WLEI - Lean Enterprise Institute’s Podcast

Episódios Disponíveis

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Innovation as a Core Capability: Sebastian Fixson on Why Leaders Need Lean Product and Process Development
In this episode of the WLEI Podcast, we speak with Sebastian Fixson, PhD, of Babson College, on mentoring the next generation of leaders in lean product and process development (LPPD). Sebastian is the founding faculty director of the doctor of business administration) program and professor of innovation and design, at Babson, where he focuses on helping people and organizations build innovation capabilities. Jim Morgan, senior advisor on LPPDat LEI, joins Sebastian and me for this wide-ranging conversation in which we discuss: How to get emerging product leaders to slow down and leverage LPPD to build stronger teams and better businesses How engineers can use LPPD to become more effective business leaders by understanding how the larger business works Sebastian’s advice to product leaders on how to understand both the physical and digital side of the business (as well as how LPPD supports this effort) How to build “process thinkers”, not just product development leaders Where Sebastian sees hope for innovative product development processes, organizations, and/or new ways of working to solve global challenges Get Started with Lean Product & Process Development Improving how you develop and deliver products doesn’t require a full transformation to start—it begins with learning to see problems clearly, involve your team, and improve how work gets done. Explore your next step: Read Designing the Future or The Power of Process Take the 60-minute Lean Product and Process Development Overview course Join the coach-led online Designing the Future Workshop for hands-on practice, and the in-person Introduction to Lean Process Development course Oct 7 Bring a coach into your organization for customized support Let’s take the first step—together. Learn more at lean.org/LPPD »
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Learnings of a Lean Pioneer
Jim Lancaster, Owner and CEO of Lantech, talks with Josh Howell, LEI President, and Mark Reich, LEI Chief Engineer Strategy, about his lean journey and the decades-long transformation at his packaging-solutions company. Lantech, a lean pioneer, was highlighted in Jim Womack’s and Daniel Jones’ 1996 book Lean Thinking, and has steadily improved, growing the business 75% since 2020 despite economic and market factors that have derailed other companies. Jim, author of The Work of Management, started at Lantech in high school when his father, Pat, was CEO. After college he worked in the financial industry, and then came back to Louisville to help run the family business. “I was very involved [as a participant] in the very first part of the lean transformation that we made back with Shingjutsu and consulting firm TBM way back in the early 90s... I grew up in the sales side of our business for the first four or five years before taking over and running the company in 1995, which is when I really started leading the charge on lean as opposed to just participating in the workshops... I’ve been around [lean] since the early 90s, for a really long time through its various terms and various epics. The core principles have not changed, and the value has not changed.” In this frank, engaging conversation, the trio discuss: Jim’s growth as a lean leader and how important it is to bring others along in their learning, giving them the confidence to make change, especially as Lantech grew and he could no longer be personally involved with every process and problem. The need to accumulate incremental improvements and prevent successes from deteriorating so that each “chunk” of improvement adds to what has already been accomplished. Lantech’s management system, which consists of a problem-escalation process; 90-day rolling averages for quality, cost, delivery, and safety, with performances compared daily to trigger problem-solving; and process improvements using A3s and key task monitoring. The power of experiential learning, especially as changes fail and individuals “stub their toe” and cope with difficulties, and, as a leader, the need to patiently let them face their frustrations and work to “see the problem differently.” How the company survived the pandemic and had to reteach many lean principles to get over the necessary workarounds that were put in place to get through COVID.
