Amazing Benefits of Lean Organization in HealthCare by Marie Miguel

In the 1940s, Toyota executives aimed to ameliorate their manufacturing processes, it led them to come up with the famous Toyota Production System. Also known as “Lean organization” it was used by different manufacturing industries across the globe as a methodology to curb inefficiency and improve the quality of their products and services. The goal of lean organization is deemed

Organizations don’t change. People do–or they don’t.

Change is a constant in business today – in fact, it’s the only thing that’s guaranteed! Yet, if it’s so common, why do so many organizations get it wrong? The vast majority of companies continue to just hope that employees of their change initiatives will simply embrace the changes thrust upon them. But that approach hardly ever works. One of

“I collaboratori non sono vasi da riempire, ma fiaccole da accendere.”

  Bruno Fabiano è Partner Kaizen Institute Italia  BARATSUKI È UN TERMINE GIAPPONESE che significa più o meno “dispersione”. Un esempio di baratsuki è facilmente ottenibile se immaginiamo di prendere una manciata di noccioline, le lanciamo in aria e osserviamo come si dispongono una volta cadute a terra. Il termine descrive molto bene la situazione in cui si ritrovano diverse

If You Don’t Prioritize Your Life, Someone Else Will

“A ‘no’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.” So said Mahatma Gandhi, and we all know how his conviction played out on the world stage. But what is less well known is how this same discipline played out privately with his own grandson, Arun Gandhi. Arun grew

The 5 Main Steps Of The Lean Manager

Want to use Balanced Scorecard for your 2016 Strategic Plan?

That’s a great idea CEO. Let’s do it. Here’s a quick video that shows you how.  Not sure what the Balanced Scorecard approach to strategic planning is? Here’s a quick primer.  2016 is coming and you are ready to dramatically change your business and get breakthrough results! …now how do you do it? Several of our customers here at KPI

OSHA’s Tightening Rules for Temporary Workers

SOURCE: http://www.industryweek.com Manufacturers that use temporary employees, either through staffing agencies or subcontractors, should pay close attention to recent policy changes that could increase their safety and training obligations as joint employers. Farrah Fielder, general counsel for the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, and Todd Logsdon, a partner at Fisher & Phillips in Louisville, talked about those changes and their implications at

Motorola: Six Sigma Still Pays Off

“Six Sigma’s stamp is all over the Razr,” says Michael S. Potosky, Motorola’s corporate director of Six Sigma. Engineers, for instance, applied the process to the phone’s antenna, helping keep it hidden while maintaining call clarity. With hits like the Razr, the Schaumburg (Ill.) company has climbed from a 15.4% market share in mobile phones to 22.4% over the past

3 IT lessons #agile #teams can learn from the Women’s World Cup

Article written by John Jeremiah, Technology Evangelist HP Held every four years, the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament was hosted in 2015 by Canada. The team fielded by the US won the final match this past Sunday, July 5. I admit it, when I think of football, I think of the NFL. Not “futbol,” or as we call it in the US, “soccer.”

#Lean But Not Mean!

Article written by ROBERT T. BURRUS, JR. – INTERIM DEAN , CAMERON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS In recent years, businesses have come under intense competitive pressure for several reasons. These reasons include globalization, recent credit crises and other economic upheavals, and the continued forward march of technology. Our research has shown that about 4 of every 10 businesses have turned to Lean

Mary’s story:”If you quit too early, #Lean #SixSigma does not save you”

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY John Dyer – President, JD&A – Process Innovation Co. The example below may shed some light on why Lean and Six Sigma may not be living up to its full potential in your business. Mary stood outside of her new office looking at the nameplate on the door: Mary Jones, Plant Manager.  “Not bad for someone who started her career

Why #Lean Fails in Job Shops!

