KaiNexus: Continuous Improvement, Leadership, and More

Link to the blog post James Womack and Dan Jones are the founders of the Lean Enterprise Institute and the Lean Enterprise Academy (UK), respectively. Their book, Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, is considered by some to be the bible of Lean Manufacturing. It was initially published in 1996 based on their in-depth study of Toyota’s fabled Toyota Production System (TPS). Womack and Jones realized that every business output results from a process. Process thinking in operations management requires leaders and workers to view the organization as a set of related processes that work together for a common goal rather than a group of departments supporting a specific function.These ideas are widely used by organizations in every sector to better design, track, and optimize business operations. Companies have not done away with functional departments. Instead, they view the work departments do differently. Departments don't exist on their terms. Each receives inputs from other functions and provides outputs that other departments must consume to complete their work. In short, each function or person contributes to one or more business processes. So, instead of managing departments, process thinking means managing entire operations. A process might move through a series of teams or functions, each with its requirements, but the purpose of each one is to create value for the customer, which is what matters.

Read the blog post Maybe Albert Einstein was talking about continuous improvement when he said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Too often, we see organizations struggling to measure only those things that can be tied to a dollar amount and they, unfortunately, neglect the impact of ALL improvements. Let’s have a look at the top six ways to measure the impact of your organization’s improvement efforts.

Presented by Elizabeth Chase View slides and video Join us for a look at how one library’s practice of Lean introduced a city to its benefits and informed the design of the 5th largest public library in Texas, a 158,000-square-foot library (in a repurposed rocket factory). Covering everything from creating a Lean training curriculum to specific examples of applied Lean fundamentals – with a detour into Vaccine site administration – this webinar has something for everyone interested in continuous improvement and/or libraries. Elizabeth Chase is the Material Services Manager for the Frisco Public Library. Elizabeth began her career with the City of Frisco in 2003. Before taking her current position, her roles at the Library included Adult Services Reference Librarian, Cataloger, and Senior Librarian. In the category of “other duties as assigned,” Elizabeth is a member of the Frisco Lean Team Steering Committee, which develops and implements Lean certification for City employees. Her primary role is teaching a 4-hour Lean fundamentals class to employees throughout the City and celebrating the improvements made as a result.

Read the blog post The renowned football coach and philosopher, Vince Lombardi, once said, “Perfection is unattainable, but if we chase perfection, we catch excellence.” That’s the mindset of a Lean organization. There’s a bedrock belief that every process, investment, employee, or action should directly translate to value for the customer with no waste. That ideal is unattainable, of course, but Lean organizations try to get close to it every day, and in doing so, reach a level of success that their competitors can only envy.  Every Lean organization is unique, but there are some core qualities that they tend to have in common.

Register for the webinar Join Mark Graban as he hosts Elizabeth Chase to preview her webinar... April 24 from 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET Presented by Elizabeth Chase One City’s (and Library’s) Lean Story… AbridgedJoin us for a look at how one library’s practice of Lean introduced a city to its benefits and informed the design of the 5th largest public library in Texas, a 158,000-square-foot library (in a repurposed rocket factory).Covering everything from creating a Lean training curriculum to specific examples of applied Lean fundamentals – with a detour into Vaccine site administration – this webinar has something for everyone interested in continuous improvement and/or libraries.Attendees will be able to ask as many questions that dive into specific details as time allows. Elizabeth Chase is the Material Services Manager for the Frisco Public Library. Elizabeth began her career with the City of Frisco in 2003. Before taking her current position, her roles at the Library included Adult Services Reference Librarian, Cataloger, and Senior Librarian. In the category of “other duties as assigned,” Elizabeth is a member of the Frisco Lean Team Steering Committee, which develops and implements Lean certification for City employees. Her primary role is teaching a 4-hour Lean fundamentals class to employees throughout the City and celebrating the improvements made as a result.

