The Lean Solutions Podcast

In this episode, Dr. Jeff Liker and I dive into the fascinating world of Kata coaching and explore the key concepts from his novel on the subject What You'll Learn: 1. What led you to write a novel with Tilo Schwarz? 2. For the listeners that do not know, what is kata coaching? 3. What did Tilo add about coaching to Mike Rother's 5 question card? 4. Why a novel about kata coaching? I understand th...

In this episode, John Willis and I discuss his upcoming book as well as key moments from our recent trip to Japan. What You'll Learn: 1.) John's upcoming book about Dr. Deming. 2.) Why Deming still matters today. 3.) What Mr. Yosino. said about Mr. Nemoto. 4.) What Mr. Youshino said about Dr. Deming. 5.) What were my favorite parts of Katie's Japan Study? About the Guest:   John Willis is Senior D...

In this episode, Mark Graban and I discuss the value that comes from making mistakes and how learning from our mistakes is effective in lean culture. What You'll Learn: 1. What inspired you to write the book? 2. How does "learning from mistakes" fit into a Lean culture? 3. What is Psychological Safety and how can leaders create the conditions for it? 4. Examples from Toyota? A small software compa...

In this episode, David Larsen and I discuss respect for people, and CI in the office. What You'll Learn: 1. Share about your professional journey and background. 2. Tell me about your day job… 3. Recently you spoke at the Lean and Six Sigma World Conference in Orlando…. Why did you seek the speaking opportunity? 4. What do you think sets your work or approach apart from others in your field? 5. Wh...

In this episode, Ovidiu Contras and I discuss tangled environments and how to work through them effectively. What You'll Learn: 1. What’s your Lean career path? 2. What’s a tangled environment? 3. What are the challenges in improving work in a tangled environment? 4. What helped in guiding teams to significantly improve work in the tangled environment? 5. VSM for non-repetitive work? How is that w...

In this episode, Paul Dunlop and I discuss the value of visual management and the effectiveness of an SQCD board. What You'll Learn: 1. What is the value of visual management? 2. What is an SQCD board? 3. What are the steps to developing a good SQCD board? 4. How do we know if our SQCD board is working? 5. What challenges have you experienced in rolling out SQCD boards with your clients? About the...

In this episode, The Lean Solutions Podcast host Patrick Adams discusses the ingredients necessary to fuel a mighty flame of continuous improvement in an organization as well as his book Avoiding The Continuous Appearance Trap, which received the Shingo publication award earlier this year. In the show notes, there is an article that Patrick wrote regarding the topics he speaks about in this episod...

In this episode, Chad Bareither and I discuss the importance of a continuous improvement mindset. What You'll Learn: What is continuous improvement? Is a continuous improvement mindset anchored more in the hard skills (tools/systems) or the soft skills (behavior/thinking)? How does an organization get started with Continuous Improvement? How would that same organization sustain the benefits? What...

In this episode, Tom Passaro and I discuss him and his team's early lean journey, and the challenges and wins they have experienced. What You'll Learn: 1. Tell us about your company. 2. What products/services do you provide? 3. Who is your ideal customer? 4. Why did you decide to embark on your own lean journey? 5. What challenges have you had? 6. What have the results been? 7. What do you have to...

In this episode, Matthew Singh and I discuss PI initiatives and programs as well as positively influencing culture. What You'll Learn: 1. What do you think are some important elements of a successful PI program? 2. How does one go about impacting positive cultural change? 3. What insights can you provide about the sustainability of a program? 4. What's been your greatest challenge in your PI endea...

In this episode, Ken Segel and I discuss the importance of continuous improvement principles as they apply to patient care. What You'll Learn: 1. Can you tell me a little bit about Value Capture’s mission and history so our listeners can get a sense for your work in healthcare, and how your firm combines leading with safety and Toyota Production System principles or lean?   2. How about your perso...

In this episode, Adam Lawrence and I discuss the Wheel of Sustainability and its elements. What You'll Learn: 1. Which element of the Wheel of Sustainability do you find most challenging for your Kaizen teams to engage with and why? 2. How do you help your Kaizen teams deal with this element (Clear Benefits) 3. What are you trying to accomplish with this element during a Kaizen event? 4. Do you ha...