Article written by Greg Lane & Chet Marchwinski   Like many job shop owners, Greg Lane struggled with implementing lean principles. The problem was that the experiences and books that he, like other job-shop managers, had been exposed to were based on repetitive manufacturing. Job shops with their high-mix, low-volume product lineup present a challenge to lean thinkers — but not

Chimamanda Adichie- The danger of a single story

Article written by By Kevin Meyer I recently came across the following TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie where she talks about the “danger of a single story.”  From growing up as a kid in Nigeria to studying in the United States and into adulthood, she describes how both herself and others, having only heard a single story about a certain situation,

Bootstrap #Root #Cause #Analysis into Your Strategic Thinking

Article written by Jon Miller   I have had some interesting differences of opinion lately about if and how root cause analysis fits into an organization’s strategic planning. Both hoshin planning, the strategy deployment method practiced by Toyota and many other lean companies, and the practical problem solving method have common roots in TQM, Deming and the scientific method. The mainstream

5 Takeaways #Lean Leaders can Pick Up from India’s Dynamic Prime Minister

Article written by Debashis Sarkar   Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India, has just completed his first year in office on May 26th, 2015. His party, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), came to power with a thumping majority and over the last 12 months he has taken the reins of the nation; the faltering economy is back on track

#CHANGE AND UNLEARNING

Article written by Girish K C To drive change in any organization, the key decision makers need to really know how the organization is functioning today. This may appear to be a given, because almost everybody think they know how the organization currently operates. However, most of this knowledge is unspoken; it exists only as perceived attitudes and assumptions that are

Is your company ready and willing to accept #change?

Article written by Alec Cook Are your employee’s ready to accept your changes into their working roles? More importantly, if they are not, how do you motivate them to accept it? These are two questions that organizational development and change researchers have been studying for years and I believe I have found an answer. Employee acceptance to change involves two fundamental

How Plan-Do-Check-Act (#PDCA) Helped My Running

Article written by Michael Girdler I had a bit of an issue. Actually more than a bit, I had an issue. I  run nearly every day, for almost 30 years. I’ve always found great pleasure in my running and would arrive home after a run invigorated and with high energy. However, over the last 3-4 months, something had changed. I returned

Developing a #Lean Culture: “Your people will watch your feet, not your lips”

Article written by Larry Rubrich – President of WCM Associates LLC Culture is a set of rules and standards shared by members of an organization, which – when acted upon by the members – produce behavior that falls within a range that the organization considers proper and acceptable. Culture is a learned process and is developed by the organization as a response

Value Stream Mapping: Ferrari or Pinto?

Good article written by Karen Martin  President The Karen Martin Group, Inc.   Mike Osterling and I decided to write our latest book, Value Stream Mapping,  to deepen people’s understanding about this powerful improvement methodology. In particular, we wanted to help the many organizations that: Remain unfamiliar with the practice Underutilize the method Misuse the tool Notice that I refer to value stream mapping

The Role of the #Lean #Team in a Lean #Transformation

Article written by David Brunt At the annual Summit in November 2014, Terry O’Donoghue shared the remarkable Lean transformation story happening at the Halfway Group in South Africa. By starting with customer purpose (and then business purpose) Terry explains how the leadership team is simultaneously improving the value creating work whilst developing the people at the same time. You will hear

How to Find a Good #Lean #Consultant

Article written by Christoph Roser –  Lean Expert Lean manufacturing is difficult. External expertise can help you in improving your business. However, the wrong consultant can at best have no effect, or worse damage your company, or at worst kill the company. Hence the consultant you hire will have a significant impact on the outcome of the project. This post will give

How N.A.S.A. applied 5S tool

NASA did some amazing things culminating with landing on Moon. Much of what they did was doing many small things very well. They used 5s, checklists, gemba thinking, usability, simplicity, testing out on a small scale and much more. Here are a few photos from the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Washington DC. I also have some nicer NASA

Good to Great Airport – The Road Map

A good article written by Shreepad Amrit Discussing transition (change) and its consequences is common. You will find it in management books, in corporate training calendars and it is favorite of all board room discussions. With so much of knowledge about change it should not fail even one time but that does not happen. Most of the change programs die their

Jeffrey Liker explains Change Management and Lean Transformation

Jeffrey Liker President, Liker Lead Advisors Change management has become its own consulting specialty. It is often part of deploying massive IT systems and some companies use change management specialists to assist in lean transformation. Unfortunately many versions are based on a flawed assumption—thinking about the transformation as what Kurt Lewin called the “unfreeze-change-refreeze” model. In his model specific actions need to

