I recently posted a truncated version of the graphic below with caption: "Not perfect, but close. It's about right." The response was overwhelmingly positive. A great majority of people recognized it as a unique comparison, one that they had never seen before, and also an accurate comparison that … [Read more...] about Comparing TPS and Lean
Archives for January 2017
Producing Business Results With Lean
In the previous post, Why Lean Keeps Thriving, I used the image at right to show how Lean has drifted far from it's original interpretation in 1988 as being synonymous with the Toyota Production System (exclusive of the "Respect for People" principle until ca. 2007). The drift in the meaning of Lean … [Read more...] about Producing Business Results With Lean
Why Lean Keeps Thriving
Branding, promotion, and the stated or implied close association with Toyota; e.g. "...Toyota, the leading lean exemplar in the world..." In this statement, the former university researchers who gave us Lean take credit for Toyota's work. See the image below to understand why the statement makes no … [Read more...] about Why Lean Keeps Thriving
Reusable Processes
I have long been concerned about organizations that struggle with Lean transformation and the impact on the company, its employees, and other stakeholders. People’s lives and livelihoods depend upon Lean, so it’s no small matter when Lean succeeds or fails. This has been a major focus of my work for … [Read more...] about Reusable Processes
Shingijutsu Super Kaizen Workshop
Here is your chance to listen to and learn from someone who helped develop, improve, and expand Toyota's production system! This is a rare opportunity to learn genba kaizen from Chihiro Nakao. Nakao-san has more than 50 years of genba kaizen experience and was a part of the original autonomous … [Read more...] about Shingijutsu Super Kaizen Workshop
Coaching Lean Without Knowing
One problem that has long been a concern is how to turn managers into effective coaches when they have little or no practical experience with kaizen and have never personally engaged in basics such as set-up reduction, visual controls, creating a flowline or kanban system, etc.? This is in addition … [Read more...] about Coaching Lean Without Knowing
Higher Education’s Ultimate Failure
Who would have ever thought that tenure's undoing in public higher education would be caused by higher education's failure to achieve one of its most fundamental objectives: Teach people how to think critically. There is a growing push to eliminate tenure for faculty in public higher education. … [Read more...] about Higher Education’s Ultimate Failure
The One Difficult Thing Hypothesis
Given what we know today about the benefits of Lean management to organizations and people, it is surprising that Lean is not widely recognized as a much better alternative to conventional management. Neither CEOs nor workers demand Lean management as a solution to their problems. As a result, there … [Read more...] about The One Difficult Thing Hypothesis
History Matters
Most people who are interested in Toyota's management practice have no interest in the history of progressive management ideas and practices that preceded it. Nor is there much interest in the problems and difficulties faced by those who worked to advance progressive management prior to TPS. I find … [Read more...] about History Matters