Kaizen In 1986 Mr. Masaaki Imai released a book with the title: Kaizen, the key to Japan’s Competitive Succes. With this Masaaki described the difference in the area of change management between the Western World and Japan. The difference? Kaizen. Fundamental difference with traditional Western management The fundamental difference lies in Change Management and the […]
Kanban was developed at Toyota by Taiichi Ohno. He was searching for an efficient system which could be used for reaching a higher productivity level. Kanban is a visual Lean Tool and is often applied in combination with JIT (Just-In-Time). Components are only produced when there is a demand. Kanban derives from the Japanese kan, […]
Operational excellence is one of the value strategies according to Treacy and Wiersema. They argue that an organisation must master all 3 disciplines, but must be distinctive in one of these aspects. These are: Operational excellence Product leadership (product innovation) Customer intimacy What is operational excellence? Operational excellence is the conviction of an organisation to […]
In 1990 James Womack and Daniel Jones went on a world tour to promote their book: “The Machine That changed the world“. During their tour, they gave seminars on the efficient way of production realized by the Toyota Company. James Womack and Daniel Jones named this way of working: Lean Production. The theory behind this […]
Six Sigma is often mentioned in one sentence with Lean. Originally, Lean and Six Sigma were two different process improvement methodologies. Today, friend and foe agree that Lean and Six Sigma are complementary to each other. This is best illustrated by Michael George in his book: Combining Six Sigma Quality with Lean Production Speed. In […]
What is Six Sigma? The Six Sigma methodology is a repository of various proven quality principles and techniques. Elaborating on the quality circle of William Edwards Deming, Six Sigma is structured in 5 phases: Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control. A Six Sigma professional goes through all stages and optimizes the business processes step by step. Why […]