The Roots of Lean While the birth of Lean is attributed to Motorola in the 1980s, many of today's lean practices have roots as far back as the early 1900s. Lillian Gilbreth, widely considered one of the first industrial/organizational psychologists, was also one of the first female engineers to earn a Ph.D. in psychology. Using her [...]
The Importance of Employee Motivation The workplace is changing, and employee motivation is at the forefront of these changes. It wasn't long ago that remaining at the same company through retirement despite the work environment was the standard. Today, however, people want more. Where pay and benefits used to be king, people now require a company [...]
The Problem with Traditional Experimentation Experimentation and innovation cannot exist without one another. To embrace innovation, we must also embrace the experimental process. But this is not quite as easy as coming up with new ideas and testing each of them. Each new idea will cost a company in time, money, and manpower, and these resources [...]
What is the Theory of Constraints? Every organization faces bottlenecks, or constraints, in their daily operations. These constraints are often found in a manufacturing line when there is an issue with a process or procedure. However, constraints can occur across an organization, from personnel to issues with technology. The Theory of Constraints offers a methodology to help [...]
Lean – What Is the ROI? “What is the return on investment for lean?” This question is asked frequently in our Lean Experience and Leading Lean sessions. It’s a fair question. This week I had a chance to see a great example of the ROI of lean. A little background - the company I visited this [...]
Made in America – Is U.S. Manufacturing poised for a strong comeback? Over the holidays I had the chance to catch up on some reading. One of the articles I read is really worth noting for manufacturing companies in the United Sates. The tepper Magazine from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University contains [...]
I was facilitating a kaizen for a team that had decided to tackle a very challenging improvement. The process was complicated. Multiple attempts had been made to improve. The problems in the process resulted in delays and downtime that cost millions across the enterprise. It was clearly a priority with a high return. The [...]
On June 18 the LA Dodgers played the Colorado Rockies and won 8-0. Clayton Kershaw, the pitcher for the Dodgers, pitched an almost perfect game as measured by the Bill James Game Score. The Dodgers had one error. Let me be clear, I have not been a baseball fan. However, I seem to be finding some [...]
Lean Training is usually an integral part of the lean journey. Lean Training occurs in the beginning to introduce organizations to the basics or to align teams with a variety of backgrounds and experiences in lean. Workshops and training sessions are conducted during the lean journey to add a new way of thinking or a new [...]
Information flow structure = reduced time wasted In an earlier post I identified a problem with information flow that was causing waste in my day. I recognized that my activities were varied and lacked structure. I wanted to test the impact of structure on time spent finding emails and sorting out calendar conflicts. Master Getting Things [...]
