lean management

Avoiding the most common mistakes with VSM

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FeaturesMay 30, 2019
Severino Abad
THE NAKED GEMBA – Value stream mapping is a fundamental tool in any lean transformation. The author takes us the most common mistakes companies make using it, so that you can avoid the pitfalls.

A crazy little thing called change

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OpinionMay 21, 2019
Rose Heathcote
COLUMN – In her first column, the author reflects on the role of leadership in striking a balance between the enthusiasm for change and the need to involve everyone in a transformation.

Defining lean is useful, lean definitions are useless

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FeaturesMay 16, 2019
Russell Watkins
FEATURE – In this article, the author reflects on how his understanding of lean thinking evolved over time – as did the way he defined it.

Lean thinking, better teaching

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FeaturesMay 9, 2019
René Aernoudts
FEATURE – A school board in Holland is discovering the potential of lean thinking and improving its processes to tackle the overburdening of teachers.

Three key business challenges lean can tackle

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FeaturesMay 7, 2019
Tomasz Koch and Remigiusz Horbal
FEATURE – Ahead of the annual lean conference of LEI Polska, the authors reflect on a recent survey they ran with their clients on the key business challenges they face.

Down the right track

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FeaturesApr 16, 2019
Catherine Chabiron
NOTES FROM THE GEMBA – The author goes back to a train maintenance center she visited two years ago and finds an organization striving to learn continuously.

Blue-sky thinking

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Case studiesApr 11, 2019
Kristian Zurek, Paweł Krawiecki and Rafał Mazur
FEATURE – Successfully engaging people and building a solid daily management system is allowing a Velux factory in Poland to fulfill its strategic goals.  

Lean as a two-step engine

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FeaturesMar 14, 2019
Michael Ballé & Nicolas Chartier
FEATURE – One of the things making lean thinking so hard to explain in general terms is its dual nature as both an organizational and managerial approach. The authors explain how to handle this tension.

An ever deeper analysis of the work

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FeaturesFeb 16, 2019
Hakan Akgül
FEATURE – As we progress on our lean journey, results seem to become harder to achieve: it’s because we need to become more granular in our analysis and improvement of the work.

Better thinking for better lean thinking

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FeaturesFeb 7, 2019
Bjarne Berg Wig and Eivind Reke
FEATURE – We tend to describe lean as a holistic approach to a transformation, but we won’t be able to truly embrace it until everyone starts to see the organization as a system.

Approaching problem solving more effectively

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FeaturesJan 31, 2019
Art Smalley
FEATURE – As they progress on their lean journey, organizations need to learn to adjust their stance to the type of problem they face. Introducing his new book, the author offers precious tips on problem solving.

The formula behind the success of Toyota

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InterviewsJan 22, 2019
Tracey and Ernie Richardson
INTERVIEW – What is the secret to Toyota’s ability to engage people in continuous improvement? Tracey and Ernie Richardson look back at their time with the company and tell us.

Lean thinker, I salute thee

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FeaturesDec 27, 2018
Roberto Priolo
ROUND-UP – As the year ends, our editor reflects on the state of the lean movement and looks back at the best articles published by Planet Lean this year.

Using lean problem solving at the Rio Olympics

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FeaturesNov 13, 2018
Christoph Roser
FEATURE – At the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the Japanese Men’s 4x100m relay team went from being the underdogs to winning a silver medal by apply lean problem solving.

Rising from the ashes thanks to lean thinking

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FeaturesOct 15, 2018
Eivind Reke
FEATURE – This Norwegian company has come back from the brink of bankruptcy by rallying its people around a common set of values, by leaning out its processes and by involving its leadership team.

A CEO’s journey of personal transformation

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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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InterviewsOct 9, 2018
Grey Dube
INTERVIEW - Grey Dube reflects on the approach, challenges and successes of becoming a lean CEO, and on how this helped turn Leratong Hospital into a lean organization.

Metrics matter

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InterviewsOct 5, 2018
Michael Balle and Mark Graban
INTERVIEW – In this thought-provoking conversation, Michael Ballé and Mark Graban discuss metrics and the managerial attitude towards tracking them.

When a top exec becomes the lean manager

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OpinionSep 11, 2018
Jan Petko
OPINION – What happens when a senior executive jumps the fence and finds himself having to drive the very same change he was asking others to create?