Though I have some reservations (see below), this video shows a lot of good examples of flow for final assembly – only the assembly line is vertical, and the product is a 30 story hotel. The video actually repeats twice, once with a music sound track, then a second time with no sound. The Good [...]
Chapter 4 of The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership lays out the picture of a company where continuous improvement of operations is the primary focus of the management system. Note here that I said “focus of the management system” rather than “focus of the managers.” I believe there is a crucial difference which I will [...]
Carlos Villela’s blog lixo.org has a great story about simple solutions. I really have no idea if it is true or not – indeed, a couple of the details don’t hang together. On the other hand, I have seen for myself the kind of thinking that is described in this story. Link to full story: [...]
Chapter 3 of The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership is titled “Coach and Develop Others.” Where in Chapter 2 the authors were outlining the individual leader’s responsibility for self-development, now they are describing the environment and the process of supporting and focusing that drive. Rather than just outline the chapter, I want to dig into some [...]
This is of no particular interest to anyone but those of us who spent time working “in the yellow box.” Tonight the Megamillions jackpot is $206 million dollars. Eastman Kodak’s (at $0.69 / share) market cap is $186 million. Though Kodak is mostly known as a (former) consumer products brand, today most, if not all, [...]
This has nothing to do with lean production except at the touch point of the customer experience. Mrs. LeanThinker was looking for a replacement for her well-worn 5 quart stock pot. We were in Macy’s home department browsing. She found one she really liked, a Circulon Symmetry model, full retail $140, sale priced at $69.95. [...]
As we approach the end of the calendar year, many companies are starting to work on their Annual Operating Plans Wishes for next year. Why do I say wish? Because all too often these plans dictate what they wish would happen. Throughout the year, performance is “measured” against the plan. Positive variances are rewarded. Negative [...]
In Chapter 2 of The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership, Jeff Liker and Gary Convis describe one of the most important, and least emphasized, aspect of developing leaders – the necessity for intrinsic motivation. In simple terms, the desire has to come from within. This theme ties together everything else in the chapter, and I [...]
It must be that time of the year. I see traffic in the online forums asking about how to set key performance indicators for lean staff people so their performance incentives can be set. If anyone were to ask my advice here, it comes down to one word: Don’t. Two reasons. First, we have overwhelming [...]
How many “If-Then” steps do your team members have to deal with in the course of their routine work? Every one of those branch points is a decision. It is a point where the team member must memorize decision criteria and the correct choice(s). Each “If-Then” in the process flow potentially doubles the number of [...]