This post was triggered by a post that Harish Jose wrote on purposeful and purposive entities in systems thinking (see: The purpose of purposeful entities in purposive systems). In that post, an autonomous entity was defined as an entity that has freedom of choice and is free to make its own rules. This triggered me,
Some time ago, 3M was in the news about the way they used “social networking” internally to generate new ideas. This electronic suggestion box generated an “impressive” 700 suggestions in only 2 weeks, according to news site cio.com. And of course, every suggestion is welcome, but I’d like to put the 3M efforts in a somewhat
Tell me, does it make a difference in how you treat your car depending upon whether it is a company car or your own? And what about homes: is there a difference in maintenance between rented homes and owned ones? A 2013 study, conducted in the Netherlands by Platform31 based upon the national registration of the
We often speak about the two pillars of the Toyota or Lean system, and when doing so we think of the two well-known pillars of just-in-time (JIT) and built-in quality (jidoka). JIT thereby focuses on manufacturing only the necessary products, at the necessary time, in the necessary quantity by deploying pull flow (kanban), one piece
In my work with companies trying to transform into a Lean company, it continues to strike me how difficult they find it to sustain, or anchor, improvements in their daily work habits. The improvements that were suggested are well-meant, on-target, but still, they don’t seem to stick. I often see that the teams developing the
Isn’t it just fantastic what we people have managed to do in the field of measurement and control technology. The nicest gadgets ensure our production equipment and processes remain in control. Nothing can halt technology, so it seems. And who knows what the Internet of Things (IoT) will have in store for all of us
Meanwhile many organizations have started with Lean. Especially standing in front of a whiteboard with performance data seems to be the hottest thing in town nowadays. The thing that bothers me in these daily huddles or stand-up meetings is that the data often comes from outside the team. I then tell them there is a
“Is it really true, that we do not add any value?” People in supportive functions pose me this question quite regularly. Recently it was someone from the quality department that confronted me with this question. Coincidentally or not, the quality department plays a role in each of the three Lean initiatives that I currently accompany.
Regularly, people ask me how Lean can help in improving a company’s functional support departments. In many cases organizations already have begun introducing Lean thinking in these functions and are teams progressing with their 5S efforts, setting up team performance boards and introducing daily huddles around these, and initiating improvement teams. Well done! But I’m
The “Undercover Boss” which is also televised in the Netherlands is an interesting show: the managing director or CEO of an organization goes onto the shop floor in disguise to find out what actually is going on in his or her organization. And in some matters the “undercover boss” immediately takes action. What a feeling
