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Whether you are already a part of a management team in an organization or you aspire to become one in the future, you should know that leadership skills need to be learned and polished throughout life.Collaborating with professionals and teams in different working environments will give you the experience you need, but working on your own development doesn’t necessarily have to happen in the office. Whatever more, you should take time to work on your leadership skills in your free time,...
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Good data analysis allows you to make smarter decisions faster. Here at Minitab, we are constantly striving to make it easier for you to analyze data and communicate those results so you can keep your projects moving forward. Case in point: the improved Multi-Vari Chart in the latest update to Minitab 19 (19.2.0).
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The first plant we visited as our van full of nerds touring southern Germany to study Industry 4.0 was the Bosch wafer fab RtP1 in Reutlingen. Quite impressive. Let me show you what we found: Bosch Wafer Fab Reutlingen The Plant The Bosch wafer fab in Reutlingen produces – as the name implies – wafers. … Continue reading Industry 4.0 Tour in Germany – A Van Full of Nerds – Bosch Reutlingen Wafer Fab
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The first plant we visited as our van full of nerds touring southern Germany to study Industry 4.0 was the Bosch wafer fab RtP1 in Reutlingen. Quite impressive. Let me show you what we found: Bosch Wafer Fab Reutlingen The Plant The Bosch wafer fab in Reutlingen produces – as the name implies – wafers. … Continue reading Industry 4.0 Tour in Germany – A Van Full of Nerds – Bosch Reutlingen Wafer Fab
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ut very quickly we discovered that the process of sharing our continuous improvement story had a powerful effect on our employee and management commitment to Lean. This was not an outcome that I had anticipated. Sharing with visitors encouraged us to learn more; quoting a Latin proverb, “Docendo discimus,” the best way to learn is to teach.
Retrieved from: A Lean Journey
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A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of September, 2019. You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.
How to Be an Effective Change Leader – Jon Miller describes 4 key points that make Lean leaders more effective.
The Problem of Profit as a Purpose – Kevin Meyer explains that a primary focus on profit can create short term rewards, but can also create tremendous if not deadly long term reputation and financial damage and, most importantly,...
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How to Be an Effective Change Leader – Jon Miller describes 4 key points that make Lean leaders more effective.
The Problem of Profit as a Purpose – Kevin Meyer explains that a primary focus on profit can create short term rewards, but can also create tremendous if not deadly long term reputation and financial damage and, most importantly,...
To continue reading this post click on the title.
Retrieved from: The Lean Thinker
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I am sitting in on a daily production status meeting. The site has been in trouble meeting its schedule, and the division president is on the call. The fact that a shipment of material hadn’t been loaded onto the truck to an outside process is brought up. The actual consequence was a small delay, with …
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On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.
"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." — George Bernard Shaw
This...
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"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." — George Bernard Shaw
This...
To continue reading this post click on the title.
Retrieved from: The Lean Insider
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In August, I had the opportunity to speak with Stephen Yorkstone shortly after the publication of his new book, Global Lean for Higher Education: A Themed Anthology of Case Studies, Approaches, and Tools. Stephen's book reflects the state-of-the-art in the global practical application of Lean for higher education. It demonstrates the diverse applications of Lean in universities inspiring others to deeply engage with Lean thinking in their own unique context and to drive successful, sustainable, Lean work.
During our conversation, I asked him: "Where is the application of Lean most prevalent in higher education? Where is it most effective?" Here is his complete answer:
Universities are curious places to think about as Lean organizations. They are connected to every industry, while being idiosyncratic all of their own.
Given that, as you might expect, there isn't one clear pattern to the kind of universities that successfully apply Lean. There are institutions with under 10,000 students making a big difference with Lean, and universities with tens of thousands of students equally making advances.
There are clusters of practice however. Where I live in Scotland, a large proportion of the universities have Lean type work going on, there is a growing momentum behind Lean in the United Kingdom higher education, a large and highly influential group of Australian practitioners, and there are examples of great and well established practice in North America and across Europe.
The pattern of growth of Lean in universities seems to spread organically, from a few pioneers outwards. It's fair to say not all activity to embed Lean in higher education is successful, however, and it can be challenging to estimate this. The existence of a named "Lean" team while on the one hand is clear evidence of a deep organizational commitment of one kind, it on the other hand doesn't guarantee that that university is itself highly Lean. Conversely, the absence of such a team doesn't indicate a university is not in fact advanced in applying Lean thinking.
There are a number of maturity models that look to solve this problem and allow institutions to benchmark against each other. However, given the higher education sector is hugely diverse, simplistic comparisons can be unhelpful. "Paralysis by analysis" is a real risk. Perhaps a practical approach is better.
It's a practical approach that is behind the successful Lean applications in universities. We see use of classic lean tools like visual display boards and team huddles, rapid improvement type activity, lean linked with project boards and technology. However, it's not one way of "doing" lean that works in universities, but "being" Lean that works. Lean in higher education works where institutions don't slavishly adhere to one particular tool or product; but rather when they reflect deeply on their purpose, take action to improve, learn, and always do so with respect for people.
And isn't this the right thing to focus on, regardless of the industry we work in?
Lean in higher education is only growing, and it has already been applied both to administrative and academic services. What do you think of Stephen's perspective? Do you feel that Lean can have a significant and measurable impact in higher education?
Retrieved from: The Lean Thinker
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“Are you ahead or behind?” seems an innocent enough question. But when asked by a Toyota advisor, the simple process of becoming able to answer it launched Liz McCartney and Jack Rosenburg on a journey of finding consistency in things that were “never the same” and stability in things that “always changed.” Getting Home is, first …