Starting anything new can be a challenge. It can be especially so at the beginning of a process improvement initiative. Whether the new methods come from Lean, Six Sigma, a hybrid of the two, or a homegrown philosophy, people have a natural resistance to change. And managing that resistance poorly Read more…
As a Lean consultant, I have identified several words over the years that immediately make me see red flags with a process. When I hear them, I immediately start snooping around a little deeper, and often uncover some great opportunities for improvements. This list is by no means all inclusive, Read more…
To the person who is recently introduced to it, Lean often appears to merely be a set of tools that helps improve quality and lower costs while making deliveries faster and more consistent. But in truth, the tools behind Lean are just solutions to a particular set of problems, and Read more…
The concept of continuous improvement is that there is always an opportunity to get better. Sometimes, though, team members question how much better they can get. The truth is that Lean is not a magic drug that can cure everything about a company instantly. It takes work, and commitment, and Read more…
Lean requires commitment. It is easy to have that dedication when the philosophy has proven itself in the organization. But when the culture of continuous improvement is in its infancy, it is easy to lose one’s way. A common challenge that leaders have is resisting the urge to abandon a Read more…
As you may recall from previous articles, I am a rather big football fan. So I happened upon this video, and found myself repeatedly rewinding saying, “Did he really just do that?” The short of it is that we often limit ourselves by our expectations. Obviously, this guy spends a Read more…
The common interpretation of Occam’s Razor is that when all other things are equal, the simplest solution is probably right. More accurately, but in less common use, Occam’s Razor says that one should choose the hypothesis that makes the fewest new assumptions. In either case, Occam’s Razor is a tool Read more…
Negotiation is simply the process of discussing something of mutual interest and agreeing to terms. Negotiations typically involve tradeoffs. One side gives something of value to the other site to get something of value in return. Negotiations may be conducted for a one-time transaction, or for an ongoing relationship. The Read more…
Fear can paralyze us. It can keep us from trying new things, and mire us in bad situations when we are too frightened to take a risk to try to change things. Rather than talk in more detail about this, I am going to point you to another blogger who dives Read more…
Acronyms and other mnemonic devices help embed concepts into people’s brains. As it turns out, many of the key concepts of Lean leadership start with “C”, creating a unique way to look at this core tenet of continuous improvement. Interestingly, this term started as the 4 “C’s” of Lean leadership, Read more…
A push system is one in which an upstream process sends work to a downstream process prior to the downstream process requesting it. Batch and queue systems in which large lots are sent to the next workstation to wait in line are push systems. Generally Lean systems attempt to move Read more…
A few weeks back, Tim McMahon and I hosted an online show in which we talked about how a pair of coffee makers can be a great backdrop for Lean lessons. They provide simple examples and are familiar to most people. They also have the advantage of not tuning people Read more…