Find the blog post and the infographic Written by Danielle Yoon, read by Mark Graban. The post starts: Manufacturers of all kinds seek to achieve continuous quality improvement because it ensures the consistency of products delivered to customers and protects against the competition. It also paves the path to compliance with industry-specific standards. This is crucial in the automotive sector because defective vehicle parts may lead to expensive recalls—or worse, accidents that cost lives. Fortunately, continuous improvement has a long history in automotive manufacturing. Many of the tools and techniques widely used by organizations worldwide were explicitly developed to ensure the quality and efficiency of automotive manufacturing. Toyota was a pioneer of many of the CQI approaches used today. Whether you are using language like CQI, TQM, Lean, TPS, or Lean Six Sigma, these approaches described below still apply. As you might imagine, the benefits of a successful continuous improvement program are significant, including: 6 Steps to Continuous Improvement in the Automotive Industry

Welcome to the KaiNexus Continuous Improvement Podcast. Today, we're excited to host Greg Jacobson, a lean thinker, and an inspiring visionary who has made significant strides in propagating the lean approach in the healthcare sector and beyond. Learn more about KaiNexicon In this captivating dialogue, Mark Graban helps unravel the remarkable journey of Greg, highlighting his deep-rooted dedication to continuous improvement that stretches back to his early days in his mother's tuxedo shop. Unfolding the chapters of Greg's extraordinary journey, we learn about the inception of KaiNexus, which came to life from the chaos of email clutter, evolving to become a robust system that fosters improvement and efficiency. Greg's story serves as a testament to the far-reaching influence of a single individual's dedication to constant betterment, potentially catalyzing a revolution in the industry by propelling productivity and quality of care forward.

Video, slides, and more Presented by Tracy Defoe How do you develop coaching skills in yourself and others? Why would you want to? Everyone who manages people is asked to coach. Most of us think we are good at it. If you were lucky enough to learn how to develop and coach people because you were coached well from the start of your career, you are unusual. Most of us have to learn a new, quiet way of working with people to coach and develop them. Join kata coach Tracy Defoe for her ideas on developing coaching skills the Toyota Kata way, based on years of personal and group experiential learning experiments. This webinar is a preview of a deep dive Tracy is facilitating at the upcoming Kata Summit, KataCon10, coming up in April 2024. Tracy Defoe is an adult educator specializing in learning at work. About ten years ago she started coaching to develop a scientific mindset in people improving their processes at work using the Improvement and Coaching Kata detailed in Mike Rother's Toyota Kata books. She is a cofounder of the global women's group Kata Girl Geeks, cofounder of Kata School Cascadia, and a facilitator with Tilo Schwarz's Kata Coaching Dojo Masterclass.

Read the blog post We often describe Kaizen as a way of looking at the world rather than a prescription for how to achieve positive change. Kaizen thinkers seek to make small changes to operations daily in search of higher quality, more efficiency, and less waste. But because the concept of Kaizen is so philosophical, it can be a challenge for people new to the idea to understand what it means in practical terms. Related: What is Kaizen? One useful tool for training managers to adopt the Kaizen mindset is called the 5 M’s. By consistently examining the 5 M’s, managers will be able to recognize when something in a process is not working and improve efficiency and profitability. This model can be used for risk mitigation, addressing safety issues, and improving quality. It can be used right alongside other Kaizen techniques such as the 5 Whys, 5S, and Gemba walks. Humanpower Machines Materials Methods Measurements

To be presented March 21 from 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET This is a quick preview where host Mark Graban, a senior advisor with KaiNexus, chats with webinar presenter Tracy Defoe. Registration Link Webinar Description: How do you develop coaching skills in yourself and others? Why would you want to? Everyone who manages people is asked to coach. Most of us think we are good at it. If you were lucky enough to learn how to develop and coach people because you were coached well from the start of your career, you are unusual. Most of us have to learn a new, quiet way of working with people to coach and develop them. Join kata coach Tracy Defoe for her ideas on developing coaching skills the Toyota Kata way, based on years of personal and group experiential learning experiments. This webinar is a preview of a deep dive Tracy is facilitating at the upcoming Kata Summit, KataCon10, coming up in April 2024. Tracy Defoe is an adult educator specializing in learning at work. About ten years ago she started coaching to develop a scientific mindset in people improving their processes at work using the Improvement and Coaching Kata detailed in Mike Rother's Toyota Kata books. She is a cofounder of the global women's group Kata Girl Geeks, cofounder of Kata School Cascadia, and a facilitator with Tilo Schwarz's Kata Coaching Dojo Masterclass.