10 Key Lean Mindsets for Factories, Hospitals, Startups, and More

Article written by Mark Graban It’s been more than 25 years since the term “Lean Production” was coined, although the Toyota Production System is much older than that. Hospitals and health systems have been using Lean as an improvement methodology and management system for more than ten years. It’s also been about five years since the “Lean Startup” methodology was

#Amazon Dashes to Make #Consumers (and their Supply Chains) #Leaner

Article written by Paul Myerson  I was driving up to Lehigh University the other day to teach and heard on the radio that Amazon had come up with a “Jetsons-like” Dash button that allows the consumer to order products automatically, not at a store or website, but at the actual point of use in the home (e.g., a laundry detergent “dash”

#Italian Army’s Employee receives LSS Green Belt Certification

Article written By Chiara Mattirolo RESOURCE: http://www.usag.livorno.army.mil/News365.asp Marco Bassi, quality Assurance Specialist at 405th Field Support Battalion- Italy is the first Italian employee to receive a LSS Green Belt certification in his unit. It took Marco Bassi, Quality Assurance Specialist at 405th Army Field Support Battalion- Italy, one year to complete the five phases of his Lean Six Sigma (LSS) green

#LEAN ACCOUNTING VS TRADITIONAL #ACCOUNTING – By Jesus Galindo de la Torre

A very good article written by Jesus Galindo de la Torre. Lean Accounting is the export of the Lean philosophy to the accounts of a business entity. The essence of the Lean philosophy is getting increasingly better results through the application of tools and approaches for the elimination of waste that is not strictly necessary to provide added value to the

Why #Six #Sigma isn’t “Sick Sigma? – by Vishy Chandra

A great article by Vishy Chandra I’d first request all readers to read my post at Why Six Sigma is “Sick Sigma”? which spoke about 6 reasons to why people consider Six Sigma as “Sick Sigma”. As a self-boast, you’d know that I have listened to the arguments from a passive view! I now try to reason myself on the 6 points

Why choose it to reduce cost

This is a great article written by Mr Steven Skinner   Managing Director at BTO Group Pty Ltd   The integration of Lean Six Sigma is one of the most effective methods for consistently improving cost, speed, and quality, with broad success across all industries, not just manufacturing. It’s fast, delivering substantive results literally in a manner of weeks. It’s efficient, delivering exceptional

How do I measure #people #development?

A great article written by Michael Ballè  What is the metric for people development? I have to admit that I’m stumped on this one. It’s a very good question. We know that what gets measured gets done. So if we argue that developing people is a manager’s number one responsibility, it makes sense to have a metric. On the other

#Toyota Unveils Revamped #Manufacturing #Process

A great article by YOKO KUBOTA TOYOTA CITY, Japan—Toyota Motor Corp. broke a two-year silence on a revamped manufacturing process—built on sharing components among vehicles—that the world’s best-selling auto maker says will produce half its vehicles by 2020 and slash costs. But its unveiling follows a path blazed in recent years by German rival Volkswagen AG—a reversal for the Japanese pioneer,

6 #lessons from your local church on #managing #organizational culture

1. They write down what they believe – All religions have written text that documents what they believe. Moreover, these texts are sacred; only selected few can change them. The documents are treated with respect. They are read and studied diligently. They are even memorized and recited. If you desire to create a strong organizational culture in your company, start

EMC Workstation Solution

Is #continual business #transformation a must?

A great article by Torben Rick For companies that don’t want merely to #succeed in their industries but to lead them, continual business transformation is a must. The drivers of transformation vary widely, ranging from the increased globalization of markets, disruptive technology, shifting energy prices, consumer expectations. Whatever the business driver, the initiatives born from strategic calls to action will always

How to Easily Attract #Clients Who Are the Perfect #Match

A great article by Gerry Martin (inarticlezone.com) One of the biggest things that people want to learn about is how to attract new and potential clients. Regardless of what industry you are in, what product you are selling or what service you are providing, being able to attract the right client is the key. As a Heart-Centered entrepreneur, it is even

The #Kata of Leader #Development

A great article written by Mark Rosenthal  (TheLeanThinker.com) I’ve been parsing Turn the Ship Around to better understand David Marquet’smessage from his experience as captain of the USS Santa Fe (SSN 763), a Los Angeles Class nuclear powered attack submarine. And I’ve been promising to link his concepts back to Toyota Kata. So now I’m going to try to do that.

