Every moment of every day, a person takes action. Some of these actions are involuntary in that the person does not have to contemplate their taking place, such as: breathing, the heart beating, digestive process, etc… And some of these actions are voluntary in that the person is consciously involved in taking the action, such…
Imagine this scenario: A customer gives us an order, the factory produces the products, and the order ships, autonomously, without any management intervention. No meetings, no expedites, no shifting priorities, no direction setting. Like turning a key to start your car engine, it just happens. Sound like a dream? It’s not. Many companies have achieved…
The Big Idea How can executives (or anyone) use what we know about process improvement to make their lives better — as well as improve the lives of everyone with whom they interact? Todd Pearson’s productivity transformation in his home, personal and work life is one in a series of Living Lean vignettes describing the…
Process improvement in large-scale service sector enterprises is considerably different from and more difficult than in manufacturing processes. Yet, the services sector represents a majority of the economic output of many developed economies including the US, so there are good economic to reasons improve service-based processes. In order to improve them, it is critical to…
In a recent podcast on PEX, Nigel Clements (advisor with UK-based non-profit Deming Forum) was asked: “The world of business contains a bewildering array of approaches to process improvement and process management. But sometimes it can seem like we’re having hardly any effect on business operations. So how can we improve the business of improvement?”
