Articles & Publications
Sustain Lean Improvements by Building Business Maturity
The impact of systemic change on human dynamics, if not properly managed at the outset, can jeopardize the success of your Lean implementation.
Lean is Transformation
Lean is a change in the organization's social system rather than simply the application of a few tools and techniques.
Internal Advocacy and Customer Focus in Managing Lean Change
Whether you apply Lean in manufacturing or in a service industry, the principles stay the same although the tools you select may be different.
Lean Challenge for Management
True Lean Value can be achieved if our business culture overcomes the urge to professionalize and compartmentalize Lean practice.
Troubled Waters Require Capable Leaders
Lean leaders need to look beyond the horizon and chart the future. In stormy times, true leadership skills emerge.
The Challenge For North American Organizations
North American companies have ever increasing material and healthcare costs, with relentless pressure from customers to significantly reduce costs.
Einstein And The First Law Of Business Strategy
Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Ex. Competitiveness for Canadian business.
Lean Strategies For Lean Leaders And Their Teams
Assess the business goals, needs, and priorities of those you are trying to persuade to come on side. Make sure you select the key benefits of Lean.
Cultivating The Right Culture
"Everyone resists change," and "Everyone buys in as long as it doesn't impact them," or "Why do we have to change?" or "We've always done it that way."
Influencing for Collaboration and Problem Solving
Global competition is intense, opportunities fleeting. No organization can afford to slow down because stakeholders fail to work together.
Dealing With Bottlenecks
Before you buy a new piece of equipment because you think you have a bottleneck, use a machine balance chart so that you know the real score.
Do Not Implement a 5S Program
Is your 5S program not giving you the results that you expected? 5S needs to be implemented as part of a value stream plan, and not as a program.
When Value Stream Mapping Doesn't Work
Value Stream Mapping is a tool. It isn't a panacea for all the problems that occur in management.
Sustain Lean Improvements by Building Business Maturity
The impact of systemic change on human dynamics, if not properly managed at the outset, can jeopardize the success of your Lean implementation.
A Disciplined Approach To Value Stream Mapping
Value stream mapping requires good training and a disciplined approach to yield the best results.
Lean Applied To Post Secondary Institutions
Lean is being used as an innovative approach to improve student success and their experience. (Abstract)
LEAN Healthcare Interview - CBCNewsworld
Dealing With Bottlenecks
Before you buy a new piece of equipment because you think you have a bottleneck, use a machine balance chart so that you know the real score.
Do Not Implement a 5S Program
Is your 5S program not giving you the results that you expected? 5S needs to be implemented as part of a value stream plan, and not as a program.
When Value Stream Mapping Doesn't Work
Value Stream Mapping is a tool. It isn't a panacea for all the problems that occur in management.
A Disciplined Approach To Value Stream Mapping
Value stream mapping requires good training and a disciplined approach to yield the best results.
Exciting Chaos
Striving to improve competitiveness by providing customers faster and better products/services will accomplish more than worrying about the next crisis.
The Lean Journey - The Never Ending Story
No matter how well your lean journey is going, it's not good enough. Competitors will embrace lean and erase your competitive advantage.
Troubled Waters Require Capable Leaders
Lean leaders need to look beyond the horizon and chart the future. In stormy times, true leadership skills emerge.
Lean and State of The Art Healthcare
Implement Lean in Healthcare in order to be able to do more with less while doing it better.
Value Stream Mapping Cuts Through The Fat
Value Stream Mapping is used to draw out the entire process, identifying the flow and showing the time it takes to move through the system.
Lean Healthcare - We Got The Money...Now What?
Politicians are dividing up a pot of new found money for healthcare and the public is wondering why the waiting lists are so long.
Continuous Improvement
How do Continuous Improvement teams fit in with your Lean initiatives?
Value Stream Mapping Common Mistakes
We have noticed some common mistakes with first time mappers. When the mistake is made, it is not recognized and the tool is called into question.
Can Lean Match Your Structure?
One of the first comments we get from most companies is that they are unique. And they are right. They are not Toyota. They are unique.
