Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond

Episode page: leanblog.org/40 Here is LeanBlog Podcast #40, an interview with a retired UAW/GM employee who wishes to remain anonymous, at this point. We have traded many emails over the past year, about Lean, and I'm impressed with this individual's true passion for Lean and Toyota Production System concepts. We both agree that the “root cause” of many Lean struggles comes back to management's inability to create trust and to give up some control to the employees who actually do the work. The intent here, from my perspective, is not “management bashing,” but rather to illustrate that there are some on the UAW side who “get it” and success is going to require true cooperation and sacrifices on both sides. LeanBlog Podcast #40 Key Points & Key Words “Quality Network” – GM and the UAW GM had been working with Lean methods since the early 1990's, but not associating it with “Lean” (Toyota) until this decade The need for trust and culture change — changing the “them vs. us” attitude

Episode page Here is LeanBlog Podcast #39, once again featuring Dr. Jeffrey Liker, Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan. Dr. Liker is most recently the co-author (with Michael Hoseus) of Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way and many other books, which can be found here on amazon.com. This is part 2 of what will be a 3-part podcast series, so be sure to check back. Today, we talk about some of the challenges that organizations face in trying to adopt a Lean Culture. Click for the entire series with Prof. Liker. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts. LeanBlog Podcast #39 Key Points & Links Will Dr. Liker be writing more about companies who have gone through the Lean culture transformation, examples other than Toyota, ala his earlier book, Becoming Lean: Inside Stories of U.S. Manufacturers? Bob Emiliani's book on Wiremold: Better Thinking, Better Results Case Study and Analysis of an Enterprise-Wide Lean Transformation Why is it so hard to find examples of companies that have really adopted a Lean culture? Thoughts on the impact of top American leaders departing Toyota (Jim Press and Gary Convis)

Episode page Here is LeanBlog Podcast #38, our guest today is Bob Emiliani, the author of Practical Lean Leadership: A Strategic Leadership Guide For Executives. It's a workbook-style guide that forces you to think through your own leadership approach and your own situation. In this podcast, we talk about “lean leadership,” “value added behaviors,” and some pitfalls to avoid in lean implementations. LeanBlog Podcast #38 Key Points & Key Words How Bob first got involved with Lean and, especially, the leadership component. What's different about this new Lean book? What are some examples of “non-value-added” management activities or behaviors? A definition of kaizen that emphasizes that kaizen cannot be sub-optimizing, you must look at the whole Some errors to avoid in Lean implementation, avoiding “fake Lean”    

Episode page Here is LeanBlog Podcast #37, once again featuring Dr. Jeffrey Liker, Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan. Dr. Liker is most recently the co-author (with Michael Hoseus) of Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way and many other books, which can be found here on amazon.com. This is part 1 of what will be a 3-part podcast series. Listen to part 2 and part 3. For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts. LeanBlog Podcast #37 Key Points Overview of the book, how it builds on the previous books. The people part is such a foundation of the Toyota Way, had to expand upon it. Looking at the cultural assumptions in the 14 principles. In the book, seeing a “day in the life” of a Toyota supervisor. Get a clearer picture of the “respect for people” principle throughout the book Thoughts on implementing Lean the “wrong way.”

Episode page: https://leanblog.org/36  LeanBlog Podcast #36 once again features our friend and frequent guest, Norman Bodek, noted lean author, consultant, and President of PCS Press. In this episode, Norman talks about his most recent publication, a text by the legendary Shigeo Shingo, called Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking – The Scientific Thinking Mechanism, as well as future publications he is working on. This was recorded back in 2007, before the book was published (it has now been out in publication for a few months, I apologize for the delay in getting this podcast released). If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page. Keywords and Main Points, Episode #36 You can find the book here via enna.com, or amazon.com.

