KaiNexus: Continuous Improvement, Leadership, and More

During a Gemba walk, supervisors and leaders go to the place where work is done (the Gemba). They observe (not fix) processes and activities and ask questions that will help lead to future improvements. Why? - is certainly an important question, but it is by no means the only one. We have put together a list of other questions that may be useful, especially if you are new to Gemba walks or if you are taking a look at a process for the first time.

Kevin Meyer from Gemba Academy, author of the book "The Simple Leader" will be giving a webinar for KaiNexus on April 25. Register at http://www.kainexus.com/webinars The title is "Personal Leadership at the Nexus of Lean and Zen." We hope you can join us or check out the recording.

"How KaiNexus Uses Kaizen and our KaiNexus Software to Improve: Podcast Episode Numbers" A blog post by Mark Graban

Keep doing what you are doing and you are going to get what you are getting. Few would argue that the logic rings true, but unfortunately, this idea is often ignored when it comes to strategic business planning. Executives huddle in a room, analyze budgets, set revenue goals, and predict great success without fundamentally changing the conditions that led to the business results they are experiencing today. A year later, or a quarter later, everyone wonders why nothing has changed.

The DMAIC technique is simple, yet powerful. It brings structure to the improvement process and helps teams explore potential solutions, decide a course of action, and implement process controls in short order. Trying any new improvement strategy can be intimidating, so we thought it would be helpful to break down all the details of DMAIC so that you can give it a try with confidence.

In our first KaiNexus "customer spotlight," Mark Graban talks with Ben Whitaker, Director, Business Process Management at Mohawk Fine Papers. We talk about their use of KaiNexus, how they are changing the culture, and more.

KaiNexus has a webinar series called Ask Us Anything, in which our CEO and Co-founder Greg Jacobson and Mark Graban, our Vice-President of Improvement & Innovation Services and founder of LeanBlog.org, join forces to answer questions KaiNexus webinar listeners ask. In this post, we will look at two questions and answers from a recent webinar.

I have been debating with myself over whether to use the word conceptions or misconceptions in this post. I decided to go with conceptions because I do not know whether these frequently held beliefs are accurate or not within your organization. We do know from countless conversations with our customers that they are devastating to a culture of improvement whether they are true or not. Here is how you can combat them, in either case.

Any good continuous improvement platform empowers you to improve in any way you see fit, rather than forcing you to subscribe to one particular methodology. That means people use the software to support a ton of different types of improvement work - including improvement-related certification classes.

If you’re using the Six Sigma methodology to create change and sustain continuous improvement in your organization, you’re likely using, or will use, DMAIC (pronounced "de-may-ick"). DMAIC is an acronym that outlines a framework for identifying and challenging sources of waste, poor quality, and inefficient processes and then looking for opportunities for improvement. DMAIC is best used when an existing product or process fails to meet performance expectations or otherwise leaves customers unsatisfied. You can read more about what DMAIC is and about steps involved on our blog, but for those of you who are finding DMAIC challenging you may want to check your organization isn’t making these five big DMAIC mistakes.