Deming and Lean
One of the things that we all have in common at Lean Advisors, is admiration for the work done by Deming in the area of 'Management Science'
Flow in Job Shops
It is commonly thought by Job shop management that "Lean isn't for us". "We build to order" and "We don't build 1,000 widgets a day every day".
Lean and MRP: Q&A
OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness
We have found that there are some misconceptions regarding the calculation of OEE that can lead organizations to Mass Production behaviors.
Dealing With Bottlenecks
Before you buy a new piece of equipment because you think you have a bottleneck, use a machine balance chart so that you know the real score.
Do Not Implement a 5S Program
Is your 5S program not giving you the results that you expected? 5S needs to be implemented as part of a value stream plan, and not as a program.
When Value Stream Mapping Doesn't Work
Value Stream Mapping is a tool. It isn't a panacea for all the problems that occur in management.
Mixed Model Value Streams
Does your value stream produce more than one product? Does it produce many products in any given month, or week or hour?
A Disciplined Approach To Value Stream Mapping
Value stream mapping requires good training and a disciplined approach to yield the best results.
Exciting Chaos
Striving to improve competitiveness by providing customers faster and better products/services will accomplish more than worrying about the next crisis.
Lean Supply Chain
Simplified production by going from 3 floors to 1 to solve problems with communication and product flow.
The Lean Journey - The Never Ending Story
No matter how well your lean journey is going, it's not good enough. Competitors will embrace lean and erase your competitive advantage.
Troubled Waters Require Capable Leaders
Lean leaders need to look beyond the horizon and chart the future. In stormy times, true leadership skills emerge.
Value Stream Mapping Cuts Through The Fat
Value Stream Mapping is used to draw out the entire process, identifying the flow and showing the time it takes to move through the system.
Continuous Improvement
How do Continuous Improvement teams fit in with your Lean initiatives?
SMED
When applied 'right', SMED can make the difference between profit and loss, and being able to meet the changing demands of your customer.
EOQ
A planning tool used with some MRP systems is the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ).
Lean Production And Implementation
Job Shops, Continuous Processing, and Discrete Processing Businesses. Are they Different?
Value Stream Mapping Common Mistakes
We have noticed some common mistakes with first time mappers. When the mistake is made, it is not recognized and the tool is called into question.
The Challenge For North American Organizations
North American companies have ever increasing material and healthcare costs, with relentless pressure from customers to significantly reduce costs.
Einstein And The First Law Of Business Strategy
Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Ex. Competitiveness for Canadian business.
Lean Manufacturing Beckons Low-Volume Operations
Because of unprecedented competitive and cost pressures, more companies are turning to Lean for reductions in waste and productivity improvements.
Lean Configuration Management
Recording, managing positions of components to the whole system in design, development, production, support of a product throughout its life cycle.
Edson Puts The Squeeze On Waste
"We've totally embraced Lean. I firmly believe that unless all of North American manufacturing adapts Lean, we face grave consequences."
Why We Think Too Much About China
We need to look at the China phenomenon in context. The customer comes first and unless we become Lean, we will lose the competition game.
Lean Corner
Businesses want more cash to invest in new equipment and technologies. They need the right resources to leverage innovation and growth.
The Two Driving Questions in a Visual Workplace
A visual workplace is populated by hundreds or thousands, of visual devices and mini-systems, invented by a workforce that knows how to think visually.
Can Lean Match Your Structure?
One of the first comments we get from most companies is that they are unique. And they are right. They are not Toyota. They are unique.
A Strong Loonie
"If people aren't involved in lean manufacturing, fold up and go home because you aren't going to survive."
Assessing IT's role in lean environments
Ledalite is a small manufacturer who has adopted Lean and also makes extensive use of ERP technology to run their businesses.
SMED/Quick Changeover - The Payoff
Managers contemplating using the Lean tool SMED/Quick Changeover often ask "What is the payoff?
5S Workplace Organization In the Office And Plant
Many of the Lean tools have originated in the Toyota Production System. The maturation/migration to non-manufacturing settings is a natural evolution.
