twenty years later, have workplaces moved to multi-process cells or do you still find many isolated operators? By The Lean Edge, - Last updated: Sunday, December 15, 2013

Art Smalley: Toyota Insourcing For Competitive Advantage By Art Smalley, - Last updated: Friday, December 6, 2013

I honestly don’t know if there is a specific “lean way” for organizing value through out the supply chain. Lean is a pretty subjective term these days and I find as much difference of opinion on the topic as I do agreement. I expect a lot of different responses on this topic depending upon differing backgrounds. Speed, quality, value, feel good, profits, etc. take your pick and state your beliefs ...

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Michael Ballé: Think of outsourced value in terms of capability and capacity By Michael Balle, co-author of The Gold Mine and The Lean Manager - Last updated: Friday, November 29, 2013

One company I know manufactures high-tech equipment with fairly sophisticated human-machine interface screens. One day, we were with the CEO in the local Apple store wondering how come we used a piece of kit worth twenty times an iPad with less functionality. As the CEO followed that thought, he also discovered there existed an open-sourced interface software that served as a standard for human-machine interface in the industry. The company had ...

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Tracey Richardson: Outsource to increase value By Tracey Richardson, - Last updated: Sunday, November 24, 2013

There can be several ways to determine when outsourcing is an option for an organization. How I share my thoughts about it to others is based on my experience inside and outside of Toyota. I believe there must be a need to outsource a process, service or product. So what is that need or criteria? This means there should be an overall "value-add" to the company business indicators in making ...

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