https://www.business-improvement.eu/ Business cases and articles process and production improvement 60 In Toyota, people coach each other to solve problems. This idea is older than Lean. In the forties of the last century, Reg Revans led the foundation with Action Learning is P + Q, with P technical knowledge, and Q the right questioning by a coach. Velux combines it with the Toyota Way https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Velux_Action_Learning_and_Toyota_Way.php Wed, 01 Oct 2025 05:25:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Velux_Action_Learning_and_Toyota_Way.php The Lean, Smart, Digital Supply Chain is the new book of Paul Myerson. He describes the plurality of supply chain software. But the real question is not whether the technology is ready. Are we? Are we willing to share data, adapt our planning, and accept local trade-offs? https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/Lean_Smart_Digital_SupplyChain.php Mon, 07 Jul 2025 01:18:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/Lean_Smart_Digital_SupplyChain.php Departments of Hatenboer-Water operated as silos, resulting in poor alignment. However, since the introduction of Quick Response Manufacturing, late deliveries are largely history. Hatenboer-Water replaced their departments with four multidisciplinary design teams https://www.business-improvement.eu/qrm/QRM_Teams_Hatenboer_Water.php Mon, 13 Jan 2025 01:06:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/qrm/QRM_Teams_Hatenboer_Water.php Solutions like the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to align Scrum-teams, introduce many meetings. In The Lean Tech Manifesto, Fabrice Bernhard and Benoit Charles-Lavauzelle keep the Scrum teams of Theodo self-steering with Lean https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/The_Lean_Tech_Manifesto_Scaling_Agile_with_Lean.php Tue, 09 Jul 2024 04:20:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/The_Lean_Tech_Manifesto_Scaling_Agile_with_Lean.php There are many methods for process improvement, ranging from Lean to Agile, and from TPM to Six Sigma. They share one principle: the realisation of flow! Which improvement method increases throughput (flow) best, depends on your specific situation https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Flow.php Thu, 11 Apr 2024 08:18:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Flow.php Agile methods make companies, as it were, fluid. This allows them to respond quickly to market changes. Agility can encompass two different things: (1) flexible and incremental development of new products, and (2) quick adaptation of the organisation itself. https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/Agile.php Tue, 19 Sep 2023 08:23:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/Agile.php The two most well-known Lean improvement houses are the Toyota Production System (TPS) and the Toyota Way. The words system and way indicate how these relate: Toyota Production System is what in Lean, Toyota Way is how. https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Toyota_Production_System_versus_Toyota_Way.php Mon, 06 Feb 2023 10:12:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Toyota_Production_System_versus_Toyota_Way.php Almost anything can be visualised: a company mission, flow, work standards, problems, deviations, improvement actions, team work... Even thought processes!. Therefore: a talking shop floor is the best foundation for process improvement. https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Power_talking_shop_floor.php Tue, 13 Sep 2022 07:32:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Power_talking_shop_floor.php Based on hundreds of cases we developed a recipe, with six essential ingredients for continuous improvement. This basic recipe is however not sufficient. Three flavorings are needed, which prevent your menu to become less satisfying in time! https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/Recipe_continuous_improvement.php Tue, 05 Apr 2022 05:36:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/Recipe_continuous_improvement.php A plea for perceived value as the new True North for Lean! It is equal to the benefits customers experience, minus their sacrifices. The weight of the pluses and minuses in the equation depends on the context. What do you offer, and how good are your competitors? https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Lean_value_definition.php Mon, 01 Feb 2021 09:22:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Lean_value_definition.php A prerequisite for Lean is that everybody continuously learns and reflects. Toyota leader Isao Yoshino explains this in Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn. In this book he reflects on his professional life. You learn that no one is perfect, not Yoshino and not Toyota! https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Learning_to_Lead_Leading_to_Learn.php Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:32:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Learning_to_Lead_Leading_to_Learn.php Resistance to change is a myth! It is only a signal that the mountain to be climbed is too high, is located at the wrong place, has to be conquered too quickly, or that the activation energy is insufficient! Is your company goal inspiring enough? https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Activation_energy_for_change.php Thu, 14 