Ensure that people using lean tools understand the principles of lean. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic I frequently reference the rate of failure experienced in lean implementations.  I also suggest that this failure is due to being incomplete in the implementation, and not simply incorrect.  Today’s OpEx TopEx is a…

Use and refine lean accounting practices to drive results. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic One of the most impactful endeavors I embarked upon was the study or lean accounting practices.  Educated in accounting, I am familiar with GAAP, and so I was a bit leery at first glance, but Orry…

Create flow across an extended enterprise (from suppliers through customers). Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic The idea of flow is often misunderstood.  The idea gets tangled up with one piece v. batch, and encounters either/or thinking rather than both/and thinking.  Flow where you can, push where you must.  The first…

Share ideas, information, and feedback, and encourage others to do the same. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic When we solve common problems, the next logical step is to share ideas, information, and feedback.  What is it that makes sharing best practices so challenging?  Could it be the way we approach…

Ensure the links in the strategy deployment chain are maintained and correctly structured. Practitioners: integrative and strategic What does it take to ensure the links in the strategy deployment chain are maintained and correctly structured?  Building a process that defines the chains and structures them correctly is the first step. …

Actively support, promote, communicate, or provide resources for employees to participate in the OpEx journey. Practitioners; Tactical, integrative, and strategic The three practitioners show up in our OpEx TopEx again.  The tactical practitioner, or project facilitator, can and does support, promote and communicate the importance of participation in the OpEx…

Assess the long-term results of an improvement. Practitioners: integrative, and strategic One of the most frequent complaints associated with any improvement project is the lack of sustainable results.  As a tactical practitioner, focusing on improving the method or process is foremost in my purview.  Working through the end-to-end process improvement…

Use process maps for the extended value stream to assist in conducting projects. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic Value stream mapping is a great tool to uncover potential improvement opportunities.  I would like to expand the scope of our focus to process maps.  Process mapping, in general, opens the eyes…

Provide coaching and training on the tools and principles of operational excellence. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic There are three critical participants in any successful operational excellence implementation.  The Sponsor, the process owner, and the team member.  Each has a special and specific relationship to the tools, techniques, and tactics…

 Use tools to create alignment to company vision and corporate mission (strategy deployment). Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic Strategy deployment is an important function for any organization.  Whether large or small, formal or informal, creating alignment to vision and strategy is critical.  What tools do we have to support and…