The KaiZone

Improving the business of life

What Six Lean Experts – and Me – Have to Say About Kaizen

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Friends of the KaiZone

Recently, I was asked to guest post by fellow Lean blogger and Friend of TheKaiZone, Eric Raio, on his Factory Solutions blog.  Eric posed the following question to six of the world’s foremost Lean authors and thought leaders . . . and me, too:

What is one low-hanging fruit you can solve with kaizen?

You can find my thoughts below, and for the article in its entirety, be sure to check out Eric’s site at Factorysolutions.com.

Kaizen: Beware the Low-Hanging Fruit

Almost all new kaizen programs begin with the search for the proverbial low-hanging fruit, and understandably so.  It just makes sense that we start by reaping the biggest reward for the least amount of effort, doesn’t it?  Perhaps not.  While the low-hanging fruit might seem enticing, caution must be exercised not to become dependent on the high-reward, low-effort model of improvement.  Allow me to explain. [Read more…]

 

The Toyota Way to Service Excellence: A Conversation with Karyn Ross

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The best Lean books for beginners from The Lean Book Shop

In the first ever interview for TheKaiZone, it was my great honor to catch-up this week with one of the co-authors of the new book, The Toyota Way to Service Excellence: Lean Transformation in Service Organizations, Karyn Ross.

About the Author, Karyn Ross

karyn ross, toyota way to service excellenceKaryn is uniquely qualified to write what I am sure will become THE book on Lean for services, having spent her entire career in the service industries. She is a consultant, a coach and accomplished Toyota Way practitioner who has successfully taught Lean for services across all levels in service sectors as diverse as financial services, HR, transportation and retail. And if that’s not enough, she is also one of the most thoughtful and personable Lean thinkers I have ever had the good fortune to meet.

If you like what you hear – and I am sure that you will – you can reach Karyn on her website at KarynRossConsulting.com.  Email her at Karyn@karynrossconsulting.com.  Or connect with her and follow her posts on LinkedIn. [Read more…]

 

A Lesson in Humility, Part 1 with Daniel Jones, Matt Elson and Tracey Richardson

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Friends of the KaiZoneIf I were to distill down my 31 years to a single word, it would be serendiptity. When I look back, I’ve come to realize that in the pursuits of  my life, I’ve very rarely been fulfilled by that which I’ve sought; it is the act of seeking, however, that has rewarded me in ways that are both completely unexpected and absolutely invaluable.

The piece that you are about to read is my epitome of serendipity.  On one level, the original intention of the post, I sought advice from who I believe to be the top Lean thinkers alive to share here in my little corner of the internet with you all.  Certainly, the responses that I received – actually, that I received any responses at all – more than exceeded even my most wishful expectations.  However, in true serendipitous fashion, in seeking and receiving wisdom from these three individuals, I was taught for more than I would have ever imagined.

To maintain integrity to the original intention of the piece, and out of the respect to the contributing authors, I have divided the piece into two parts.  In the first, Mr. Jones, Mr. Elson and Ms. Richardson provide us with their words of wisdom for the Lean journey.  In the second part, I will take you behind the scenes to look at how the piece came to be, and how its lessons both reinforce and transcend the concept of Lean thinking. [Read more…]

 

Agile Kaizen: Speeding Up Continuous Improvement

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Friends of the KaiZoneIn the first ever edition of Friends of The KaiZone, we are honored to welcome Jens R. Woinowski as a special guest contributor.

Jens R. Woinowski of LeanSelf.org

Jens R. Woinowski has been in the IT business for more than 20 years and is currently quality and risk manager at a major IT company. While studying and applying lean principles as part of his job, Woinowski discovered that lean management principles were as relevant in personal life as in business. In his blog Lean Self he shares insights of this discovery to the public.

One core principle of Lean is continuous improvement. While in theory the idea is simple and tools like A3s support it, the reality is much more complicated. As long as non-trivial processes are involved, the risk of slow or failed improvement is high. Agile Kaizen, which is suggested in this post, may be the answer to speed up and raise the chances of sustainable change.

What is broken continuous improvement?

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If you have seen enough continuous improvement activities in real life, you may have seen this anti-pattern:

[Read more…]