Vacation Break But Enjoy

Blog Vacation Till August 28th! 

Here is a collection of the Top 10 posts for 2015 by views:

1.     5 Tips for Implementing 5S

The 5S system is a good starting point for all improvement efforts aiming to drive out waste from the manufacturing process, and ultimately improve a company’s bottom line by improving products and services, and lowering costs.

2.     You Can’t Inspect in Quality

Quality is about prevention—you cannot "inspect" quality into a product. It has to happen before the inspection process.

3.     Success Starts with Effective Problem Solving

Success in your business and for that of your company is a matter of effective problem solving. If you do one thing well this is paramount.

4.     Coaching Is Critical to Develop a Lean Thinking Mentality

Coaching is one of the premier skills of a good Lean leader, but one that is often overlooked. A leader whose goal is to help employees fulfill potential must be an exemplary coach.

5.     6 Ways to Motivate Change

Anyone who has worked in or led an organization's transformation understands change is not easy. People commonly resist change for a variety of reasons. Tips on reducing resistance to change.

6.     Be A Leader Not A Boss

While a leader can be a boss, not every boss is a leader. The distinction between being a boss and being a leader may seem small, but it means the world to the people who work for you.

7.     Problem Solving Starts With Defining The Problem

A well-stated problem statement speeds a robust corrective action process. It helps identify potential root causes and eliminate bias and noise.

8.     How Do We Promote STEM Careers?

Companies can leverage their resources, including their employees’ time or donated funds and products, to support STEM initiatives in a variety of ways.

9.     The Language of Lean is Visual

A Visual Factory provides a clear and common understanding of goals and measures of the business. With this information employees are able to align their actions and decisions with the overall strategic direction of the company.

10.  The Gemba is our Lean Classroom

Management must go to the Gemba to practice Lean management. Gemba walking teaches us to see in new ways what we have failed to see before. There you can identify problems, non-value added activities, or wastes through a deliberate observation of a particular area or process.

See you soon!

On Vacation Till August 28th, Still

Blog Vacation Till August 28th! 

1. What Do We Mean By True North? - In a nutshell, True North is a vision of the ideal condition both from the standpoint of the customer and the provider that is distinguished at once by its simplicity and also by the challenge it presents to status quo thinking. 

2. What Lean is Not - 10 Things That Are Not Lean - Despite Lean Thinking being around for three decades there are still surprising many misconceptions about Lean. 

3. Lean and Inventory: Misunderstood -Lean doesn’t mean ZERO inventory. It means the right inventory at the right time at the right quantities and in the right place. 

 4. 8 Principles of Quality Management - These principles have been identified to facilitate the achievement of quality objectives and form the foundation for effective quality management.

5. Keep Calm and Let the Quality Manager Handle It - Quality is not something we can rely on a single person or group to perform. Quality is everyone’s job. 

6. Five Simple Ways to Make Your VSM A Valuable Improvement Tool - Value stream mapping is a tremendously valuable tool for improving a process.These tips will help you develop accurate value stream maps that you can use to drive continuous improvement.

7. ASQ: Improve Your Strategy Through Hoshin Kanri - Hoshin kanri is not a strategic planning tool, it is an execution tool. It is a system to deploy an existing strategic plan throughout the organization. In other words, hoshin management is an idea handler, not an idea generator.

8. Ten Lean Lessons That Building Legos Has Taught Me - Time has taught me that you can learn valuable lessons from almost any experience. Legos are more than building blocks, they teach essential leadership skills. 

9. The 3 A’s of Respect for People - There are 3 essential elements of Respect for People that start with “A” which managers need for a sustainable Lean culture: Alignment, Autonomy, and Accountability.

10. Overcoming Employee Resistance to Change Is All About The 4 C's - Change doesn't just happen. It needs to be driven with purpose and intent. Change management requires planning for acceptance. Here are four more factors—the four C’s—to promoting acceptance of change: Caring, Control, Choice, Competence.
See you soon!

On Vacation But Enjoy

Blog Vacation Till August 28th!

Here is a collection of the Top 10 posts for 2013 by views:

10. The 20 Second Rule of “Lean” Change  - posted January 22, describes the idea of frequent small improvements over large projects.

9. 10 More Ways to Show Respect for People - posted April 3, highlights 10 ways you can show respect for people.

