TWI and the reorganization of our work
FEATURE – To facilitate the transition to a new organization of the work in their department, a group of nurses at Erasmus Medical Center have been using Training Within Industry.
Focus
What is the lean in lean?
FEATURE – The only way for lean to succeed is to change a leader’s behavior so the rest of the organization will change too and people get the support they need to become problem solvers.
Building our lean legacy
CASE STUDY – We hear from a construction company in Chile that embarked on a lean journey in 2018 to transform its culture and improve the work on its many sites.
Local experience for a global endeavor
FEATURE – A former ops manager now tasked for improvement across IKEA looks back at what she learned in one of the company’s stores and explains how she hopes to take lean to the whole group.
Leading the change
FEATURE – Our editor recently caught up with the director of the largest hospital in the Netherlands and asked him about the lean transformation he’s leading there.
An eye for improvement
INTERVIEW – At last month’s International Lean Summit in Hungary, our editor sat down with the manager of a CooperVision site that is gradually converting its operations to make them leaner.
Moving from learning to executing
SERIES – The authors discuss the fourth of six elements in their 6CON process development model – CONfigure – refining the selected process concept to maximize value-added activities.
Whittle by whittle
CASE STUDY – This Dutch SME is transforming its picking operation – partly with the introduction of a U-shaped design – to increase the number of orders it can fulfil every day.
Yokoten and a logistics improvement in healthcare
FEATURE – In this article, we hear about how the lean successes of one hospital inspired an entire healthcare authority to introduce changes to their processes.
Learning to say “No” on the way to “Yes”
SERIES – The authors discuss the third of six elements in their process development model – Converge – using experiments to test key aspects of different ideas, while objectively working towards a single design concept slated for refinement and implementation.
Cost calculation vs cost awareness
FEATURE – As inflation bites, the author offers us an insightful take into what it really means to understand a company’s costs. Hint, it doesn’t involve passing them on to customers.
Lean learning, reinvented
INTERVIEW – From hospitals to start-ups, lean principles have been applied far beyond their origins at Toyota. This article discusses how lean can be applied to learning – specifically, how we can apply lean learning to learning lean.
Lean transformations: failure and misconceptions
FEATURE – Drawing inspiration from his research into the causes of failure of transformations, the author discusses how these can directly be linked to the most common misconceptions on Lean Thinking.
The value of testing multiple concepts at once
SERIES—The authors discuss Concepts, the second of six elements in their process development model, discovering the key knowledge gaps and exploring multiple process design options to facilitate learning.
Operation Honeybee
FEATURE – To consistently identify new and better ways of doing things can breathe new life into a lean journey, but only if the knowledge developed can be effectively shared across the organization.
Creating a model primary care unit
CASE STUDY – This primary care unit in Brazil is hoping to become a model for other units in their system. Take note, this is how Lean Thinking can spread across healthcare systems.
Lean and the digitization of Benin’s public administration
INTERVIEW – In today’s Q&A, we learn how Lean Thinking is supporting the digital transformation of the public administration of the African country of Benin.
The theory of lean transformation
FEATURE – In this compelling theoretical piece, the author reminds us how in a lean organization relations are structured around learning opportunities rather than execution. This is what ultimately enables a company to grow.