Value Stream Mapping and Daily Kaizen Using Toyota Kata

After having been introduced to us by James Womack and Daniel Jones in the book Lean Thinking back in the '90's and then explained thoroughly in the book Learning to See by lean experts Mike Rother and John Shook, Value Stream Mapping has endured as one of the most talked-about Lean methods.  Daily kaizen, the idea that improvement should happen everyday, is also an often discussed concept within Lean Manufacturing.  But, what is the relationship between these two concepts?  This video explains the relationship between value stream mapping and daily kaizen utilizing the Improvement Kata (introduced to us by Mike Rother in the book Toyota Kata).

Heijunka for High Mix, Low Volume Operations

Heijunka, or level loading (or load-leveling) is a very important concept within Lean Thinking; however, it is one of the most often ignored concepts.  Leveling the workload is critical to making other concepts such as pull systems and one piece flow work.  For a high mix or custom environment like a job shop or even an administrative operation, level loading is even more of a challenge.  In this video heijunka or level loading for such high mix environments is explained:

Implementing Lean in 2010

EMS Consulting Group's December newsletter is out. This month we're talking about Implementing Lean in 2010. As a person who believes lean thinking is superior to the traditional approach to operations, I believe anytime is a good time to begin a lean transformation. Given the state of the economy, 2010 might be a particularly good time to begin. In our latest newsletter, we talk about the state of the economy and why lean transformation makes sense now. To check it out, visit: http://www.emsstrategies.com/newsletter120109.htm