Baby #Step Backwards to Big #Solutions!

A great article published by Lean Genesis. One of the most common struggles when determining a countermeasure is: how to come up with the idea for a solution.  I’m going to tell you what works for me. Often times, we’re told to walk before we run, take baby steps, don’t bite off more than you can chew.  Surely, there is a

The 7 #Benefits of Focusing on #Results by Angelina Palmer

A great ARTICLE written by Angelina Palmer (Entreprisenk.com) Leaders are tasked with delivering results for their organisation which leads to personal success. When people think of getting results, they often imagine the leader as being someone who has disregard for people. Yet the reality is that leaders who get results know the importance of people in getting results. So what are

You Can’t Become Lean If You Only Eat Fried Food!!

If you want to lose weight by eating organic, low calorie food but…. you deep-fry everything, you will not only stay overweight, you will become sick. However, most American manufacturers do just this with regard to lean. They want to become lean organizations but they do not want to change the way they manage. Success with lean can only be

Manufacturing’s Future: How to Engage and Retain Gen X & Y

This is a great article written by Dan Batson According to a recent Gallup Poll, the American workforce is distinctly divided into thirds. While the “live-to-work” baby boomers make up about 31%, and the “self-reliant” Generation X has 32%, the “Me Generation” or Millennial Generation comes in at about 33%… READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Not Everything That Can be Automated Should Be

Article written by Robert Simonis (RESOURCE: http://www.sme.org) Robert H. Simonis is the Senior Consultant for Manufacturing and Operations at KCE Consulting LLC.  Robert has over twenty years of leadership experience including ten years factory management and ten years of global responsibilities in automotive, electronics, machining, and complex assembly operations and is recognized as a Lean enterprise expert The assembly cell

What’s the point of Lean training?

This is great article written by David Bovis. I love to hear people discussing the importance of ‘Purpose’ and how it has to be clearly defined at all levels of an organisation, if alignment and accountability are to flourish. It reminds me of the philosophy I’ve read, in which it has been agreed across the ages that through language, the

Increasing needs of Kaizen in Pharma Industry

This is an interesting article romoted by THE KAIZEN INSTITUTE INDIA. Increasing cost pressures, rising competition, country specific approval procedures, losses in sales due to expiring patents, etc. are few of the hurdles faced by organizations in pharmaceuticals industry. Research shows that most of the organizations have adopted or implemented Kaizen/ Lean/ Operational Excellence, however more than 50% have not

Flow Where You Can, Pull Where You Can’t

This is a great article wrote by Mike Orzen It seems that since the beginning of time we’ve all learned, “Lean is about continuously developing people and improving processes to create and flow value to customers using the least possible resources required.” Value of products and services is created through a series of work processes, some which create value and some

How Wrong Representation of Problem Can Hamper Your Improvement Journey

This an interesting article wrote by Mr. Nitali Zaveri Many organizations are perusing Six Sigma as an organization philosophy to improve process performance. One of our clients, a leading manufacturer of the capital machineries was interested in understanding and perusing Six Sigma. So they called many consultants for discussion including our consulting company. We proposed to conduct… READ THE FULL

Why Lean Six Sigma is Bad for Not-For-Profit

This is a very interesting article wrote by Georgina Hust. Broadly speaking Lean is the process of reducing waste, while Six Sigma is a tool which seeks to identify and reduce variation and defects. Both are focused on improving processes, quality of service and therefore customer satisfaction. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

5X Why most Leaders are not Good Enough

This is a very interesting article wrote by Philip Holt! Jeffrey Liker first provided real insight into Lean Leadership in his book, the Toyota Way , in 2003. This followed on from the insights into the Toyota Production System, or Toyota Way, that Womack and Jones had first introduced to us in the 1990s and attempted to provide insight to the

Who said Lean Six Sigma is not about People?

Article written by Michael Ballè Without mastering these seven foundational behavioral skills, even with their heart in the right place, leaders fumble their presence at the gemba and, consequently, feel disappointed by the bottom-line results they get from their lean efforts. With Lean Thinking, Jim Womack and Dan Jones ushered a true (and rare) revolution in management thinking: To deliver a