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AI to Empower People: Fabrice Bernhard on Using AI to Improve Product Development
In this episode of The Design Brief, we speak with Fabrice Bernhard. Fabrice is cofounder and chief technology officer of Theodo, a leading tech consultancy in Europe, and coauthor of The Lean Tech Manifesto. Fabrice discusses what it takes to create great digital products, how high-performing teams can use AI with care, and how LPPD (lean product and process development) thinking works with generative AI to strengthen businesses and teams. The conversation explores: What intentional use of AI in product development looks like (while keeping human beings at the center) Where Fabrice and his team have focused their energies helping companies make the digital transformation How AI helps teams practice the LPPD principle of “building in learning and knowledge reuse” to create better products How business leaders can use AI to “translate” legacy systems into the modern systems we need to do value-creating work now Common pitfalls leaders run into when experimenting with AI in product development Get Started with Lean Product & Process Development Improving how you develop and deliver products doesn’t require a full transformation to start—it begins with learning to see problems clearly, involve your team, and improve how work gets done. At the Lean Enterprise Institute, we help organizations: Focus on customer-defined value Reduce delays and rework Build learning into the development process Align people, processes, and purpose Whether you're exploring Lean for the first time or want to improve your development system, we’ll meet you where you are. Explore your next step: Read Designing the Future or The Power of Process Take the 60-minute Lean Product and Process Development Overview course Join the Designing the Future Workshop for hands-on practice Bring a coach into your organization for customized support Let’s take the first step—together. Learn more at lean.org/LPPD »
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A Personal Pursuit of Problem-Solving
Josh Howell and Mark Reich, LEI President and Chief Engineer Strategy, respectively, talk with Sal Sanchez, a Toyota veteran and TPS coach with LEI. Sal’s Toyota career began at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), the GM/Toyota joint venture and Toyota’s first automotive footprint in the United States, and continued with roles at Toyota North American headquarters and TSSC (Toyota Supplier Support Center, where he worked with Mark in the late-1990s) as well as Dana Corp. Across his career he’s learned from Toyota leaders and other notable lean mentors, including Gary Convis, which has, in turn, enabled him to help many organizations apply the Toyota Production System (TPS) and TPS fundamentals such as problem-solving and daily management. Sal describes his pursuit of all things problem-solving while rising up through Toyota, including his role as a team leader supporting others with problem-solving issues that surfaced throughout the day, especially when an andon cord was pulled and solutions needed to be developed and applied quickly. Sal counters some misconceptions regarding andon pulls, noting that it does not necessarily stop a line; it does, however, create urgency for team leaders to quickly assist and, in many instances, gives team members a brief window of opportunity to solve the problem on their own. Sal says the andon was frequently pulled where he worked, which was a good thing, and reminds Mark that most companies don’t focus on problems until they get big while at Toyota many little problems are being addressed “minute to minute and day to day so that they don’t become big problems.” While a team leader, Sal also sought to more deeply understand the problems team members were going through and learned this by doing the jobs they did and experiencing what they went through, earning respect of team members along the way. He carried that approach beyond Toyota and has supplemented it with additional ideas to engage and empower team members, including basic problem-solving skills for frontline associates and giving team members trend charts and templates to support their problem-solving. As Sal works today with companies trying to apply TPS, he continues to encourage a focus on culture and developing people and frontline leaders — “invest in your people.” Learn more about lean thinking and practice and lean.org.
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Management System Surfaces Problems
Josh Howell, LEI President, talks about the relationship of problem-solving and daily management with Jill Miller, Manager for Global Learning and Development at MillerKnoll, a maker of office furniture, equipment, and home furnishings. Jill supports the development, use, and expansion of the MillerKnoll Performance System (MKPS), which she says is designed to meet customers’ needs by engaging and developing people to daily surface and solve problems. “At its heart, it’s really about building capability across the organization.” Josh and Jill describe their experiences with how an effective daily management system makes it easy and straightforward for organizations to know what problems they should be solving. “One of the most powerful things about MKPS is that it helps make problems visible every day, right where the work is happening,” says Jill. “So when people ask, ‘What problem do we need to solve?’ the system actually helps answer that by revealing the problems that might otherwise go unnoticed. I think at that point, the problems are plentiful. There’s no shortage of problems.” MKPS intentionally sets up both the system and culture to support daily problem-solving by: Designing work to clearly show abnormalities and make them visible in real time, Making it easy and safe for individuals to quickly highlight problems (people are not blamed or ignored), Providing a prompt, supportive reaction to an associate’s call for help (an “andon call”), and Ensuring the problems that are surfaced actually get solved; team leaders (called “facilitators” at MillerKnoll) are developed to be skilled in practical problem-solving, identifying root causes, and eliminating problems in ways that keep them from recurring. The two also discuss the development of ongoing MKPS expertise within MillerKnoll: building capability in a way that is standardized so that MKPS is effectively executed in a consistent manner. This involves a partnership between the MKPS leadership team, operations leaders, and the human resources group that supports operations for selecting individuals to train (“students”), creating alignment based on behaviors and characteristics, and reflecting on the learning process and its effectiveness. Jill says students have called the development program “life changing” — who they are as a person, how they think, how they see their roles, how they interact with people, and how they approach their careers within the company.
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