In the Toyota Production System, help is provided when Andon is pulled. “Help” is essential but equally important is how. The first key...

“Kantoku.” This word appears quite frequently in Japan. A movie director is “Eiga Kantoku.” In sports, head coach is translated as...

Production Analysis Board. An essential tool that tracks the activities. Some might call it an “hour-by-hour” board. I mentioned this...

In the world of traffic, we have this concept called the “Right-of-way.” Inside a factory, we might have additional rules for the...

It is an essential tool that is used everywhere. But how do you use it? 1️⃣ Why do we have so many problems? One of the first questions...

One key point to improving efficiency is defining the base unit. The base unit is defined as the following in the Merriam-Webster...

“We are struggling to implement Kaizen…” “Why nobody is working on Kaizen…” If you have such a problem, use this Buddhist “framework” to...

Daily Kaizen. 【日々改善】 This phrase rhymes well with a Budihism philosophy, “Every day, do one Good act【一日一善】.” Buddhism talks about six...

It is good to see that people see the difference between Lean’s “Value stream mapping (VSM)” and Toyota’s “Material information flow...

“Kaizen” is not the original word made by Toyota. It originated about two hundred years ago and had a twin. The twin word is “Kaiaku...

Oobeya is a concept used in Japanese management practices. However, there are many misunderstandings about this concept. Let me clarify...

When discussing Japanese TQM, we often say that Kaoru Ishikawa is its father. Ishikawa's contribution and thinking are enormous and must...

Reflection. Many posts suggest that Hansei is a Japanese philosophy. We practice It very often, with sessions at the end of the year...

“It’s important to create Kaizen culture.” I see many posts like that. Nothing is wrong with such a statement. Two words are translated...

In 1991, the Toyota OMDD people published an article in the IE Review: Official Publication of the Japan Institute of Industrial...

When we say “understand the current condition,” what do you do? I know there are many thoughts on this. But the answer is the following....

In Japan, an activity is associated with the 5S activity. They call it “O Tei” management. I put it as “O” because there is a number...

What is the by-product of Kanban that we use in daily life today? Answer: QR code. The QR code, or “Quick Response code,” was invented in...

Genba-ism. “Genba-Shugi 【現場主義】.” It is translated as an on-site principle, on-the-ground approach, or hands-on approach. There are many...

“Visual Management” Perhaps the most misunderstood concept. “We are putting a bunch of KPI boards. We are doing visual management.” One...