Blog Archives

What Does Your China Supply Chain Cost You and How do You Improve it?

China is no longer the low cost manufacturing paradise it once was. However the problems of long lead times, dodgy suppl…
Improve Buy In with a Visual Action Plan

We want to improve team buy in and take your action plan to the next level by making it visual. We’ll go into what is …
Developing an Action Plan for Real World Improvements

This article is to remind you of the importance of thinking through the creation of an action plan, making sure your pla…
“Lean Won’t Work Here”, Try the “Quick Wins” Approach Instead

Is there a way for people not to “roll their eyes" when the “lean” word is out of the bag? Let’s start with the …
How Poor Product Management Can Damage Your Reputation and Cost You Millions

The decision about what products to sell and what products not to sell is one of the most important marketing decision t…
Documenting and Sharing Improvements and Lessons Learnt

Our continuous improvements are often hard fought and hard won, so we want them to be sustained and shared. Documenting …
Overcoming Reluctance When Implementing Lean Systems

Lean systems in many instances are implemented when company are faced with a challenge and have identified that new ways…
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…
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…
Why Businesses Fail to Deliver On Time In Full for Customers

Many of the distribution businesses I see suffer from the same problems – frequent stock shortages on key items, while…
Potential Stumbling Blocks When Creating a Value Stream Map

Understanding your company’s “Value Stream” is an important part of your Lean Manufacturing journey, regardless of…
Address Old Problems with The Six Big Losses in Manufacturing

The Six Big Losses examine efficiency problems and is a framework about having fewer defects, stoppages and breakdowns.…
The Top 7 Tips for Effective Professional Development

So how are companies like Boeing and Toyota enable to find leaders who can lead the various parts of their business in a…
Developing Innovation Through Culture

Developing innovation needs the right company culture. Here we look at how we can improve our culture to create the inno…
Seven Standards for Successful Leadership of Temporary Employees

In many industries, temporary employees provide an important and flexible element of the workforce. Many businesses seem…
How Can HR Help You With Developing Your Lean Leaders ?

Lean manufacturing is about developing people. This belief was reinforced last Friday at the Best Practice Network’s w…
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 …
The “Maslow’s Hierarchy” of Continuous Improvement

Companies that are just beginning their lean journey will often talk about the company culture they would like to instil…
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…
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…
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 …
Top 4 Tips to Improve your Chinese Supplier’s Competitiveness!

Top 4 Tips to Improve your Chinese Supplier’s Competitiveness! China is getting expensive. Very few companies sourcing…
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…
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 “…
Improvement Ideas Scoring with a PICK Chart

There is nothing more exciting than gathering a group of people together to discuss improvement ideas, especially in a c…
Five Reasons You Spend Your Day Firefighting and Expediting Orders – and What to Do About It

Do you find that much of your day "firefighting" to expedite orders in a vain attempt to ensure your customers get what …
Getting the Right Resources for a Successful Lean Project

How do you resource a successful Lean transformation. There are lots of different approaches and different types of Lean…
What is Industry 4.0 – Something New or Just “Ground Hog Day”?

If you listen to the business media there is a revolution coming to manufacturing. It is called Industry 4.0, a fourth i…
Seven Steps of a Successful Lean Transformation

Seven Steps of a Successful Lean Transformation It’s always difficult to make change, and it’s even more difficult f…
The Waste of Mistrust

Increasingly it seems that the assumption built in to most of our lives is that we can trust pretty much no-one. Almost …
Nine Tips to Sustain Your Lean Office

There is a lot of literature on implementing Lean in office and administrative functions and the concept is not new. How…
Get your employees fully engaged in Lean in China, Using a Push and a Pull.

In a summer day several years ago, I attended a speech about Lean in China by a famous global Lean guru. My neighbor sea…
Top 6 Opportunities for Lean Office Improvements in your Business

As many readers of this blog will know, there are a huge range of ways in which Lean can reduce waste and improve perfor…
Three Steps to Improve Quality and Reduce Reliance on Inspection in China

A few years ago almost everyone you spoke to had a “bad China quality story”. Much of it was exaggerated and most of…
Why Lean Business Processes Fail – Does your “Gate” Have No “Fence”?

We have all read the books, we all know the theory – Lean business processes are GREAT! They cut waste, cut lead times…
Seven Reasons NOT to Fire your Factory Manager

The role of Factory Manager (or Operations Manager, Plant Manager, General Manager – title is not important) is one of…
The Metrics of Concern Strips

Across manufacturing sectors we are living in a data-rich world, which is both a blessing and a curse. Data can take man…
Creating a Standard Lean Workstation: Low Volume – High Mix Industry

S & A Stairs craftsman work in a low volume, high mix industry. Designing a standard Lean workstation is the first steps…
Top 3 TXM Lean Minute Videos

Our TXM Lean Minute videos have attracted attention from around the globe and we love bringing them to you! They are a f…
7 Flows to Consider When Designing Your Factory Layout

Whether you are moving into a new factory, changing the layout of your current facility to improve workflow or making ro…