Lean Management: What is Catchball?

Our January 2013 newsletter is out, and our topic for the month is Lean Leadership.  One sub-topic within lean leadership is the concept known as catchball.  Anyone who has been involved in a lean transformation knows that a good working relationship and system for communication between upper management, supervision, and front-line workers is critical to success.  Management sets the vision and goals, but the workers actually have the know-how to make improvements to their processes.  Catchball is one technique for making these relationships work.  We've recently created the following video to explain the concept of catchball.

Lean Problem Solving

EMS Consulting Group's September newsletter is out. In it, we talk about one of the key elements of lean implementation: creating a problem solving culture. At Toyota, bringing problems to the surface and solving those problems to their root causes are key elements to successfully providing the customer with the best quality products at the right time. In our latest newsletter, we talk about how to create a culture that fosters such activities. To check it out, visit: http://www.emsstrategies.com/newsletter090109.htm