When holding a Kaizen Event have you ever really taken the time to think thru the event and how you will hold people’s interest and more importantly how you will get them engaged? Managers may think that everyone has the same level of interest and are willing to participate and share openly. I think that Read More …
I highly encourage you to listen or read this conversation between Michael Balle and myself. It is at the heart of Kaizen, PDCA and Lean. Mike Balle on the Culture of PDCA: Podcast: Gemba Coach talks PDCA, Transcription: Is PDCA the culture of Lean? Reflection on these points may be the most important part of Read More …
Successful Lean teams are iTeams When I use this term, it is based on a simple theory that Teamwork Is an Individual Skill. In this book by Christopher Avery he describes a team as a group of individuals responding successfully to the opportunity presented by shared responsibility. Paraphrased from the book: Your ability to create Read More …
Before you start a company-wide Kaizen, you may want to look at yourself and the collection of individuals that make up the organization. Below is three different views of how an individual applies themselves to their roles. Last spring, Dr Balle and I had a conversation on Kaizen which resulted in an 8-week series of Read More …
As much as Leader Standard Work is the organizational structure to develop and sustain a Lean Organization, Kaizen is the underlying culture. I recommend reading or re-reading Chapters 1, 2 and 8 through 10 in The Toyota Way Fieldbook. I believe this will provide a bridge between Leader Standard Work and this next session on Read More …
In a recent tweet from @Kevin_Meyer he expanded on a comment that he left on a Lean Blog about ISO vs Std Work . His tweet said, What I forgot to mention is that the job breakdown aspect of TWI became our engine of kaizen. A little different than the norm. I intended to respond Read More …