Regardless of economic conditions–recession or boom–organizations must continuously sharpen their competitive edge. This can be achieved through Lean Management principles focused on Cost Reduction, specifically targeting the elimination of non-value-added (NVA) activities or waste within value stream processes. Be Lean In the Lean Management philosophy, all activities in an organization are grouped into two categories: […]
Tag Archives | lean management
14 Principles of Lean Toyota Production System (TPS)
Editor’s Note: Charles Intrieri is a consultant with over 25 years of experience in Operational Excellence, Supply Chain & Logistics, and Metrics-driven Management. He has made available a number of reports and tools related to these areas on Flevy, which can be viewed here. * * * * Lean Management (also known as Lean Manufacturing and […]
Supply Chain Management: 2 Phases of Transportation Cost Reduction
Companies looking to improve efficiency and reduce costs can gain significant ground in the Supply Chain Management function by incorporating Lean Management and Six Sigma techniques. Reason this area has gone under the radar is that companies do not consider Supply Chain to be their core competency. Not only Warehousing but Transportation also has almost […]
The Art (and Science) of Winning a Price War: The Price War Strategy
“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War Many companies are competing on the basis of low prices. Yet, Price Wars represent a fundamentally different dynamic than simply trying to get […]
The Devil is in the Details: Your Primer to a Lean Culture
Culture is essential today in helping employees and management survive in today’s environment. Survival has become a strong word today. Without culture, everyone in the organization would act or behave differently. No one would be able to anticipate someone else’s behavior, and no one would understand why people behave the way they do. When this […]
When Business Change Needs to Take the Upper Hand: Take the Lean-led Business Transformation
Big cross-organizational change can be difficult and not all organizational transformation is the same. Rapid advances in technology, a growing global creative workforce, and market with fewer and fewer barriers to entry are driving a hyper-creative volatile marketplace. New ideas are making established business positions obsolete at an increasing rate. Products and services that survive […]
Embrace Lean Warehousing
Editor’s Note: Charles Intrieri is a consultant with over 25 years of experience in Operational Excellence, Supply Chain & Logistics, and Metrics-driven Management. He has made available a number of reports and tools related to these areas on Flevy, which can be viewed here. * * * * Lean is the elimination of all waste, […]
How to Achieve Personal Growth Using Lean Six Sigma?
“If you work hard for your job, you make a living. But, if you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune.” – Jim Rohn My first inspirational book, about change and personal growth, was about Total Quality Management. The first question that came to my mind, while reading Environmental TQM, was how can […]
What Exactly is Value Stream Mapping (VSM)?
There are tons of “value”-driven management frameworks. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is one of the most well known–but, do you know what exactly this methodology refers to? Value Stream Mapping Overview VSM is Lean Management method for analyzing the current state and designing a future state for the series of events that take a product or […]
Continuous Improvement 101: The Deming Cycle (PDCA)
“Continuous Improvement” is a term management consulting firms love using. It’s also a driving principle behind Lean Management. So, how can we achieve Continuous Improvement in our organization? One of the most common Lean frameworks for Continuous Improvement (of quality) is the Deming Cycle–also commonly known as PDCA Cycle, Deming Wheel, Shewhart Cycle, or Continuous […]
How Do You Transform a Culture?
So you’ve gotten a big client or Senior Leadership position. The company that is hiring you has seen the results of your previous projects, and they want you to start a very large global project (Enterprise Level) on numerous sites. You of course say, “We can do anything you want.” This is a typical response […]
Follow These 13 Lean Principles to Eliminate Waste in the Warehouse
In managing and improving the operations of your warehouse, consider Lean initiatives to eliminate all waste and bring value to your customers beyond their expectations. Here are 13 principles to follow. 1. Communicate effectively and often. Clearly communicating to workers your organizational goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), and the processes to achieve them is one […]
