Some time ago I worked alongside a team of super sleuths from a large  consulting firm who were very skilfully looking for opportunities to cut costs – unnecessary activities and surplus heads...
Read moreSupply Chain
Jumping to Solutions
We are all guilty of one of the greatest sins with lean – not having the patience to really understand the problem we are trying to solve and then jumping to a solution that may or may not be the...
Read moreFrom Supply Chains to Value Streams
Fifteen years ago I first began to study lean supply chains, by observing Toyota’s inbound parts supply chain and later their aftermarket parts distribution system. This was the beginning of a...
Read moreCrossing the Lean Threshold
Lean transformations are increasingly bumping up against a common threshold. We may be very familiar with most of the lean tools. We may also have learnt to see our value streams and how to redesign...
Read moreLittle and Often
I still encounter a degree of confusion about one of the key mental models that gets in the way of Lean thinking. Making products in batches and accumulating a full load before dispatching a truck...
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