Thoughts and Insights from the Shop Floor
A friend, and reader, Craig sent a really interesting email: As I was practicing the coaching Kata with one of the First Mates on the factory trawler, whenever an issue arose (usually with the leader blaming an employee) he began asking factory and engineering leadership “what needed to be communicated?” or “what needed to be …
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Over the years, I’ve been exposed a number of efforts to “implement A3 problem solving” in various companies. I worked for some of those companies, I’ve observed others. The results are nearly always the same. Here are a couple of examples. Let me know if any of these match up with experiences you have had. …
This is a 5 minute edit of the presentation Mike Rother made at the UK Lean summit. It is a succinct summary of interaction between a coach (leader) and learner (someone working on improving a process). My thoughts are below the video… OK – here are some things I have learned with these methods “in …
As of about 12:30 Pacific 11/4 there have been a couple of revisions, so be sure to download the latest. Mike Rother has released Version 12.0 of the Toyota Kata handbook on his website. The handbook, over the last few iterations, has become much more pragmatic (and practical). The information about the coaching process is …
Mike Rother sent out an email today pointing out that the Lean Enterprise Institute’s web site now has a Toyota Kata page. I believe this is a significant event for the lean community as a whole, as well as for the LEI. As many of my regular readers know, I have maintained the view that …
The key points addressed today (Day 3) at the Toyota Kata seminar were: The PDCA cycle – small experiments that the “learner” develops to advance toward the target condition. The coaching cycle (or kata) – an introduction to the role of the coach, and how coaching is structured in practice. A fairly brief discussion on …
I am taking the Toyota Kata seminar this week in Ann Arbor. There are two programs offered: A one-day classroom overview of the concepts in Toyota Kata. The one-day classroom overview followed by two days of practice on a shop floor, for a total of three days. I am taking the three day version. Impressions …
Mike Rother and Bill Costantino have shared a presentation titled “Toyota Kata Unified Field Theory.” I think it nicely packages a number of concepts in an easy-to-understand flow. I want to expand on a couple of points but first take a look at the presentation. This is a direct URL to the original SlideShare version: http://www.slideshare.net/BillCW3/toyota-kata-unified-field-theory Challenges …
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Mike Rother has made some significant revisions to his Improvement Kata Handbook. The role of “True North” is much better defined as the context of improvement. He has filled in a lot of valuable detail for “Grasping the Current Condition” and setting Target Conditions. The structure for the PDCA cycle has been tightened up. …
Anyone who is following this blog knows my view of “engaged leadership.” As I read this book, I had two experiences. I found it validating. There were a lot of times I said “oh yeah!” I found it clarifying. Rother turns up the contrast on a couple of crucial points and I liked that. This …
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