Category Archives: Lean and Toyota Kata

Wisdom of Shambhala

The introduction of such wisdom into North American culture is an historical landmark – the wisdom of Shambhala. from Great Eastern Sun:  The Wisdom of Shambhala by Chogyam Trungpa I ask myself why this quote caught my attention.  Back in the … Continue reading

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The Kata and Me

I haven’t had the chance to apply the kata to my work yet – still looking for a current condition that is stable enough and a person who I can work with.  I think I’ve found both – 1.  A new … Continue reading

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5S Training – Part 8

OK, we have made it to part 8. What has transpired since the last briefing? Another session was completed of 3 groups who went through 1 1/2 hours of classroom training, went out to complete a project and came back … Continue reading

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Change Agent Must Be a Warrior – Sun Tzu The Art of War

I recently described the manufacturing environment as controlled chaos to a candidate for an open position.  Then I just read an excerpt from The Art of War as follows: Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question … Continue reading

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5S Training – Part Seven

Since the last posting, more training has been held with cross functional representatives.  As part of the training, smaller groups of 3 or 4 go out to an area and pretend that they are going to implement 5S. They come … Continue reading

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Toyota Kata – Re-Inspired

The revolution still goes on and I’m ready to get back into the flow again. Hired my engineers and have met my objective so I’m ready to go back to my passion. My recipe would be to follow the instructions … Continue reading

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5S Training – Part Six

In order to keep up with the progress that is being made on the 5S program, I’m adding the correspondence from the executive team meeting and my response to that – laying the groundwork for the two most important elements … Continue reading

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Zen Environment/Lean Environment

Funny how things come together.  I have been playing with the similarities between Buddhism and Lean in other articles.  How do you make a shift in your perspective and what is necessary to do that? John Shooks’ quote in the … Continue reading

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5S Training and Power Struggles – Part Five

This is where we ended from the last posting: “there is supposed to be some planning going on behind the scenes to see if we can gather together some enthusiasm in upper management.” Trying to get some interest from upper … Continue reading

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5S Training and Power Struggles – Part Four

So far, we are moving forward but at a snails pace.  At the end of the first group of training sessions, there was an edge of excitement but there were some questions regarding the implementation. After a few weeks of … Continue reading

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