Lean Six Sigma

The ability to implement and maintain improvement initiatives like Lean and Six Sigma is essential for improving quality, eliminating waste, reducing costs, and increasing output―but it’s only the first step. Eventually, the improve-sustain-improve-sustain pattern itself becomes the end product. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Written by the industrial engineer who developed SMED (single-minute exchange of die) for Toyota, A Revolution in Manufacturing provides a full overview of this powerful just in time production tool. It offers the most complete and detailed instructions available anywhere for transforming a manufacturing environment in ways that will speed up production and make small lot inventories feasible. The author delves into both the theory and practice of the SMED system, explaining fundamentals as well as techniques for applying SMED. The critically acclaimed text is supported with hundreds of illustrations and photographs, as well as twelve chapter-length case studies.

Lean Culture Change, Reveals Phase 1 Level A of The Transformation Curve

Steven Leuschel, Lean healthcare practitioner pens book, Lean Culture Change Using a Daily Management System. This new book reveals decades of organizational transformation knowledge deeply rooted in the Toyota Production System and Toyota’s culture.

Lean Culture Change is based on the teachings of Rodger B. Lewis, former General Manager of Quality at Toyota during the Georgetown ramp up. Lewis via the Transformation Curve has successfully transformed divisions of General Motors and organizations around the globe for decades. Now, it’s time that healthcare organizations begin to learn a long-term strategic approach to transformation— not just becoming Lean, doing kaizen events, or creating a model cell. In Lean Culture Change, Leuschel describes the initial steps of the Transformation Curve’s Phase 1 Level A with real-life healthcare examples and case studies.

Lean Culture Change is designed to be a training manual for team leaders and Senior Leaders who wish to study and adapt the Transformation Curve. It contains over 200 pages, 100 images/examples, and 6 case studies, an Afterword and Post Script.

This companion to The Lean Turnaround shows exactly how to use “lean leadership” to eliminate waste while increasing profitability and driving sustainability

While many companies have attempted to become Lean, few have captured the full promise of this better way of business. In this compelling sequel to The Lean Turnaround, lean pioneer Art Byrne leads you through a step-by-step transformation in which he tackles all the key challenges that you will deal with.

Lean is more than a tactic. Byrne reveals its power as a complete strategy that:

*Dramatically boosts profit margins, earnings, and ultimately enterprise value by
*Engaging every employee in a culture of continuous improvements where
*Every person takes ownership for problem-solving and learning in order to
*Deliver more value to the customer by identifying and removing waste―permanently.

In The Lean Turnaround Action Guide, Byrne draws from his 30 years of experience leading Lean in more than 30 companies. By setting this book in a company based on his experience, he is able to identify and guide you through the many challenges you will face on your successful Lean turnaround.

In Leading Lean by Living Lean, Philip Holt details and explains what is probably the most important part of becoming a Lean Leader -- living and practicing what you preach. To do this you must believe in what you’re doing, understand what it means and what you need to do, and do it every day. The author, through his engineering background, has fully embraced the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model of Deming / Shewhart but has adapted David Bovis’ Believe-Think-Feel-Act (BTFA) model to understand why logic and facts are very often not the principal players in the game of change.

In this book, Holt author describes how you can take both the PDCA and BTFA models into account and has sectioned the book into three prime parts:

1. Head -- How you learn and understand the Lean principles and their application.
2. Hands -- How you practice Lean Leadership daily.
3. Heart -- How you internalize and believe in Lean Leadership.

Through this book, you, the Lean practitioner, whether aspiring or experienced, will have everything that you need to “lead it,” “do it,” and “live it.”

The nature of this book is more “why to” than “how to” – the author knows that he cannot tell you how to lead, do, or live Lean; he can only explain why it is so important and share his knowledge, experiences, failures, and successes. This book isn’t so much a self-help book as a self-reflection book and it can point you in the proper direction, but… the book won’t change you; only you can change you!

Essentially, with this book, the author wants those who think of Lean as a toolkit, who believe that Lean can be project managed, or who argue about Lean versus Six Sigma and misunderstand the fundamental depth of impact that true Lean Leadership has on an organization to be disabused of any or all of those notions. This book is aimed at those leaders who seek to experience the full transformative effects of Lean in their organizations and want to practice it at the principle level of deployment. Holt's aim is to help business leaders enhance who they are by changing what they do and the way that they do it

In 2005, Goodyear’s research and development (R&D) engine was not performing up to its full potential. The R&D organization developed high-quality tires, but the projects were not always successful. Goodyear embarked on a major initiative to transform its innovation creation processes by learning, understanding, and applying lean product development principles. Within five years, Goodyear saw its product development cycle times slashed by 70 percent, on-time delivery performance rise close to 100 percent, and throughput improve three-fold – all achieved with no increase in the R&D budget.

Lean-Driven Innovation: Powering Product Development at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company describes in great detail how the Goodyear team was able to achieve such significant improvements. Revealing the ups and downs of this successful transformation, the book shares experiences of how this seismic change was managed, how people were engaged, and how Goodyear dramatically reinvigorated its product development and innovation processes―and, in the process, delivered substantial more value to customers and to the company.

The book also explains how lean product development helped Goodyear dramatically improve revenue by having every new product available when the market needed it. Presenting wide-ranging perspectives from all levels of leadership, this book is ideal for anyone in R&D daring to take on a lean initiative in R&D or who is struggling with a lean transformation that is not delivering to its full potential. Since the book focuses on universal lean principles, it is as insightful to other manufacturing and nonmanufacturing disciplines in any industry as well.

The book presents invaluable insights gained by the author during his 36 years within Goodyear, of which 10 have been directly involved in trying to develop, implement, and sustain lean to achieve the company’s business objectives. It distills ideas, practices, failures, and successes into key principles that lean product development practitioners can easily implement.

After reading this book, you will gain a practical path for applying lean to the innovation processes of your organization, including where to begin and what to do, regardless of the industry and the status of your transformation.

Watch Norbert Majerus discuss Lean-Driven Innovation at: https://youtu.be/yIlJEMJIcyA