Tomorrow afternoon, I’m doing two different webinars that I hope you’ll want to sign up for. Even if you can’t attend live, I’d encourage you to register in advance so you can get links sent to you automatically to view these on…
In March, I wrote a post titled “Is it Lean’s Fault or the Old Management System’s?” about how people’s complains about Lean are actually often complaints about old management mindsets. Unfortunately, what’s described as “Lean” in an organization is sometimes not…
Here’s a video produced about some work that Toyota’s TSSC did for a New York City food bank, applying Toyota Production System principles to help provide more food to those in need after “Superstorm Sandy.” The video demonstrates how creative…
If you’ve searched for “Lean methodology,” you’ve probably seen definitions about waste reduction or efficiency. That’s part of it — but Lean is much more than that. It’s a leadership system for building better organizations. I’ve been studying and practicing…
Mlive.com Article Here’s an article with Toyota (and former Chrysler) exec Jamie Bonini talking about continuous improvement: “Our 2010 vision is to be the most admired automaker through continuous improvement and respect for people,” Bonini said. A New Jersey native,…
There’s a new “AI copy writing tool” that I read about called copy.ai. I decided to play around with a free trial and, of course, I tested it by asking the service to write a blog post about Lean in…
I recently read this article on the IndustryWeek website:
Whirlpool's Green Takes Aim at World Class Manufacturing
Byron Green, the vice president of manufacturing for Whirlpool's 14 factories in the U.S. and Mexico, said:
"...manufacturing was littered with companies that saw lean as a collection of tools that could be deployed for a quick win. Successful companies, he said, instead see it as a bedrock of their culture."....
TL;DR: Many Lean healthcare job postings fail because they expect a single mid-level hire to “fix” culture, strategy, and results–while executives delegate leadership instead of practicing it. Overemphasis on certifications, industry “insider” status, and toolkits (Lean, Six Sigma, PDSA) misses…
In manufacturing, the term Lean has far too often been synonymous with layoffs. Doing so is more L.A.M.E. than Lean. People get anxious and throw around an acronym LEAN – Less Employees Are Needed. Ironically, Toyota (the inspiration or model for Lean)…
TL;DR: A look back at Lean manufacturing training from 2002 reveals a familiar lesson: Lean succeeds when customers treat suppliers fairly, production schedules are stable, and improvement goes beyond tools to include respect, trust, and Kaizen thinking. Toyota’s approach–then and…
I had a speaking engagement yesterday for a large system, with the audience consisting mainly of hospital CEOs and CFOs. I was able to be around for the entire morning, which included a really outstanding kickoff talk by the system…
Dr. Delos (“Toby”) Cosgrove, President and CEO of the famed Cleveland Clinic, wrote an article on LinkedIn recently: “Patient Experience: Time for Hospitals to Look Under the Bed.” Cosgrove described his process of going to visit patients after heart surgery…