May 2020 09:03:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Activation_energy_for_change.php The term Lean exists thirty years. Yet, there are still many misunderstandings regarding it! Do you think that without Toyota there would not have been Lean, that Lean makes work boring, or that Smart Industry and Agile fit in badly with it? https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Lean_misconceptions2.php Wed, 15 Jan 2020 05:47:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Lean_misconceptions2.php The weather becomes increasingly weirder and warmer. A world-wide transition to a circular economy is needed. However, a definition to measure the circularity of products and services is missing. https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Circular_Economy_Definition.php Wed, 21 Aug 2019 08:54:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Circular_Economy_Definition.php Kaizen 2.0, that is what Yusen Logistics calls continuous improvement with a supply chain-wide view! The Kaizen teams just need a simple Makigami-board, as attaining insight and connecting all supply chain partners with each other is the main goal. https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Yusen_Logistics_supply_chain_Kaizen2.php Wed, 17 Apr 2019 07:34:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Yusen_Logistics_supply_chain_Kaizen2.php The term Lean exists thirty years. Yet, there are still many misunderstandings regarding it! Do you think Lean means producing in a One Piece Flow, that Lean is all about daily production kick-offs, or that Lean soon will become obsolete? https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Lean_misconceptions.php Thu, 14 Feb 2019 06:02:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Lean_misconceptions.php Supply Chain Management 1.0 increases the flow of products. SCM 2.0 also encompasses the design of supply chains. It makes chains faster, cheaper, more innovative, more robust, more agile, more sustainable and more social. https://www.business-improvement.eu/other/Supply_Chain_Management.php Mon, 01 Oct 2018 12:08:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/other/Supply_Chain_Management.php The Toyota Kata approach, with standardized coaching and improving behavior, was incorporated in BMW’s Value-added Production System. Hoshin Kanri and einfachautomatiserung are also important. Industrie 4.0 is helpful for the benefit of Lean https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/BMW_Lean_Kata.php Tue, 05 Jun 2018 14:10:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/BMW_Lean_Kata.php 20 years after Rajan Suri invented the high mix, low volume production control system POLCA, he publishes The Practitioners Guide to POLCA. In this article: The work of Suri in the area of Quick Response Manufacturing, the book review, our conclusions, and the response by Suri! https://www.business-improvement.eu/qrm/Rajan_Suri_QRM_Practitioners_Guide_to_POLCA.php Wed, 25 Apr 2018 05:46:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/qrm/Rajan_Suri_QRM_Practitioners_Guide_to_POLCA.php Bosch Scharnieren (Bosch Hinges) was the first in the Netherlands to implement Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM). QRM divides your company in Quick Response Cells, supplying each other, says CEO Fried Kaanen. Next, you can reduce the waiting times. https://www.business-improvement.eu/qrm/Bosch_Scharnieren_QRM_10year.php Wed, 18 Apr 2018 03:21:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/qrm/Bosch_Scharnieren_QRM_10year.php Gearing production activities perfectly to one another is not sufficient for production in One Piece Flow. Operators at KONI receive all the parts, information and tools, just-in-time. Software and augmented reality make this possible! https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Koni_Lean_One_Piece_Flow.php Tue, 16 Jan 2018 07:22:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Koni_Lean_One_Piece_Flow.php Lean, TOC, QRM, Six Sigma, TPM, Agile ... They all improve business processes by applying the scientific method: formulating a hypothesis, testing and continuously adjusting! However, there are big differences in focus and pace https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/scientific_method_process_improvement.php Mon, 19 Jun 2017 01:15:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/scientific_method_process_improvement.php Enforcing a Lean transformation does not work. Instead, you should show the benefits! This is the conviction of Bart Evers, Lean deployment leader at Philips Lighting. Seeing is believing, and believing is copying, he says. Evers tells how his team leaders started to connect their production steps... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Philips_Lighting_Lean_Transformation.php Wed, 15 Mar 2017 15:41:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Philips_Lighting_Lean_Transformation.php Being Agile, adapting your company rapidly, seems the opposite of being Lean, improving continuously. Several methods can make you Agile, and these are based on the same principle: sense and respond. Options for change are pointed out, actions are taken, and it is checked whether the results... