Michael Ballé

Articles

Lean Development view details
Explores the Toyota system for product development: "it is not a collection of best practices which can be implemented piecemeal, but a system."

Why Create Poka-yokes, and Why Disconnect Them? view details
"Lines with overly complex Poka-Yoke devices tend to lose much productivity by having operators simply run the part through the detection device again until a part would be consistently stopped. Not surprisingly, production management can be tempted to simply disconnect the poka- yoke in order to run the line."

Are lean principles universal? view details
"There is only one golden rule: we make people before we make parts. This requires a spirit of challenge, open mind and teamwork, as Pascal Dennis phrased it in his great lean novel Andy and Me. Every industry is different, but all human beings share the same capabilities and potentials – that is universal. As one Sensei once told me, the biggest room is the room for improvement."

Tags: continual improvement culture lean management lean manufacturing managing people quality tools respect for people Toyota production system

Michael Ballé
Lean Edge
"Lean management is a method to dramatically improve business performance by teaching people how to improve their own processes. The two main dimensions of lean management are continuous process improvement (going and seeing problems at the source, challenging operations and improving step by step) and respect for people (developing and engaging employees by developing teamwork, problem solving and respect for customers, employees and all other partners). ... The aim of the discussion [on the site] is to share different points of view and to collectively build a vision of lean management."

Tags: blog continual improvement lean management lean manufacturing learning organization management managing people problem solving process improvement quality tools respect for people teams Toyota production system