Guide
Insights on lean, processes and change.
27 of 40 articles
The most expensive machine in the hall stands still the most
The new machine was supposed to solve everything. Now it stands still more than it runs, and nobody can say why. Usually it is not the machine but everything that happens around it.
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.
AI in the plant, without the hype. Where it pays off today.
Everyone is talking about AI, but in the plant the question remains: where does it actually help? I show which processes suit getting started, where to keep your hands off, and what must be clarified first.
Fewer meetings, more production. A manifesto.
Your calendar is full, the line is waiting for decisions. Meetings are processes like any other, and just as full of waste. Here is a manifesto for clearing them out.
Where your order processing loses hours every day without anyone noticing
The line is fast, yet the order still arrives late. I show where the days disappear in order clarification, purchasing and production planning, and what lean office does about it.
Consultant, interim or do it yourself? An honest decision guide
The lean manager has gone, plant management is overloaded, the programme is stalling. A consultant delivers a concept. An interim mandate delivers implementation. When each one fits.
When your lean manager resigns, more than one person leaves
The lean manager resigns, and suddenly the plant realises that everything depended on him. How to move knowledge from heads into structures before it is too late.
From annual goal to shift, without losing anything along the way
The strategy sits on a slide in January and is forgotten by March. Hoshin kanri makes sure that a few goals carry the whole year, even without a staff department.
What a CEO should ask in the hall, and what better not
A walk through the hall is not yet a gemba walk. The difference lies in the questions you ask and in what you do afterwards. A guide for top management.