The Gemba is where the true value-adding activities to satisfy or serve the customer are performed. Gemba is a Japanese term meaning “actual place”, the place where truth is found. The ‘Gemba Walk’ is an activity that takes leadership to the front lines to look for waste and opportunities.
There are typically three types of Gemba walks...
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Over the past few months we have been working with a number of companies helping them with their strategic planning process. From company to company the process to develop/update their strategic plan is quite similar, however the results differ.
Based on discussions with clients, the common problem that prevents forward progress is a lack of focus. Almost all of these companies had too many improvement projects on their plate and, to borrow a phrase from an old movie, “a point in every direction is the same as no point at all.”
Here is how to narrow down the number of improvement projects.
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I just had the opportunity to revisit a business that I started working with a few years ago. I must say I was impressed with the progress that they have made over the past few years. Their operating performance and financial performance has improved dramatically! It was truly a pleasure to visit them and to review the results of their efforts. They have embraced workplace organization, performance management, and schedule adherence down to a daily timeframe. As a result, their Corporate KPI’s are improving month after month.
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The development of the Implementation Plan consists of defining the steps needed to achieve the design objectives and creating the control infrastructure for daily and weekly implementation activities.
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Lean Transformations begin as an idea, an idea that by doing something different we can be something different. In the security and comfort of our own thoughts, we can imagine how amazing it will be to work within a continuous improvement culture where our talents are recognized, supported, and our skills utilized. What a great place to be! No end-of-the month rushes, consistently making the numbers, everyone contributes, and life is good. Sounds great, right? So how do we get there? And why is it so hard?
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In a site-wide Lean transformation, success depends upon the use of a structured approach to deployment. Ensuring this success is a process of moving each value stream through the 5 basic steps of deployment: Stabilize, Flow, Takt, Pull, and Sustain. Let’s define each of these...
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The Implementation Planning Phase of a Lean Transformation is dependent on the quality of the Diagnosis Phase. Don’t start the Implementation Planning Phase unless the leadership of the business agrees and signs off with the Design Phase document. The sign-off on the Design Phase document is a public statement that confirms ...
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“Those jobs aren’t coming back.” Really? Yes, they are really starting to come back…. Stanley, GE and Apple to identify a few, have realized that manufacturing can successfully be done right here in the good old US of A! There are a growing number of reasons to manufacture some if not all of your products in the USA, be it because of marketing, profitability, or a hedge against risk of poor delivery performance or quality.
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Survival in a shrinking industry requires being efficient, economical, and responsive to customers. With a product lead-time of two to three days from receipt of order, the client, a leading paper converting company, was struggling to meet their customer deliveries...
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