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Articles on Lean Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, and The Toyota Production System

The Toyota Production System, or Lean Manufacturing as it has come to be called, is the production system developed by Toyota to identify and eliminate waste. It’s pillars are Continuous Improvement and Respect for People. It’s methodology includes both a worldview and tools to make work better through the systematic elimination of waste and a thorough approach to developing people.

Legislating The Toyota Production System: Making the Application of Lean the Law

by Pete Abilla on January 26, 2012

Bypassing any expected change management effort or cultural transformation, nothing gets a group of employees moving than an executive order. That’s exactly what the Governor of the State of Washington did – has executed an executive order for government employees to apply Lean in their work. I’m as surprised as you are. When I first [...]

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Kaizen at AOL

by Pete Abilla on January 16, 2012

aol kaizen, aol broadband, aol chat room

We, lean folks, sometimes develop a narrow worldview that lean is just for manufacturing. While we know that lean is being applied to many different industries, we are sometimes surprised to hear of companies applying lean, especially if they are unconventional companies we never expected to be adopting lean; such is the case with AOL. [...]

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Kaizen in Everyday Life

by Pete Abilla on January 12, 2012

This article is a guest post from Noeradji Prabowo, a continuous improvement practitioner in Indonesia. In this article, he shares a simple and effective application of Kaizen and the Kaizen frame of mind to a common activity in business meetings: drinking coffee. Learn more about Noeradji Prabowo after the article. Beginning in November 2011, we [...]

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Supply Chain Sustainability and the Scorecard

by Pete Abilla on January 10, 2012

sustainable supply chain, sustainability scorecard

This post is sponsored by the University of San Francisco’s Supply Chain program. Learn more about the program and their focus on sustainability at the end of the post. Don’t Let Suppliers Rack up Bogeys on Your Sustainability Scorecard A sustainability scorecard is a system for companies to measure the sustainability of their different suppliers. [...]

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How Manufacturing Software Can Adjust to Lean Principles

by Pete Abilla on January 9, 2012

We’re pleased to have Derek Singleton present an article on Manufacturing Software and argue for how traditional ERP software can better support the principles of Lean Manufacturing. ERP and MRP have traditionally been at odds with the principles of lean. So, in his article, he also asks you, the reader, for advice on how else [...]

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Suggestion Box: Employee Kaizen Ideas

by Pete Abilla on December 12, 2011

suggestion box, kaizen ideas for lean manufacturing

While waiting for my kids’ swimming lesson to start, the kids and I waited at the only available seat at our local recreational center, which was in the corner of the building next to the men’s bathroom. As we sat down, my 2 year old started playing with something attached to the wall. And, as [...]

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Why Context is Important

by Pete Abilla on December 7, 2011

Signs and symbols without context has no meaning. Context matters. But, rarely do we consciously think of it; in fact, we almost always assume without really realizing that the subject of which we are talking about is really relative to other parts of the story. We take it for granted. For example, take the picture [...]

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Toyota Supplier Quality: Quality Advisory Panel Opinion

by Pete Abilla on December 6, 2011

toyota supplier support center, quality, safety

Toyota’s supply chain is a vast network of suppliers providing auto parts to the Toyota plant. If there’s any defects in the products as provided by its supply chain, then it will likely manifest itself in the finished good: a defective and potentially unsafe Toyota vehicle. The Quality Advisory Panel addresses this concern and makes [...]

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