Lean Roundup #1

I am going to try a new thing in the spirit of sharing best practices called the Lean Roundup. Once a month I will roundup posts from other Lean practitioners that are particularly noteworthy and share them here. There is an abundance of very useful information to help you on your Lean Journey in pursuit of True North.

June, 2009

What is the role of a kaizen promotion officer - Jon Miller at Gemba Panta Rei gives 10 specific actions and behaviors that all lean leaders should consider in their role of promoting Lean.

How to engage people in kaizen - Jon Miller provides several strategies that may help to get people engaged in continuous improvement events since success is dependent on it.

Leading Lean: A Tool for Lean Thinking – Jamie Flinchbaugh starts a series to explain the proper use of A3 which can help clarify Lean thinking but can’t replace it.

The Nimitz Goes to Home Depot – Kevin Meyer relays the story of how even the most expensive and complex technology can be run by the use of a visual system (the original post can be found here).

Slashing Inventory to Reduce Costs May Ultimately Reduce Revenue as Well – John Nagel discusses why optimizing inventory is better than slashing it to reduce costs.

Seeking Checklist for a Sense of Urgency – Jon Miller describes why a sense of urgency is important to drive continuous improvement and suggests some question to ask.

How Clean is Clean Enough – Ron Pereira reminds us that the third S in 5S is not just about cleaning.

Clear and Relevant Metrics – Matt Wrye discusses the two components that a metric needs to be a successful metric.

Henry Ford's Proven Lessons for American Industry – William Levinson tells an amazing tale of how the Toyota Production System (aka Lean Manufacturing) and Six Sigma found it’s routes from Henry Ford’s principles.

Getting More People Involved and Making Every Cost a Big Deal – Lee Fried talks about the real power of improvement comes from getting everyone involved to solve problems and shares an example of how even small things matter.