Building lean into our strategy
CASE STUDY – Brazil-based construction company Andrade Gutierrez has been able to sustain its transformation by consistently developing internal capabilities and making Lean Thinking its strategy.
lean coaching
A chat with Nomura-san
INTERVIEW – Following his 10 years at Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) teaching his Dantotsu method for radical quality improvement, Sadao Nomura spoke to Japanese magazine Kojo Kanri (Factory Management).
Improving the front-line work in construction
FEATURE – What is the key to improving the front-line construction work? Our lean construction coaches pull their experience together to shed a light on the subject.
Troublesome problems and threshold concepts
FEATURE – Looking back on the lean journeys he's seen firsthand, the author concludes that a true lean transformation occurs when you establish lines of mentoring to the Thinking People System.
Why is it so hard to do lean without a sensei?
FEATURE – Why do lean transformations benefit from the support of a sensei? Michael Ballé discusses how we typically need help to take the emotions out of the work and go down uncomfortable paths.
Kamishibai for better conversations at the gemba
FEATURE – How do kamishibai boards work and what sort of benefits can they bring to a lean transformation? The author discusses what he saw on a recent gemba walk.
The role of coaching in hoshin kanri
FEATURE – The author discusses how the hoshin kanri process, coupled with effective coaching, helps us to tackle the challenges inherent to implementing change.
Enabling change with a value stream Jishuken
FEATURE – In March 2019, this hospital partnered with the Lean Global Network on a two-day Jishuken event. Nearly two years later, the authors reflect on the legacy of that initiative.
The lean candidate
CASE STUDY – Have you ever considered how Lean Thinking could apply to politics? The author explains how the result of a mayoral race in southern Italy was ultimately determined by the lean approach adopted by one of the candidates.
A better way to learn lean
INTERVIEW – The Lean Enterprise Academy just launched the Lean Learning Journey, an online platform from which practitioners can pull the practical knowledge they need in their lean transformation.
Better processes for better care
CASE STUDY – This Barcelona hospital began its journey with ambitious projects and is starting to see the fruits of its labor, with the pandemic acting as an unexpected but powerful catalyst for change.
Jishuken at a Coloplast distribution center
VIDEO - In February, a group of Lean Global Network coaches visited Coloplast's Parts Distribution Center in Hungary to help the local team improve the internal lead-time across the facility.
The power of visual thinking
FEATURE – How does visual thinking practically help an organization? The author discusses three different ways in which it can be used to benefit a business and help it to improve itself.
Making a hotel restaurant leaner and safer
CASE STUDY – This hotel in Spain has been able to leverage Lean Thinking in its restaurant to successfully adapt to the new Covid-19 regulations enforced in the country, becoming more efficient along the way.
Transforming our training company
FEATURE – To lean out a training organization means to both transform its internal processes and integrate Lean Thinking in its educational offering: the story of ZingTrain.
Changing our minds to change our business
NOTES FROM THE GEMBA – It can take time to challenge our misconceptions and set off on a lean journey. Once we get it, however, it’s hard to stop the improvements, as this French company found out.
Learning our way to the top of the mountain
CASE STUDY – By building Lean Thinking into its processes and culture and developing people’s capabilities, this Norwegian company serving the oil&gas sector achieved fantastic results.
Do try this at home
CASES STUDY – Struggling to win the hearts and minds of his people, the author took lean home, learned as much as he could about it and brought it back to his business with the idea of making everybody's lives easier.