When you choose a new job, you can make sure that your skills match the requirements of the position you are seeking. When a company starts it Lean journey, though, your job requirements change. You may feel grossly unprepared for the transition. Fortunately, though, there are many ways to learn Read more…
As a new weekly feature, we will be asking our readers a question about how they use Lean or other continuous improvement methods in their organization.
This week, we would like to know how your company makes time for improvement activity.
Despite having been fairly mainstream for going on three decades now, there are a surprising number of misconceptions about Lean. Here is a list of 11 of the top things people misunderstand about continuous improvement. Lean means getting rid of inventory. The reduction in inventory is actually the result of Lean, Read more…
I recently read an article about the debate over the number of H-1B visas being offered. What was interesting to me was not the immigration issue, but rather the customer service issue. Apparently, the system creates a batch process. There is a filing deadline, and companies are required to turn Read more…
I’m an executive. How do I prepare to start my company on its Lean journey? While every Lean journey takes a slightly different path, there are some basic phases that every company progresses through. (You can learn more in our Continuous Improvement Development System.) Unfortunately, though, there is no standard path Read more…
There is a way people think known as an “availability heuristic.” That is a fancy way of saying that we judge what we think is going to happen by the easiest to remember examples. We’ve all heard about efforts to cut costs in other companies (or possibly even our own), Read more…
One of the trends I have seen recently is to knock taking a tools-based approach to continuous improvement. The driving thought is that you have to focus on the whole continuous improvement system in order to be successful. While this is true for an organization to reach top levels of Read more…
Just like any social group, there is pressure among coworkers to conform to the accepted group dynamic. This has a centering effect on a team. Groups have a tendency to pull individuals from extremes toward the center of a group. Under performing individuals are pressured to pull their own weight, Read more…
The “Theory of Constraints” is the management philosophy of Eliyahu M. Goldratt. He introduced it in his 1984 book, The Goal. The overall premise is that a system can only produce as fast as the slowest step. The throughput of the system, therefore, can be improved with a focused effort Read more…
Major changes are often hard to implement all at once. It may be because the technology or idea is not fully proven, or it may be a lack of resources in getting the bugs worked out. There may also be substantial risk if there is a mistake in the planning Read more…
The status quo is defined as the current or existing state or condition. In plain English, it is how things are today. There is an old adage that the definition of insanity is doing things the same way and expecting different results. Getting better requires that something is done differently. Read more…
Many people first learn about Lean when their boss tells them the company will be changing the way it does business. The information they receive tends to focus on what Lean is, and how it works. But often, they can’t quite make out what it will mean to their job, Read more…