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Category Archives: Lean
FMCG business model disrupted.
Out with the old mass market advertising and business model, and in with the new. I shave, it costs a fortune, so much that I switched to disposable shavers without all the fatuous claims and high prices of the big … Continue reading
Posted in Marketing, Change, Lean
Tagged category management, retailer, lean, Change, Branding
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The cost of quality
What a great phrase to start a debate around the board table, often heated, as most still see the two as a trade-off, the better the quality, the higher the cost. How much better to beat the bean counters at … Continue reading
Posted in Lean, Management, Operations
Tagged lean, Management, Operations, performance assessment
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Easy cost reduction
A while ago I helped a mate move flats. He had only been there about 5 years after becoming a “bachelor” again after his family grew up, but the significant amount of clutter accumulated was unanticipated, and surprising. All sorts … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Lean, Management
Tagged Change, lean, Management, managing yourself
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The APP report, a great idea squandered
Years ago as a senior manager in a large organisation, part of the monthly routine was to write an APP report: Achievements, Problems, Plans, kept to an A4 page, used as a scene setter for the more detailed monthly report. … Continue reading
Posted in Lean, Management
Tagged Leadership, lean, Management, managing yourself, performance assessment
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Speed, effectiveness and waste.
Last week I spent over 2 hours on the phone to Optus trying to fix something they had stuffed up, the third try, after speaking to their techies and emailing the bloke who “signed” a form letter to, thanking me … Continue reading
Lean accounting
One of the reasons it is sometimes hard to keep a lean initiative alive, or indeed, get it past first base after the initial adrenalin has worn off is the manner in which the traditional accounting systems monitor performance. Often, … Continue reading
Posted in Lean, Operations, Strategy
Tagged Change, change management, communication, lean, Management, Operations, performance assessment
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Root causes of success
A basic discipline of Lean Thinking is the quest for the root cause of a problem, enabling a solution to treat the disease, not just the symptoms. The converse discipline, seeking the root cause of success so that it can … Continue reading
Posted in Collaboration, Lean, Strategy
Tagged change management, communication, Leadership, lean, performance assessment
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Business & Sustainability
Is there a win win here, does being sustainable environmentally mean a compromise to commercial sustainability, or is environmental sustainability a foundation of commercial sustainability? Increasingly the latter is becoming the more obvious answer. As the green debate widens, and … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Innovation, Lean, Strategy
Tagged Change, climate change, Innovation, lean, Politics, Value chain
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“Five S” misused
The lean tool, 5s, is often a starting point for lean implementation. It makes sense, as on the surface, it is relatively easy, “straighten, sweep, set, standardise, and sustain”, but it is this last bit that catches people out. A … Continue reading
Lean and 6 sigma revisited
In a recent conversation I again found myself between two smart blokes, one who was a black belt 6 sigma consultant who believed the problems of the world could be fixed by some aggressive, numerical focus on process improvement, and … Continue reading
The process of developing solutions
We humans like to do things in a consistent manner, each time we do something, it is comfortable to do it the way we did it before. This is great if the way we have done it delivers the optimal … Continue reading
Posted in Lean, Operations, Strategy
Tagged lean, Management, Operations, performance assessment
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Encouraging evolution
Process improvement is all about slow adoption of the tiny opportunities that arrive, by any number of means, that together enable adaption of the system to the environment around it to improve performance. My favorite metaphors usually come from the … Continue reading
Posted in Collaboration, Lean, Management, Operations
Tagged Change, change management, collaboration, lean, Operations, performance assessment
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Go to the Gemba
“Gemba” is a Japanese term, literally “the real place” and is a term used extensively in lean management, meaning, in effect, go to where it happens and look to understand. This originally meant the manufacturing floor, but just as easily … Continue reading
Managing virtual teams.
Management structures have flattened and globalised at the same time, radically changing the way collaboration happens. Now virtual teams work across all sorts of boundaries, and have created a new set of challenges. Traditional management simply does not work effectively, … Continue reading
Posted in Collaboration, Leadership, Lean
Tagged Alliance management, collaboration, communication, Leadership, lean, performance assessment
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3 simple improvement questions.
The clarion call for improvement, in everything from the minor shop floor activities to big picture strategic implementation is clear. We all need to do more with less, and this requires that we identify which bits of our current activities … Continue reading
Posted in Lean, Management, Operations
Tagged lean, Management, Operations, performance assessment
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Manufacturing health check
Another story about a US company going against the trend and “on-shoring” to shorten supply times, improve quality and certainty, and gain control over their operations. Forward thinking companies in developed economies are starting to recognise that manufacturing is a … Continue reading
On customer service and empty stables.
Last week I had a problem with my mobile internet connection when changing plans. Usually a simple process, something went array in the supplier, and I could not connect and as the “new improved” plan rolled into service, I had nothing, … Continue reading
Innovation “carpark”
This is an expression I have used for many years, it is just a metaphor for never throwing out an idea, leave it available for scrutiny later when you know more, or for parts to build something different, or just … Continue reading
Value adding ratio.
Articulating a Customer Value Proposition, understanding which activities add value to the customer, and which do not, is core to any successful marketing activity. However, so many CVP’s I see are a bunch of words dreamt up over a beer, … Continue reading
Posted in Customers, Lean, Operations
Tagged customer, lean, Operations, performance assessment, value
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A tale of “Either/or” and “Both/and”
Typically, we see things in an “either/or” context, you can do one thing at the expense of another, take your choice!. You can have line efficiency, or line flexibility, not both, advertising reach or frequency against a narrow target, but … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Collaboration, Lean, Operations
Tagged category management, collaboration, customer, lean, Operations, Value chain
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