Go to the gemba. Go and see. Stand in a circle and observe what's happening with your own eyes.

We often think about the principle of "go and see" applying to giant companies, where leadership and management is far removed from the front lines. But it applies to small companies, too - as small as a single coffeehouse.

Great list of factors that make change last.

A nice project with our supply cabinets in Content Development.

More on Kelly's 5S journey. Love the persistence I'm seeing!

And the journey continues ...

One teammate helping another - great story!

An interesting experiment

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." - Maya Angelou This quote pretty much sums up the aim of Lean. The lean approach to managing operations is really about: Doing the simple things well Doing things better Involving employees in the continuous process of improvement …and as a result, avoiding waste, providing value

Try this five-step process that CCL suggests to clients and users of our self-assessment, WorkLife Indicator.

Once value added activities and necessary non-value activities are identified, improvement efforts are directed toward making the activities flow. Flow is the uninterrupted movement of product or service through the system to the customer.

When you're trafficking in information, you're dealing with electrons. It takes tremendous effort to see and measure the waste in an office process, because most of it resides in files stored on your computer and in your inbox.

Good video about how to conduct a morning meeting

Yes and for Continuous Improvement as well!

Fast Cap CI idea

Improvement doesn't just happen.  It takes time, and in the pressure pot of our day to day activities, there is never enough time to improve our situation. The structure of Lean permits and requires time be set aside for improvement. If managers do not definitively provide time for the task of improvement, then people will know that they are not serious about making improvement a formal part of the work.

Cool and inspiring video about Lean Principles.

Great article on Muda, Muri & Mura - 7 wastes, Unevenness & Overburdened. I'm going to add this to our CI Training.

Cool video on how to apply lean ideas to order picking.

"Quality is never an accident, it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution. It represents the wise choice of many alternatives." - Willa Foster