lean work improvement

The energy to get things done

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The superiority of the Toyota Production System is now a recognized fact (Toyota has been profitable every year but one, for half a century), which means that today most manufacturing organizations around the world practice lean manufacturing thinking to some extent. The prevalence of this alternative way of thinking and managing in the manufacturing sector often generates confusion in other industries, in which people’s first reaction to improvement attempts is the now proverbial “We don’t make cars. Lean is a manufacturing thing.”

When applied to manufacturing, lean tools like heijunka, SMED or Kanban cards allow for the optimization of production processes and the systematic elimination of waste (in its three incarnations of muda, muri and mura – respectively, non-value-adding work, overburden and unevenness). These happen by implementing the fundamental lean principles of pull and flow. However, it has now been proved that the principles characterizing lean manufacturing are universally applicable. They work in any sector and they apply to any kind of work – even though at times they require some adjustment."
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FeaturesMar 7, 2019

Eivind Reke, with Niku Jalkanen

FEATURE – When people become enthusiastic about improvement work, there's no limit to what can be achieved. Join the author on a visit to a Finland-based manufacturer, whose lean efforts range from production to customer service.

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.

Lean delivery

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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.

The lean veterinarian

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InterviewsDec 11, 2018

José Tarrasón

INTERVIEW – A 22-people veterinarian hospital in Barcelona has recently turned to lean thinking. We caught up with the owner to learn how things have changed six months into the journey.

A bold lean experiment in one of our kitchens

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FeaturesNov 27, 2018

Jason Berkman

FEATURE – The lean mindset Legal Sea Foods has developed is allowing the company to run bold, aggressive experiments that might some day reinvent the way their restaurant kitchens work.

Can you standardize creative work?

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FeaturesSep 19, 2018

Alessandro Piccolo

FEATURE – The belief that standardization kills creativity can be a severe hindrance in a lean transformation. The author discusses how he convinced his team of architects to give standards a try.

The experience of a value stream manager in a lean hospital

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InterviewsDec 15, 2017

Leonidia Maria Altoé

INTERVIEW - What happens in an organization after a move from silos to value streams? In this video, a Value Stream Manager from a Brazilian cancer treatment center shares her experience.

Why real kaizen and innovation start with leadership

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FeaturesNov 21, 2017

Michael Ballé, Benoît Charles-Lavauzelle & Régis Médina

FEATURE – Following a visit to a Toyota supplier in Japan, the authors reflect on the nature of kaizen and explain why we might be looking for it in the wrong place.

Fast and lean car servicing and repairs in Botswana

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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.

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FeaturesNov 1, 2017

Michael Mruma, Veronica Selelo & Lebo Ketwesepe

FEATURE – You have never seen a workshop like this before: Halfway Ngami in Botswana has creatively transformed car servicing and repairs by making problems visible and introducing flow.

How the initiative of nurses transformed a whole department

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FeaturesJun 11, 2017

Davide Lastrucci & Carmela Sorriso

FEATURE – We can't go wrong when we trust our people to take the initiative that we will improve their work... that's how Siena University Hospital cut its procurement lead-time in Surgery by two-thirds.

Lean in higher education: improving Macquarie University

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Case studiesMay 24, 2017

Valerie Runyan

CASE STUDY – An Australian university has been applying lean to streamline and improve its processes, discovering along the way how big a change the methodology can affect in the organization's culture.

Changing the layout of a nursery to improve neonatal care

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FeaturesApr 10, 2017

Intensive Care Nursery team

FEATURE – Another month, another story of a lean project told by the Siena hospital front-line folks. This time we take you to the Intensive Care Nursery, whose layout was transformed to provide better care to premature newborns.

Adopting lean principles to speed up blood donation

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FeaturesMar 10, 2017

Morena Venturini & Francesca Marchi

FEATURE – In the second article of our series written by the front-line staff of Siena University Hospital, we learn how the lean principles of pull and flow have transformed the blood donating process.

Nurses and doctors tell us how they are changing their ward

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FeaturesFeb 3, 2017

Internal Medicine Team

FEATURE – Every year, Siena University Hospital runs a Lean Day to celebrate and award its best lean projects. In this new series, front-line people write about five of these initiatives: first up, Internal Medicine.

Using lean as a way to transform your business model

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InterviewsDec 5, 2016

Ronald Uchil

INTERVIEW – Lean is making inroads in the Middle East! In this interview, a Senior VP of Gerab National Enterprises tells us how the company is using lean to reinvent itself as a project management firm.

The incredible lean turnaround of an engineering department

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Interesting contamination exists here with improvement approaches like Lean Startup and Design for Manufacturing."
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FeaturesOct 20, 2016

Stéphane Moreau & Frédéric Masson

FEATURE – A French automotive supplier has been applying lean principles to transform its engineering department with great results. In the process, they have realized they could put in place a really effective system to build innovation.

Revolutionizing warehousing in a hospital with lean thinking

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FeaturesSep 8, 2016

Jonny Mooi & Wiebe Nijdam

FEATURE – The warehousing department of a Dutch hospital has been implementing lean for a few years. Its Head of Logistics believes in an approach to change based on respect for people and on making small but steady steps.

The story of the lean transformation of a crane manufacturer

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FeaturesJul 6, 2016