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Kanban Pull Systems Explained and How to Improve Flow
Kanban is an important part of a flow, or pull, system and is a "sign" that production must act to fulfill an order. Whe…
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Making your ERP System live with your Kanban System
The outcome of a well designed and maintained kanban system is that your problems with part shortages are likely to disa…
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Why The Tools Still Matter In A Lean Production System
“It’s not about the tools” is an observation often made about Lean. That is, that Lean is more than just a set of …
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What are Kamishibai Cards (T-cards) and How Best to Use Them for 5S
Often when a TXM consultant talks with a new client, the important concern is sustaining business improvements after the…
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What is a Kamishibai Board and What Tasks Should You Add?
We have previously talked about the benefits of using a Red-green task board (also known as a Kamishibai board or tee-ca…
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Guide to Practical Lean Standard Work
Standard work is an integral part of lean manufacturing. The goal of standardising the work is to reduce the variability…
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The 7 Wastes of Lean and How to Reduce Them in Your Organisation
The 7 Wastes is a way to help us look for the lost time between cycle times and lead times in manufacturing and eliminat…
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The Ninth Waste in the Lean Office
We all know about the seven wastes and hopefully can recite them by heart. Most of us now accept that underutilised huma…
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Make-To-Order Manufacturing and Production Systems
Here we will look at three key Lean Manufacturing tools to help support the implementation of a make to order production…
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The PDCA cycle: Plan, Do, Check, Act
How often do you hear the term "PCDA" when it comes to discussing your company's continuous improvement efforts? Seems l…
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What is a Value Stream Map?
Surely everyone knows what is a value stream map? At least you would expect Lean practitioners and Lean consultants to k…
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There are A3 Plans and then there are A3 Plans
If you've been hanging around the lean community for a while, no doubt you will have come across the concept on an "A3 P…
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What Is Just-In-Time Manufacturing?
Just in time is one of the best known Lean terms but how does it apply to you and your business? Today we will review th…
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Theory of Constraints Vs. Lean – Which Makes Sense for Your Business?
The Theory of Constraints vs Lean? Which of these two methodologies is better suited for your business? Read as Tim McLe…
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Reviewing Your Skills Matrix: An Example
Using our standard work documentation makes the training task much easier and lets the operators focus on the skill in t…
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Single Point Lessons In Manufacturing
Single point lessons, also called 1-page plans, are an important part in establishing and maintaining a new Lean Enterpr…
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Five Operational Mistakes Growing Manufacturers Make
Operational mistakes are easy to make and why some businesses fail. Read our latest article delving into the 5 common mi…
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Three Places to Find Hidden Capacity in Your Factory
Finding hidden production capacity in your factory is a great way to transform your business and increase production by …
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Lean vs Six Sigma – Which Should You Choose?
Next to Lean, Six Sigma is probably the most popular process improvement methodology in the world. As a business startin…
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What is Lean Manufacturing?
Discover what Lean Manufacturing is, it's methodologies, it's main purpose, why its important, what are lean principles …
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Lean Content For Your Viewing
There is something about the end of one year and the beginning of the next that allows us to pause and reflect. Here we …
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Annual Lean Clean Up Using Practical 5S
If you have been diligent with your 5S activities this year, your annual clean up is an opportunity for another round of…
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Creating a “Future State” Value Stream Map
Previously we outlined what a value stream was and how to find yours in your manufacturing company. Now we will look a…
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The Improvement Tool – Kaizen
Kaizen is used to change for the better by eliminating the 7 forms of waste (Muda) in a process, as the main continuous …
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New Lean Thinking: How Understanding Customer Value is Key to Disrupting Your Market
Understanding the value you provide your customers is key in disrupting new markets and creating growth. Focus on your c…
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The Missing Metric – Productivity
In many of the companies TXM has visited over past number of years, productivity measusre are very hard to find. When en…
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New Year’s Resolutions for Your Lean Goals
This year, let’s NOT make any New Year’s resolutions when it comes to running our businesses and being successful. R…
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How To Create Flow When There is No Assembly Line
One of the most well-known Lean concepts is that of “flow”. The most familiar example of flow is the automotive asse…
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The Top Seven Common Problems in Project Manufacturing and How to Overcome Them
What is Project Manufacturing? When we think of a manufacturing business, we usually think of a business that manufactur…
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Waste in Lean Manufacturing: Find the Hidden Waste in your Business
When you walk through your workplace do you find it hard to see waste? Maybe you have implemented 5S so the workplace lo…
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Broaden your Horizons with these Great Lean Books
As the days are dark and cold, there is nothing like sitting down with a good book to feed your brain and get you ready …
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Act Your Way into a New Way of Thinking with 5S and Lean
Here are three Lean tools that can help our team act their way to a new way of thinking, acting “as if” they have al…
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A Multi Level Approach to Problem Solving with Trigger Points
As you and your company travel along the lean journey, the ability for your team to identify and take part in solving th…
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Benchmarking the Lean principles at Subway
A great place to see key lean principles is at your local Subway; their layout and processes exemplify many of the lean …
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Lead Metrics and Lag Metrics for Visual Controls
Metrics are a key ingredient for improved communication in a visual Lean workplace and are essential for good Lean Daily…
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Understanding Waste, Unevenness and Overburden – Muda, Mura and Muri
The definition of Lean is to reduce wastes. Here we will look at the THREE types of wastes the may occur in a process. W…
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Simplicity in Business Systems leads to Best Practices
Within manufacturing, lean thinking continues to drive innovation in the way business systems are arranged. The underlin…
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Improving Our Work with a Quality Mindset
It is possible to build a Quality Mindset into everything we do. We need to consider the fundamental points of customer …
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Three Critical Elements of Coaching
When we begin our Lean Journey, the stage is set during the initial workshops to establish our current state, create our…
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Don’t Understand Japanese Lean Jargon? Don’t Worry!
Have you noticed how many Lean consultants and speakers love to spice their language with Japanese words. Words like “…