Kitting For Custom Job Shops
Kitting is a system that presents required components and tools to an assembly area in an organized method in order to obtain efficiencies.
Lean Manufacturing in Job shop Custom Builds
What is the culture of a custom job shop when it comes to implementing the Lean Manufacturing?
CME - Survey 2006
CME Management Survey 2006. 986 manufacturers responded, pinpointing the top issues affecting their businesses.
Flow in Job Shops
It is commonly thought by Job shop management that "Lean isn't for us". "We build to order" and "We don't build 1,000 widgets a day every day".
Dealing With Bottlenecks
Before you buy a new piece of equipment because you think you have a bottleneck, use a machine balance chart so that you know the real score.
Do Not Implement a 5S Program
Is your 5S program not giving you the results that you expected? 5S needs to be implemented as part of a value stream plan, and not as a program.
When Value Stream Mapping Doesn't Work
Value Stream Mapping is a tool. It isn't a panacea for all the problems that occur in management.
A Disciplined Approach To Value Stream Mapping
Value stream mapping requires good training and a disciplined approach to yield the best results.
Exciting Chaos
Striving to improve competitiveness by providing customers faster and better products/services will accomplish more than worrying about the next crisis.
The Lean Journey - The Never Ending Story
No matter how well your lean journey is going, it's not good enough. Competitors will embrace lean and erase your competitive advantage.
Troubled Waters Require Capable Leaders
Lean leaders need to look beyond the horizon and chart the future. In stormy times, true leadership skills emerge.
Value Stream Mapping Cuts Through The Fat
Value Stream Mapping is used to draw out the entire process, identifying the flow and showing the time it takes to move through the system.
Continuous Improvement
How do Continuous Improvement teams fit in with your Lean initiatives?
Value Stream Mapping Common Mistakes
We have noticed some common mistakes with first time mappers. When the mistake is made, it is not recognized and the tool is called into question.
Einstein And The First Law Of Business Strategy
Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Ex. Competitiveness for Canadian business.
The Two Driving Questions in a Visual Workplace
A visual workplace is populated by hundreds or thousands, of visual devices and mini-systems, invented by a workforce that knows how to think visually.
Can Lean Match Your Structure?
One of the first comments we get from most companies is that they are unique. And they are right. They are not Toyota. They are unique.
5S Workplace Organization In the Office And Plant
Many of the Lean tools have originated in the Toyota Production System. The maturation/migration to non-manufacturing settings is a natural evolution.
The Importance of Lean in A Quality Environment
Think that it's a matter of one or the other: quality or Lean? Sometimes Quality initiatives take a back seat when Lean activities get going.
Deming and Lean
One of the things that we all have in common at Lean Advisors, is admiration for the work done by Deming in the area of 'Management Science'
Flow in Job Shops
It is commonly thought by Job shop management that "Lean isn't for us". "We build to order" and "We don't build 1,000 widgets a day every day".
OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness
We have found that there are some misconceptions regarding the calculation of OEE that can lead organizations to Mass Production behaviors.
Dealing With Bottlenecks
Before you buy a new piece of equipment because you think you have a bottleneck, use a machine balance chart so that you know the real score.
Do Not Implement a 5S Program
Is your 5S program not giving you the results that you expected? 5S needs to be implemented as part of a value stream plan, and not as a program.
When Value Stream Mapping Doesn't Work
Value Stream Mapping is a tool. It isn't a panacea for all the problems that occur in management.
A Disciplined Approach To Value Stream Mapping
Value stream mapping requires good training and a disciplined approach to yield the best results.
Lean is Transformation
Lean is a change in the organization's social system rather than simply the application of a few tools and techniques.
Lean Challenge for Management
True Lean Value can be achieved if our business culture overcomes the urge to professionalize and compartmentalize Lean practice.
Are Quality and Value The Same?
Is there a difference between 'quality' and 'value'? Should we have two teams, one for continuous improvement and one for Lean?
Lean, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma
"How do we integrate Six Sigma and Lean?" or "We have implemented Six Sigma, how will Lean fit in or vice versa?"