The role of monetary rewards in lean systems is controversial. Some lean advocates oppose using monetary incentives, arguing that they are ineffective and counterproductive. Others see compensation ...

The purpose of lean management is to sustain a lean production system. Without a lean management system, lean implementation often falters, sometimes fails, and virtually never delivers up to its long ...

Despite the common allegation that lean improvement methods, based on the Toyota production system, must lead to layoffs at hospitals or health systems, the reality is quite different at several ...

For many large and midsize manufacturers, the challenge of enabling the corporatewide enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to mesh with their lean initiatives on the plant floor requires a ...

The command-and-control hierarchical organization of large companies is rapidly giving way to a more biological metaphor, one in which a corporate nervous system senses important signals from the ...

Picking up from last month’s discussion of the four principle elements of the Lean Management System, this month’s column will focus on the second element — visual controls. The four elements that ...

Lean manufacturing is a production system that eliminates waste through all steps in the process to build a product. Companies using lean systems work to reduce costs, inventory and cycle time -- the ...

he Toyota Production System, which was developed from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s by top Toyota executives to improve the company’s manufacturing processes, is now used by numerous companies ...