Applying Value Stream Concepts eBook

This is a transcription of the podcast I had with Jim Luckman of the Lean Transformations Group. Jim will be the instructor for this LEI Workshop in Indianapolis on June 22nd – Value-Stream Mapping for the Office and Service: This interactive workshop demonstrates how to apply value-stream mapping, a fundamental and critical tool, to address Read More …

Quickest way to deal with a Marketing Constraint, Slice it!

If we find the constraint what is the first thing we want to do, fix it. That’s our natural tendency. Many of us have learned to go through the Theory of Constraint Five Focusing Steps: Identify the system’s constraint. Decide how to exploit the system’s constraint. Subordinate everything else to the above decisions. Elevate the Read More …

Holistic approach to TOC

The Business901 Podcast featured John G. Schleier, Jr. and James F. Cox III authors of the upcoming book, Theory of Constraints Handbook. In this authoritative volume, the world’s top Theory of Constraints (TOC) experts reveal how to implement the ground-breaking management and improvement methodology developed by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Theory of Constraints Handbook offers Read More …

A3 Management Process

John Shook, author of the landmark book, Managing to Learn: Using the A3 Management Process said in response, to the basic question “What is an A3?”: “The most basic definition of an A3 would be a P-D-C-A storyboard or report, reflecting Toyota’s way of capturing the PDCA process on one sheet of paper. But the Read More …

Problem Solving – Think 3, Not 5

The Business901 podcast that featured Tracey Richardson and her discussion on Problem Solving was one of my top viewed podcasts this year. One of the topics we covered was the 5 Y process. I asked the question: Joe:  One of the great tools of Lean is the “Five Whys” to get to root cause. Can Read More …

Compressing your Value Stream

A while ago it seemed like all customers were profitable. Sure we had a bad apple or two but most of the time we sold a product, customers bought it and, as a result, we made money. In today’s environment, it is very different. I would venture to say many of your customers are not profitable. Read More …