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Lean_Agile_Yin_Yang.php Mon, 21 Nov 2016 08:50:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Lean_Agile_Yin_Yang.php Springest calls itself a Holacracy. This means that they have no fixed positions. Roles, needed at a particular moment, are distributed among circles, which are internally self-managing. A holacratic company responds quickly to problems, by adjustment of the roles. Does this work, and what... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Springest_Holacracy.php Wed, 10 Aug 2016 10:42:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Springest_Holacracy.php At the bed specialist Auping, mesh bases and mattresses move smoothly through the factory! Everywhere the customer is visible: the employees feel for whom a product is made. Auping shows that it is possible to preserve the craftsmanship of a family business, while transforming to a Lean... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Auping_Lean.php Wed, 10 Feb 2016 12:23:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Auping_Lean.php Usuallly World Class Manufacturing (WCM) means that TPM, Lean and Six Sigma are applied simultaneously, with one method as foundation. This add-on approach is however a bit unsatisfactory. It is like dealing with shortcomings, by adding outbuildings to... https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/Unilever_World_Class_Manufacturing_Yamashima2.php Mon, 19 Oct 2015 08:59:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/Unilever_World_Class_Manufacturing_Yamashima2.php The Dutch home care provider Buurtzorg has no managers. Small local teams decide what care matches best with the wishes of their customers. Their CEO, Jos de Blok, criticizes the bureaucratic control of the Dutch home care. It has the aim to... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Buurtzorg_autonomous_teams.php Wed, 06 May 2015 10:48:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Buurtzorg_autonomous_teams.php For real breakthroughs with Lean manufacturing you need a strategic vision, to which the improvement work can be directed. To that end, you need to make a future state value stream map, for each family of products or services... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/value_stream_mapping.php Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:31:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/value_stream_mapping.php Virupa Visual Solutions experienced significant growth in the last twenty years, but this was taking up increasingly more energy. In QRM jargon this is called the Response Time Spiral. Virupa disbanded the office departments... https://www.business-improvement.eu/qrm/Virupa_QRM.php Tue, 02 Sep 2014 12:50:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/qrm/Virupa_QRM.php Do workers need targets and bosses, or can they also manage themselves? Can a company be organized like a soccer team, that freely can move in any direction? Frederic Laloux thinks this is possible. He studied 12... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Reinventing_Organizations.php Mon, 23 Jun 2014 10:55:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Reinventing_Organizations.php The current OEE-reporting methods are not adequate enough to determine the root cause of all problems. Therefore, the operators at Danone (Nutricia) were recently trained to capture as much information as... https://www.business-improvement.eu/tpm/Nutricia_Danone_TPM.php Tue, 22 Apr 2014 12:43:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/tpm/Nutricia_Danone_TPM.php Lean can be implemented in a technical way. Guus Cox, operations manager at Oce, compares this with using a bulldozer. This gives fast results, but the behavior of the people has not... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Oce_Lean_Transformation.php Wed, 08 Jan 2014 09:41:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Oce_Lean_Transformation.php At Scania Zwolle Production, each year and per employee, 20 to 25 trucks are assembled. To stay ahead of the competition, the truck manufacturer raised its productivity with about 6% every... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Scania_Lean_organization.php Wed, 29 May 2013 08:07:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Scania_Lean_organization.php Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM): The faster your production chain, the better! What kind of companies are successful with QRM? We figured it out at the 11th international QRM-conference... https://www.business-improvement.eu/qrm/QRM_Harley-Davison_RenewAire_JoyGlobal.php Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:05:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/qrm/QRM_Harley-Davison_RenewAire_JoyGlobal.php Lean companies improve themselves by fast and successive logistic experiments. Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, states that startup companies should apply a similar approach... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/The_Lean_Startup.php Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:09:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/The_Lean_Startup.php Many organizations have trouble sustaining Lean. Toyota is one of the few exceptions. According to Jeffrey Liker and Gary Convis in their book The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership, their secret... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/The_Toyota_Way_to_Lean_Leadership.php Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:12:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/The_Toyota_Way_to_Lean_Leadership.php The situation in the factory of Leaf was very worrisome. The employees were seen as incompetent. However, a new management team started to apply Appreciative Inquiry. This emphasizes... