Lean Insights & Proven Strategies for Manufacturers

Leader standard work has become a common term in many organizations striving for operational excellence. It is often introduced as a tool to bring discipline and visibility to daily leadership...

Core Truth Leader Standard Work (LSW) is not a document. It is a system that stabilizes leadership behavior, exposes gaps, and drives improvement—only when connected to the full Lean leadership...

Imagine a single pane of glass where your entire frontline team can see—in real time—what matters most: Today’s production target Safety incidents (zero this week?) Quality defects trending up The...

The CEO of a prominent healthcare system once shared a thought-provoking insight with me: "The issue with healthcare operations is their lack of understanding about operations itself." This...

One of the most overlooked distinctions in performance management is the difference between maintenance metrics vs improvement metrics. Too often, organizations lump them together into a single list...

In 2004, during an operation meeting at my new job in a Minnesotan company, I raised a production problem. I was quickly told, “Didier, we have no problems here we only have opportunities.” I...

One of my hobbies is solving problems and teaching problem-solving. The definition of a problem is a gap between an actual condition and a standard. Without standards, there cannot be a problem…...

Lean is a socio-technical system. I love the development of people. This is rewarding to see the modest impact of my training and coaching on staff and leaders to see problems, solve problems, coach...

Processes are designed, developed, managed, and improved to provide value to a customer who may be external or internal. To provide this value, standard work is developed based on the best-known...

In 2008, when I started or re-started the Lean Office at Andersen Windows, which we called the Andersen Management System (AMS), I developed a model to explain the connection between the management...

“Ideas Are Free” is more than the title of a book by Alan G. Robinson and Dean Schroeder; it is also a timeless truth. When people are trusted, supported, and engaged in improving their own work,...

In the early 2000s, I worked at Steelcase. I helped define, implement, coach, and use the Steelcase Production System (SPS), moving back and forth between Value Stream Manager and Coach from the...