Episode Page LeanBlog Podcast #35 is another discussion with David Meier, co-author of the book Toyota Talent, written with Dr. Jeffrey Liker. In this podcast, we follow up our previous discussion (Podcast #31) to talk about the upcoming Toyota books, as well as some of the leadership challenges that companies face with working with Lean. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page at http://www.leanpodcast.org/. Keywords and Main Points, Episode #35 The next books coming in the series – Toyota Culture, Toyota Process, Toyota Problem Solving Hearing comments about how companies have trouble sustaining Lean after 3 or 5 years — why is that happening and what's missing? Talking about the LEI survey on why companies struggle with Lean How is the Toyota San Antonio plant creating a system of systematic continuous improvement? Following the stand problem solving methodology to find out why a company is struggling with Lean… Instead of being punitive, leaders need to be more inspirational Need to move away from blaming Leadership has to communicate the message His website: http://www.thetoyotaway.org/

Episode page LeanBlog Podcast #34 is a discussion with Chris Harris, from Harris Lean Systems, and co-author of the book Developing a Lean Workforce: A Guide for Human Resources, Plant Managers and Lean Coordinators. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page. Now that my book manuscript is done, I'm going to get back into regular podcasting, with episodes in the coming weeks featuring Norman Bodek, David Meier, and Jeffrey Liker. Let me know if you have questions for Dr. Liker, using the contact info at the bottom of this post. Keywords and Main Points, Episode #34 Chris started working the assembly line at Toyota, then became a production supervisor at both Toyota and a different Tier 1 auto supplier. Focusing on the people is key, assuming most people want to do a good job. What's the proper role of a “Lean Coordinator”? What's the right role for a supervisor or a team leader? How do you make that transition? “The same reason Lean succeeds is the same reason it fails…. leadership.”

Episode Page Here is LeanBlog Podcast #33, a new interview with Jim Huntzinger, the President of the Lean Accounting Summit. In this Podcast, Jim gives us an update on the recent Summit and talks about some of the latest trends in Lean Accounting.

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/32 Remastered audio June 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #32 once again features our friend and frequent guest, Norman Bodek, noted lean author, consultant, and President of PCS Press. In this episode, Norman talks about his recent study trip to Japan and what he saw there. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page.   Keywords and Main Points, Episode #32 Trip to Japan The use of videotape to analyze the process to look for waste, with the employees The purpose of standard work (and kaizen) Going after waste relentlessly People writing down that they make mistakes Shingo said, “we make mistakes, but we don't want defects” “Poka yoke” and error proofing The use of automation and temporary labor Norman — “how ROI, short-term thinking is killing America” Norman is going on another study mission in April 2008 — go with him! Contact Norman through his website at pcspress.com about that

Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/31 Remastered July 2021 LeanBlog Podcast #31 is a discussion with David Meier, most recently the co-author of the book Toyota Talent, written with Dr. Jeffrey Liker. In this podcast, we discuss the topics from Toyota Talent, including standardized work and how to use the methodology correctly. We also talk briefly about Toyota's new San Antonio plant. I love David's quote, “Standardization of work doesn't mean that everybody does it exactly the same way.” There will be an upcoming Part 2 of this discussion with David where we talk about upcoming books in the Toyota series, so stay tuned. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page at http://www.leanpodcast.org/. Keywords and Main Points, Episode #31 How does Toyota turn the cliche of “people are our most important asset” into reality? How to avoid standardizing for the sake of standardizing — how to decide WHAT to standardize and why How did Toyota build upon the Training Within Industry program? Why does Toyota look at work in such minute detail, breaking jobs down? What are “key points” in a job breakdown sheet? Why is it important to explain why the key points are necessary? Does this tie to “respect for people”? How does this process apply to jobs, such as nursing, that aren't repeatable 45 second assembly line cycles? Does Toyota invest more time and effort into training new employees than other companies? Blog post about Toyota, “frugal” versus “cheap” “Standardiziaton of work doesn't mean that everybody does it exactly the same way.” Talking about the new Toyota plant in San Antonio