by Torbjørn H. Netland Scientific thinking is a cornerstone of lean thinking, but the lean movement itself has unfortunately become largely unscientific. Here are ten academic lean papers you should know. Most writings on lean are anecdotal success stories or opinion...
by Torbjørn H. Netland The company-specific production system (XPS) of Chrysler is the World Class Manufacturing (WCM) concept, developed by the Fiat Group in 2006. But, what exactly is the WCM? And, what does Chrysler see as keys to success in WCM? A few answers are...
by Torbjørn H. Netland The “3 Ms”— muri, mura, muda — is among the most important concepts in lean production. Yet, the Ms are often misjudged. The most common misunderstanding is to see lean only as a method to reduce waste (“muda”). Those that start waste-hunting...
by Torbjørn H. Netland If I should explain my research in two words, I would say “improving productivity”. Productivity matters The importance of productivity for our wealth and prosperity is well captured by the famous quote of Nobel Prize Laurate Paul Krugman [1]:...
by Torbjørn H. Netland How will manufacturing look like in the future? As part of my engagement as Fellow of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Production, I featured in a podcast about the future of production. Here is what I had to say about it....
In a new white paper, Robert Martichenko, founding CEO of LeanCor Supply Chain Group, reminds us that JIT is based on inventory optimization, not inventory minimization. The paper, “Post COVID-19 Crisis Supply Chain,” also outlines how the public and the private...
During the Covid-19 crisis, some have blamed “just in time” or “Lean” for the current (and tragic) shortages of life-saving items like masks and ventilators. JIT has been vilified after nearly every major natural disaster that has disrupted supply chains. Is this...
Environmental Best Practice – thinking with a green/environmental lens Adopting sustainable business practices and thinking with a green/environmental lens will enable organizations to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, reduce costs and increase access to...
Lean Thinking – Operations and Business Management Best Practice Lean is a management system to maximize customer value while minimizing waste, a system to drive continuous improvements and efficiencies that utilise less time, effort and resources thereby giving...
Improving the operations capabilities Even the best organizations need to improve and develop, partly because customer’s expectations are likely to increase and partly because business competitor’s will also be improving. If you are not improving, you can be sure your...
