lean learning

Developing lean thinkers – Lessons from Toyota

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FeaturesJan 19, 2019
Joakim Hillberg
VIDEO - In this video from the recent European Lean Educator Conference, John Shook and Isao Yoshino draw on their experience at Toyota to reflect on the development of lean thinkers.

Lean delivery

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A common problem that practitioners trying to bring lean to services encounter is the difficulty to identify “the work” – whereas in manufacturing the product is in front of everyone’s eyes, in service organizations it is often hidden behind paperwork or a computer screen. Once the work is clearly visible, however, the opportunities for improvement are plentiful. To date, we have seen thousands of organizations striving to lean out the service they provide customers: from restaurants chains in the United States and China to a group of bakeries in Barcelona, from call centers to hotels, the application of lean services ideas can have an extraordinary impact on our economies. Especially if we consider that the service industry accounts for more than three-fifths of the global GDP and employs more than one-third of the global workforce.

Lean thinking is naturally a fit for the service industry, because of its focus on constantly delighting customers and on providing them with value-adding products."
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FeaturesJan 15, 2019
Catherine Chabiron
NOTES FROM THE GEMBA – After re-insourcing its bike repair workshop, a distribution center of France's La Poste has begun to recover long-lost knowledge about the work of mailmen and using it to innovate.

What it takes to learn lean

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FeaturesDec 20, 2018
Klaus Beulker
FEATURE – The author, a lean leader from Germany, recounts his experience bringing lean change about and discusses what it takes to truly learn lean thinking.

Please, no more dull learning

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FeaturesSep 21, 2018
Tony Lamberton and Kate Unsworth
FEATURE – The application of lean management to education is not new, but we all know how hard changing legacy systems is. This greenfield lean school aims higher, trying to rethink learning altogether.

Good Thinking, Good Products

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FeaturesSep 17, 2018
Daryl Powell and Michael Ballé
FEATURE – Following a recent visit to Toyota, the authors strive to challenge popular beliefs and shed a light on the underlying philosophy that has made TPS a success for over half a century.

Business school education should be gemba-based

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Womack's YokotenMar 27, 2017
Jim Womack
WOMACK’S YOKOTEN – Somehow surprisingly, management schools teach very little about management, and when they do all learning is classroom-based. Instead, they should go to the gemba.

Ballé, Jones and Chaize on reusable learning in lean

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FeaturesSep 6, 2016
Michael Ballé, Dan Jones & Jacques Chaize
FEATURE - Effectively dealing with a problem means learning to solve it in a variety of scenarios, not perfecting a point solution. For too long in lean we have only focused on gaining reusable knowledge... but what about reusable learning?
what was your lean a-ha moment

Five lean practitioners answer the same question #2

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FeaturesJun 24, 2016
Planet Lean
1 QUESTION, 5 ANSWERS – Because each of us has a different learning path, “a-ha moments” come to us in a variety of shapes. We asked five practitioners when their lean epiphanies happened.
lean failure

The story of a lean transformation failure

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FeaturesJun 8, 2016
Dan Riley
FEATURE – Too often we tend to focus on trying to replicate success, rather than analyze failure. Yet, learning from mistakes is a fundamental principle in lean. This account of a transformation gone south offers an insightful critique of lean.
lean government lessons

A few lean government lessons from South Africa

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FeaturesJun 2, 2016
Norman Faull
FEATURE – By looking at the state of lean management in the South African government sector, the author shares a number of important lessons that apply to public service organizations all around the world.

Our editor shares the May highlights from Planet Lean

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FeaturesJun 1, 2016
Roberto Priolo
EDITOR'S LETTER – If you have missed any of our May articles, we come to the rescue with this monthly round-up of Planet Lean content, to provide you with the highlights and keep you up to date with the latest in lean thinking.

Bringing lean principles to Australian cities and healthcare

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InterviewsMay 19, 2016
Roberto Priolo
PROFILE – This month we meet another member of the lean community, a true pioneer of lean thinking, who contributed to introducing the methodology in Australian cities and healthcare organizations.
gemba seven sins

Michael Ballé on the gemba cardinal sins hindering kaizen

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FeaturesMay 5, 2016
Michael Ballé
FEATURE – What are the immediate signs that tell us that our workplace is not conducive to kaizen? The author draws on his experience as a coach at the gemba to highlight them. Look out for them in your own company!
planet lean content april

Roberto Priolo shares the April highlights from Planet Lean

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ColumnsApr 28, 2016
Roberto Priolo
EDITOR'S LETTER – Missed any of our articles this past month? Fear not, as our monthly roundup of Planet Lean content is here to provide you with the highlights and keep you up to date with the latest in lean thinking.
Alice Lee profile

Alice Lee’s story – why lean learning and teaching coexist

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    string(1608) "Lean thinking may have been born in Toyota in the 1950s and 1960s, but it wasn’t until after the year 2000 that a few hospitals began to explore its application to the healthcare industry (lean healthcare). These pioneering organizations came together to share their stories at the first Global Lean Healthcare Summit in the UK in 2007, which in turn triggered many more experiments around the world. Since then, interest has kept growing.

Some fifteen years on, we have hundreds of examples to learn from, from clinics and departments through to entire hospitals and even whole hospital systems. Not all early experiments succeeded, and we are still a long way from making lean a widely recognized way of working across the industry.
Healthcare providers around the world still face huge challenges, as ageing populations and unhealthy lifestyles boost the demand for healthcare faster than the growth of incomes and tax revenues from the middle classes. At the same time, the quality of care has not improved as much as the quality of other services in the economy, which is why more and more healthcare organizations are turning to lean.

Historically, lean healthcare ideas have been applied in large hospitals, but in the past few years we have started to see the philosophy adopted in earnest in many smaller organizations following a do-it-yourself approach that has generated many positive benefits. An impressive example is the Consorci Sanitari del Garraf near Barcelona."
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InterviewsApr 19, 2016
Roberto Priolo
PROFILE – While pioneering the application of lean thinking in healthcare, Alice Lee realized that you should always approach teaching as you do problem solving: scientifically, situationally, and with the humility of a learner.

Editor Roberto Priolo looks back at last month’s articles

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ColumnsApr 1, 2016
Roberto Priolo
EDITOR'S LETTER - A summit in Las Vegas and a website redesign: March was a big one for PL. Our editor Roberto Priolo reflects on the month that was and offers a round-up of the content published on Planet Lean in March.
dialogue for innovation

Why dialogue, and not discussion, supports real innovation

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Opinion piecesMar 15, 2016
Boaz Tamir
OPINION – It might seem like a subtlety, but the distinction between discussion and dialogue is actually fundamental as we try to find new ways to unleash organizational creativity.
how to be a lean coach

Improve your lean coaching practice by acting with humility

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FeaturesMar 8, 2016
Josh Howell
FEATURE – Coaching people is the only way to truly develop their capabilities, but what does it take to become a good lean coach? Josh Howell on how humility helped him to improve his ability to coach.