So many of us were wringing our hands a year ago. Our idealized vision of Toyota as the source of all perfection and example was tarnished and crumbling before our eyes. Prominent “names” in our field were talking about the need to go beyond Toyota. The vaunted TPS was clearly failing. Or was it? Like [...]
The classic one-week kaizen event ends with a report-out by the team that outlines the improvements they have made, and the results they have achieved. Actual results, though, are notorious for falling short of what was reported. Action items are left over, and things frequently peter out unless there is a huge effort to force [...]
WHAT STOPPED THE WORK TODAY? Identify each step (details!) For each step ask: Why is this necessary? What is its purpose? —-> Eliminate unnecessary, wasteful details. Can this detail be done outside of the critical flow? —-> re-sequence. Prior to the start, everything ready to go. Clearly define who must do what and when. Content [...]
One of the more effective facilitation tools I have come across is to have a team first construct an ideal flow, without the constraints of the space geometry, known flow-busters, or even too much concern about the takt time. Just make things flow as smoothly and efficiently as you can envision. Develop the flow as [...]
I have probably written around this question in the past, but it comes up often enough that I wanted to address is specifically. One of the challenges facing the lean practitioner is the “What can you do for me?” boss (or client). This manager wants to know the expected ROI and outcome of your proposal [...]
Yesterday, Kris left great comment with a compelling link to a TED presentation by Tom Wujec, a fellow at Autodesk. Back in June, I commented on Steve Spear’s article “ Why C-Level Executives Don’t Engage in Lean Initiatives.” In that commentary, Spear contends that business leaders are simply not taught the skills and mindset [...]
“What have you learned?” It is a question I hear often at the end of kaizen events and other improvement activity. The key points of a typical report-out, though, seem to be on how much was accomplished, and what was learned comes as an afterthought. A typical week-long kaizen event is organized like this: Monday: [...]
Lesley Doherty, the Chief Executive at NHS Bolton in the U.K. was recently interviewed by IQPC as a precursor for her being a keynote speaker at a conference IQPC is sponsoring in December (Zurich). In the spirit of full disclosure, IQPC had invited me to participate in a “blogger’s panel discussion” (along with Karen Wilhelm, [...]
One of the issues Mike Rother says he has had with the coaching questions in Toyota Kata is question #5 “When can we go see what you have learned?” In the west, inevitably it seems, once the word “When” is uttered, everyone in the conversation leaps to hear “When will you be done?” no matter [...]
In my review of Toyota Kata by Mike Rother, I suggested that the staff-level practitioners who are embedded in almost every company that is “implementing lean” could put those practices to work immediately, even if it was not an ideal “top down” teaching process. This week I gave that a try. I was coaching a [...]