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Leaf_Appreciative_Inquiry_and_Lean.php Tue, 4 Sep 2012 12:15:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Leaf_Appreciative_Inquiry_and_Lean.php In a Now Company, as described by John Bernard, all employees know exactly their role in end-to-end business processes, keep score how well they are performing, and are allowed... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Business_at_the_speed_of_now.php Tue, 14 Aug 2012 09:12:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Business_at_the_speed_of_now.php Applying process improvement tools from e.g. Lean, Six Sigma, TPM is not enough. This is acknowledged by companies like Philips, Sara Lee, ASML and Volvo. How to deal with the people... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/emotional_side_value_creation.php Tue, 08 May 2012 09:28:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/emotional_side_value_creation.php In 2011, two improvement approaches of Philips merged: A successful people based Lean approach, and the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt program for breakthrough improvements. Besides that, a new initiative... https://www.business-improvement.eu/press2/Philips_accelerate.php Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:23:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/press2/Philips_accelerate.php Do you want to know what lean working, thinking and managing in a hospital looks like? The second edition of the book Lean hospitals of Mark Graban gives you a clear and well-balanced... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Lean_Hospitals.php Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:47:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Lean_Hospitals.php All methods for continuous improvement address one and the same question: How can I serve my customers with products which are of maximum value to them – but at the lowest... https://www.business-improvement.eu/press/nov11.htm Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:24:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/press/nov11.htm There are people who grasp each problem within Toyota, to state that Lean now really is out of date. Others fight tooth and nail to defend the production system of the Japanese... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Evolution_and_state-of-the-art_regarding_Lean.php Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:07:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Evolution_and_state-of-the-art_regarding_Lean.php Gerritjan van der Ven, factory manager at Balchem in Italy, reviews the book Velocity: Only with a combination of the logistic manufacturing theories you will get breakthroughs... https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/Velocity.php Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:37:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/worldclass/Velocity.php After an illness of several months, Eliyahu Goldratt, managementguru and founder of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) passed away. At the time he stayed in his house in Israel, surrounded... https://www.business-improvement.eu/toc/Eliyahu_Goldratt_in_memoriam.php Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:00:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/toc/Eliyahu_Goldratt_in_memoriam.php Scientists from a Dutch university have developed a conceptual framework to evaluate outsourcing possibilities. This new framework was successfully tested within truck manufacturer Scania... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Scania_lean_outsourcing.php Wed, 25 May 2011 09:02:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lean/Scania_lean_outsourcing.php In his cinematic book Isn't it obvious Eli Goldratt not only shows what can be accomplished with the TOC in retail, there is also a deeper message in it. Good solutions are often based... https://www.business-improvement.eu/toc/Isnt_it_obvious_Goldratt.php Tue, 10 May 2011 09:07:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/toc/Isnt_it_obvious_Goldratt.php After six years of research in Toyota factories, Mike Rother describes in his book Toyota Kata how this car manufacturer manages their people. Toyota Kata is an excellent book, which... https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Toyota_Kata.php Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:07:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/lead_change/Toyota_Kata.php The Total Productive Maintenance Program (TPM) of Heineken started in 2003. Thanks to this program, all breweries produce increasingly more efficient and with fewer losses. The factory... https://www.business-improvement.eu/tpm/TPM_Heineken2010_eng.php Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:07:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/tpm/TPM_Heineken2010_eng.php To reap the full potential of Lean Six Sigma three things are needed. (1) Alignment of all improvement projects with the strategy.(2) All improvement initiatives should be process oriented and... https://www.business-improvement.eu/six_sigma/Lean_Six_Sigma_Guide_George.php Mon, 3 Jan 2011 08:55:00 +0200 https://www.business-improvement.eu/six_sigma/Lean_Six_Sigma_Guide_George.php