Downstream

Lean makes extensive use of the term flow. As a result, one of the most common teaching analogies Lean practitioners use is that of a meandering river being slowly but surely turned into a deep, straight, fast moving channel. That flow starts at the supplier and finishes at the customer. Read more…

Demand Windows

Demand windows are periods of time when customer demand is relatively stable. For slow growth or mature products, the window can be extremely long. For other products, demand windows can change seasonally (think water skis or snow shovels), hour-by-hour (think fast food), or can trend steeply up or down. In Read more…

Daily Improvement

Daily improvement is the strategy of making constant, incremental improvements each and every day in order see impressive long-term gains. While many people see kaizen as just a week-long event, it is much more powerful when an entire workforce engages in daily improvement efforts. Daily improvement does not have to Read more…

Discipline

Discipline is the process of changing a behavior to make it conform to a rule or standard. For many people, discipline has a negative connotation to it, especially when it is their behavior that is being adjusted. In truth, though, discipline is more than repeating the standard and doling out Read more…

Delegation

Delegation is the act of appointing another person or group, usually a subordinate, to perform a specific task or role. For delegation to be successful, it should include the transfer of power along with the assignment—the authority of the subordinate to act on the boss’s behalf. Lean starts a mass Read more…

Defects

Defects are the undesirable results of an error in a process. In most cases, this shows up as a product or service not conforming to a specification. Defects are often expressed as either yield of good parts, such as a 95% yield (meaning a 5% defect rate), or as Defects Read more…

Documentation

Document your process flow to get the most out of your Lean efforts. Recording your processes helps provide consistency in your output and spurs productivity improvements. It also promotes teamwork through knowledge sharing, and makes job rotation and cross-training possible. Documentation is simply the act of recording your process steps Read more…

Disputes

Disputes are disagreements or differences of opinion and can get heated. Disputes at work are frequently about the way a process should be performed. In Lean companies, the challenge is that processes are always changing. This provides multiple opportunities for disputes to arise. The good news is that most companies Read more…