As I mentioned in the original Industry 4.0 blog, nine key enablers support Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing. I list the nine key enablers below. The adoption of 5G internet speeds will enable Digital Twins to add value for your customers. Some of the key enablers of Smart Manufacturing include: Cyber Security/Blockchain Cloud Computing IIoT- …
If you have read my book the Lean Game Plan, you know I talk about Value Stream Mapping as the first step to understand where you should focus your improvement efforts. If you have never completed a Value Stream Map for your organization, it will be helpful to develop l an Enterprise Value Stream Map …
Occasionally, within a Rapid Improvement Event, or daily interactions, we will deal with frustrating people. Given the speed of an RIE it’s hard to slow down to deal with those frustrating people on the spot. Here are four tips to help you deal with frustrating people in an RIE. Keep perspective and have patience Often …
Research states that “46% of all improvement initiatives fail because of lack of leadership.”1 Having too many Level One Leaders will kill your Lean transformation. Here is how to identify them! Much has already been written on Lean Leadership. Jim Womack and John Shook at the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) describe the evolution of leadership …
One of the key elements on my American Lean Weekday podcast is the weekly interviews that I conduct with companies on their Lean Journey. These companies are from various industries and are all different sizes. I have interviewed leaders from family-owned businesses to multi-national organizations. This week is a little different, I share the mic …
Inside Secrets on Supplying a Fortune 100 Company Read More »
As I mentioned in the original Industry 4.0 blog, nine key enablers support Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing. I list the nine key enablers below. This blog post will introduce augmented reality. Key enablers of Smart Manufacturing include: Cyber Security/Blockchain Cloud Computing IIoT- Industrial Internet of Things Big Data System Integration Autonomous Robots-Cobots Additive Manufacturing- …
In the previous blog, I talked about setting up our pull chains for the parts that support the top 80% of the products you sell to customers. We calculated the quantities we need to keep at each location within the pull chain. In this blog, let’s talk about how we will signal when we are …
How to Increase Cash Flow without Laying Off Employees Part 4 Read More »
What if you are the employee assigned to guide your companies Lean journey but you have little experience? Here is how you can increase your confidence. 1. Have Confidence in your Lean Abilities In our minds, we believe that we have to know everything there is to know about Lean before we can confidently deliver results. We overcomplicate …
How to Increase Your Confidence as a Lean Coordinator Read More »
When talking about Lean, people often focus on the process management part. They focus on value stream mapping and try to improve processes while neglecting to update leadership and management systems. The lean leadership model is based on one crucial belief – the leader’s goal is to raise new leaders. To do that, leaders must …
One of the key elements on my American Lean Weekday podcast is the weekly interviews that I conduct with companies on their Lean Journey. These companies are from various industries and are all different sizes. I have interviewed leaders from family-owned businesses to multi-national organizations. This week is a little different, I share the mic …