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Lucyna Gorges at a standing table overlooking the factory hall

Guide

Practical Lean guide

18 of 40 articles

Rolled-up flipchart sheet with faded sticky notes in the corner of a meeting roomChange and leadership

The workshop was great. And then nothing happened.

The feedback forms were glowing, the action list was long. Three months later nobody remembers. Where workshops fail, and it is usually not in the workshop itself.7 minScreen showing a software workflow, next to it a paper printout covered in handwritten notesOffice and digitalisation

Software only makes bad processes faster

The new system is live, and the queries are increasing rather than decreasing. That is no accident. If you digitise an unclear workflow, you get an unclear workflow with notifications.7 minYellowed laminated work instruction on a machine, working hands in the backgroundLean in practice

A standard is not a sheet of paper, it is the best known way of working

Laminated instructions hang everywhere, and yet every shift does it differently. The fault lies not with the people, but with the understanding of what a standard is.7 minGlass wall between a sales office and a production hall with two people on either sideChange and leadership

Production versus sales. Why the wall between departments costs so much

Sales promises, production complains, the customer waits. This conflict is not a character problem but a system fault. And it can be fixed.7 minDusty suggestion box on a pillar in a production hall with a form half postedLean in practice

The suggestion box is where good ideas die

Your people have ideas. They write them down, post them and never hear of them again. After the third time, they stop. That is how a plant loses its most valuable source of improvement.7 minWell-maintained KPI board in a production hall that employees walk pastLean in practice

The board is up, the numbers are right, nobody looks

Every week the board is updated, and every week the shift walks straight past it. A board nobody stands in front of is wallpaper. What it lacks is not a better KPI.7 minNew safety shoes and a visitor hard hat next to worn gloves on a workbench in the morning lightChange and leadership

What a CEO learns on one early shift, no report will ever teach

Reports smooth things over. The early shift does not. Why a full shift on the line reveals more about your plant than any presentation, and how to set it up so that it changes something.7 minBound survey report with a layer of dust in an open office cabinetChange and leadership

Employee survey. And then what? Why most results end up in the cupboard

The results are in, the traffic lights are lit, and nothing happens in the plant. Why that is, and how to set up a survey so that it does not end with the presentation but starts there.7 minEmpty training room in the plant with moderation cards and brown paper before the workshop beginsStrategy and approach

The first workshop with an external facilitator: what you may expect

The first day with someone from outside decides between trust and scepticism in the plant. What a good first workshop delivers, what it deliberately does not, and how to tell by the evening.7 min
Lucyna Gorges facilitating a lean workshop in the obeya room of a large plant

Would you rather discuss your initiative than keep reading?