Category Archives: Lean Manufacturing

Discussion of the process required to get to lean.

How You Change Is The Change

Today the following article was published in Industry Week’s Continuous Improvement Newsletter. Lean Management is not a change methodology; it is a destination, a desired set of practices and culture. How you get there will determine the outcome. There are … Continue reading

Posted in Change Management, Corporate Culture, leadership, Lean Culture, lean management, Lean Manufacturing, Organization Design and Process Improvement | 3 Comments

Survey Results: Execution and Importance of Lean Culture and Leadership Factors

Eighty-two lean implementers contributed their opinions to this survey. I have processed the data from this survey and written a report, which I hope you will find interesting and useful. You can download a report and analysis of the data and you can download the complete survey results and do your own analysis. I think the data on both importance and execution of lean cultural factors will help you in your efforts to convince your managers about the importance of their leadership behavior to your lean journey. Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Culture, Lean Culture, lean management, Lean Manufacturing, Organizational Behavior Management | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

When Small Things Make a Big Difference: Motivation by Tipping the Scales

Even in a lean organization or culture there is a need to provide motivation and correct performance problems. Most behavior in the work setting is a result of the balance of consequences acting on that behavior. A slight shift in the balance of consequences can result in a large change in organization performance. Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Culture, Lean Culture, Lean Manufacturing, Organization Design and Process Improvement, Organizational Behavior Management, Team Development | 14 Comments

Company Wide Lean Implementation

Many senior executives have struggled and failed to gain the advantage of a multi-site or dispersed organization. Instead of capitalizing on the potential value of multiple sites for learning, it seems that too often the same lessons have to be learned over and over again without any shared learning. This is a failure of senior management. In a lean organization, managing learning and improvement is THE primary function of senior managers in addition to deploying capital. Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Culture, leadership, Lean Culture, lean management, Lean Manufacturing, Organization Design and Process Improvement | 6 Comments

Sustaining Lean – The Power of Beliefs

To address the sustainability of the lean process we are looking at this model that defines the different components of a culture. At the core is the system of beliefs among the members of the organization. On the outside is the external environment with changes in technology, economics and other trends to which every company must adapt. The sustainability of any system is based on both its ability to adapt to a changing environment and its ability to stay on the course of its core values. Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Culture, leadership, Lean Culture, lean management, Lean Manufacturing, Organization Design and Process Improvement | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Publication Announcement: Lean Culture – The Leader’s Guide now available on Amazon

Lean Culture – The Leader’s Guide provides a road map to implementing lean culture within your organization. This guide represents the knowledge gained through thirty-five years of field experience implementing large scale change in the culture of organizations. This guide presents the principles and process of changing organization culture to capitalize on the competitive advantages of lean. Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Culture, General, Lean Culture, lean management, Lean Manufacturing | 2 Comments

Lean Organization & Whole-System Architecture

The word “organization” is related to “organism” and “organic.” Both of these imply something alive, something into which has been breathed the mysterious spirit of life. And what matters if you want to improve performance is not the organization chart, but that spirit of life. If you improve that, then you have really done something useful. The question you should ask yourself is, “Do we have a group in the organization who understand their job as thinking about, planning, designing and implement the ideal future system?” And, “Do they have a model and process for engaging in that analysis and design?” If not, you are lacking an important element of internal competitive strategy. Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Culture, Lean Culture, lean management, Lean Manufacturing, Organization Design and Process Improvement | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Lean Culture Implementation Flow

While writing or editing my material for Lean Culture – The Leader’s Guide I realized that it would be helpful to have a one page flow diagram of the process of developing lean culture. After sharing this and getting feedback from a couple of clients who are engaged in the effort, this diagram is the result. Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Culture, Lean Culture, lean management, Lean Manufacturing, Organization Design and Process Improvement | Leave a comment

Lean Culture – The Leader’s Guide

Lean Culture – The Leader’s Guide provides a roadmap to implementing lean culture within your organization. This guide represents the knowledge gained through thirty-five years of field experience implementing large scale change in the culture of organizations. Through this guide you will learn the principles and process of changing organization culture to capitalize on the competitive advantages of lean. Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Culture, leadership, Lean Culture, lean management, Lean Manufacturing | Leave a comment

Toyota: Did they believe too much in their own reputation?

The Washington Post today reports Toyota’s own explanation of their failure. By their own account, they put growth ahead of quality. They did not have the sense of urgency to respond to customer feedback. Again, nothing in this condemns shop floor practices, the essence of the Toyota Production System, or “lean”, rather it condemns the priority and actions of senior managers. Continue reading

Posted in Corporate Culture, Lean Culture, Lean Manufacturing | 3 Comments