Got Boondoggle?

After visiting and working at numerous manufacturing plants across the United States this past year, I have come to the conclusion that we r...

Thanks to the lean thinking approach of Mark Graban from the Lean Blog , there is a new 5 Why type lean survey under experimentation to addr...

According to the 2007 State of Lean Survey conducted by the Lean Enterprise Institute, the number one ranked obstacle to implementing lean ...

As I pointed out in a previous post, lean grade inflation has found its way into plant assessments like 5S Audits. To address this issue, tr...

I just read an outstanding piece in the latest Harvard Business Review (July/August 2007), “Lessons From Toyota’s Long Drive”, an interview ...

In today's Wall Street Journal, I read an interesting article - Toyota's New U.S. Plan: Stop Building Factories . You can read it on...

Here is a problem I discovered on my Gemba walk. After I noticed a damaged box with components spilled on the floor, I called the first empl...

Look at handoffs in your process for waste and hidden opportunities for improvement. Most obvious of these wastes are piles of inventory eas...

While on the road last week, I discovered a cool visual management aid at the Holiday Inn Express in Dundee, Michigan. It certainly catches ...

No matter how well you plan, prepare and perform, sometimes things just happen that you do not expect. Sometimes these things are painful an...

Past headlines have brought to light a suspected phenomenon in our High Schools and Colleges in the United States where it is believed that ...

The kaizen formula of Aha! + Eureka! =Wow! is just part of larger pattern, or a continuous improvement cycle, discovered on my lean improvem...

Aha! + Eureka! = Wow!

There seems to be a swell of support against 5S activities which is certainly not a new phenomenon. The backlash against any attempts to org...

I liked Jon Miller’s post yesterday Seven Ideas Towards a Healing Workplace and it sparked some of my own ideas on the subject. I think the ...

Before Kaizen : What was my problem? My laptop cords and mouse cords gets tangled up in my computer bag. After Kaizen : What is my simple i...

I was reminded this week of the important lesson to be careful what you measure, measurements drive action and behavior. The productivity nu...

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana (TMMI) officially announced last week, April 25, 2007, their plans to eliminate its “variable workforce”...

While on a Gemba walk, I saw a section of the warehouse that was neat, clean, organized and free from the piles of inventory awaiting dispos...

Celebrate your employee’s kaizen improvements by creating your company’s own Kaizen Wall of Fame. While I visited Japan, I noticed several o...