In this episode, Mike Leigh and I discuss the application of lean as well as the implementation of a lean mindset within organizations. What You'll Learn: 1. Can you describe your Lean journey so far? 2. How has your attitude toward the application of Lean changed? 3. What is your approach to helping companies move forward on their Lean journey? 4. You're not a big fan of Six Sigma. Why is that? 5...

In this episode, Rich Sheridan and I discuss the impacts of implementing a culture of storytelling. What You'll Learn: 1. Why are you called the Chief Storyteller at Menlo? 2. Why is storytelling such an important part of your company's culture? 3. What kinds of stories are relevant to tell? 4. How do you curate stories? 5. How do you build a storytelling culture? About the Guest:   Rich Sheridan,...

In this episode, Katie Anderson and I discuss a culture of excellence through continuous improvement during a pre-recorded webinar. What You'll Learn: 1. What are the ingredients that make up a culture of excellence? 2. In cultures of CI, what does it mean to “learn, lead, and care”? 3. Can you share your favorite story from Mr. Yoshino that exemplifies a culture of CI? 4. Why do you do the Japan...

In this episode, Toby Curry and I discuss lean process implementation in an organization as well as factors that can contribute to failure in a lean practice system. What You'll Learn: 1. Can you give us some background on who you are and some of your work experience? 2. Lean manufacturing practices have been around for decades. Throughout the life of Lean Practices, the demand for these skills an...

In this episode, Katie Labedz and I discuss trends and ways to become successful in terms of a person's CI journey as well as improving everything in every process. What You'll Learn: 1. Tell us about your new book "How to Improve Absolutely Every Process" 2. What trends are you seeing in the CI space? 3. Why are people hesitant to start or restart their CI journey? 4. Why do most CI journeys fail...

In this episode, Tony Hayes and I discuss ways to create a lean learning culture through an organizations atmosphere and leadership platforms. What You'll Learn: 1. What is the definition of a good Lean “Learning Culture? 2. What are the challenges to creating this type of atmosphere within an organization? 3. What role does Leadership play in facilitating or creating the platform for learning? 4....

In this episode, Steve Johnson and I discuss training paths and employee tools when it comes to a robust training program. You'll also here how a robust training program can help reduce employee turn-over. What You'll Learn: Why did you start a training program for technicians? What does the training path look like for a technician? Does an employee need any experience or certifications to start t...

In this episode, Tanya Stinson and I discuss the impacts of costly wastes and modern technology as well as one of healthcare's number one problems: communication. What You'll Learn: What are a few of the most costly wastes in healthcare currently? If there was one thing that you could change in healthcare right away, what would it be? Do you feel like healthcare organizations are siloed? Do you th...

In this episode, Tom Hughes and I discuss the extensive experience Tom has gained helping hundreds of organizations across the world do standard work / digital work instructions better with his software product GembaDocs. What You'll Learn: 1. How did the whole GembaDocs thing happen? 2. How can you say it’s a Game Changer? That’s a pretty big claim! 3. Why is OWNERSHIP so important with Standards...

In this episode, Mark Deluzio and I discuss the Danaher business system, as well as the art of Lean Transformation. What You'll Learn: Why do Lean Transformations fail? Could you explain the importance of having a business strategy and the ability to deploy/execute the strategy. What made the Danaher Business System so successful? As the "Father of Lean Accounting," how important is it to change t...

In this episode, Bob Emiliani and I discuss the problem of classical management.  What You'll Learn: What is classical management? You put together an A3 and challenged lean practitioners. Can you tell our listeners what is an A3? What were the root cause results of the A3 investigation? What are your suggested solutions? Any new books in your future? About the Guest: Dr. Bob Emiliani has been a L...

In this episode, Sam Morgan and I discuss his personal journey into launching his coaching business to include his personal use of kata to make it happen.  We discuss the use of kata for both business and personal applications.  What You'll Learn: How did you get to the point of starting your own coaching business? You don't have any lean certifications (LSSMB) or coaching certifications (ICF) Wha...

In this episode, Dr. Joe Sprangel and I discuss Humanist Manufacturing.  Joe explains the Humanist Manufacturing Framework to include the humanist commitments necessary for leader success.   What You'll Learn: What is Humanist Manufacturing? Could you share the phases of your humanist manufacturing framework? What are the humanist commitments you used as the foundation of your framework? The secon...