8. Management by the Numbers Makes You Blind, Go Beyond the Numbers  - posted March 4, describes the pitfalls of managing the numbers despite the people.

7. Lean Quote: Simple Rules for Holding Lean Meetings  - posted Jan 4, is a Lean Quote that presents 9 rules for holding effective meetings.

6. Poka Yoke: Mistake Proofing to Reduce Errors - posted August 21, explains the basics of mistake proofing as a means to reduce errors.

5. 10 Things Your Lean Leader Can Do Now To Make a Difference Culturally - posted July 24, describes 10 things your Lean leader can do right now to change the culture.

4. No Time for Improvement Means No Improvement - posted July 9, illustrates the importance of making time for improvement.

3. The Right Order of MUDA, MURA and MURI - posted June 17, explains the correct way to attack the 3Ms consider the impact each other.

2. Top 10 Reason Why Lean Transformation Fails  - posted May 6, details 10 common reasons why Lean transformation fails.

1. The 8 Common Wastes in an Office That Cause Downtime – posted February 12, describes the 8 common Lean wastes from an office environment perspective.

See you soon!

Vacation Reading

Blog Vacation Till August 28th!

Here is a collection of the Top 10 posts for 2012 by views:

10. 5 Lean Leadership Behaviors to Transform Your Culture - posted March 5, presents 5 Lean leadership behaviors you need to emulate to make your transformation effective. 

9. Lean Quote Impossible Is Not a Fact. It’s an Opinion. - posted July 20, from a popular feature analyzes a Muhammad Ali quote that nothing is impossible. 

8. Challenges Facing the Manufacturing Industry - posted March 27, highlighted a new initiative from AME on revitalizing manufacturing in the US. 

7. Management Improvement Blog Carnival #166 - posted May 10, was from hosting the Management Improvement Carnival reviewing a collection of recent blog posts. 

6. Kanban Flow - A Free, Fast, & Flexible Kanban Tool - posted May 2, reviewed a web app called KanbanFlow for creating personal kanban systems. 

5. New Webapp - Pomodoro Daisuki is a Simple Kanban Board- posted February 15, reviewed another new web app called Pomodoro Daisuki which can create simple personal kanban boards.

4. How Do You Define Quality? - posted February 14, was a post at truly attempts to define quality and it's importance to businesses. 

3. Quality Improvement in Government? - posted May 22, an ASQ post that looks at why there aren't more quality initiatives in Government agencies. 

2. 10 Characteristics of a Good Measure and 7 Pitfalls to Avoid - posted February 22, demonstrates 10 characteristics to create good performance measures and highlights several pitfalls to avoid. 

1. The Six-Step Problem-Solving Process - posted May 15, describes a six step methodology that is necessary to solve any problem.

See you soon!

Keep Calm, Keep Reading

On vacation till August 28th!

Here is a collection of the Top 10 posts for 2011 by views:

10. Lean at Home: My Visual Schedule - posted May 16, was where I shared my family's visual scheduling board at home. 

9. Lean Simulation: Your Source for Lean Games and Training Tools - posted June 1, was a post I did sharing a new blog from Martin Boersema which covers lean training, video, and games found online. 

8. A Tribute to Eli Goldratt - posted June 13, was tribute to Eli Goldratt, a true pioneer in process and business improvement, after his death. 

7. The Stages of High Performance Teams - posted April 11, explains the four stages that high performance teams must follow. 

6. 12 Ways to Start Building a Continuous Improvement Culture- post March 15, was from a webinar Jeff Hajek and I did on how to start building a culture of continuous improvement in your company. 

5. Book Review: Death By Meeting - posted February 23, was a book review I did on the subject of making meetings more engaging and less boring by Patrick Lencioni.

4. The 6 Pillars of 6S - Free Posters - posted July 6, was a collection of posters that have been used to explain 6S to make implementation easy for everyone. 

3. Visual Management Board - posted January 11, was really a guest post by my friend Allison Myers describing her visual management board for marketing activities at Lantech. 

2. Personal Kanban Kaizen - It's all Digital - posted March 14, shows a digital version of personal kanban system I use for productivity. 

1. Ten Ways to Show Respect for People - posted January 17, lists ten ways to show respect for people in your organization like encouraging them.
See you soon!