Lean Manufacturing Principles, Tools, and Concepts

By OpEx Learning Team, Last Updated September 24, 2009

Respect for People and Underutilization of Talent

The two pillars in Lean Thinking are Continuous Improvement and Respect for People. What is not well understood is that most of what we know as The

By OpEx Learning Team, Last Updated August 17, 2009

King Pharmaceutical (NYSE: KG) recently had a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Their drug, Embeda, has an interesting

By OpEx Learning Team, Last Updated June 19, 2009

Hiding unnecessary information from a customer is good business. Have you ever had an interaction with a business, where your goal was to get served,

By OpEx Learning Team, Last Updated May 26, 2009

In Amazon's 2008 letter to shareholders, Jeff Bezos shares about a Kaizen event he participated in: At a fulfillment center recently, one of our

By OpEx Learning Team, Last Updated March 13, 2009

This article shows how Apple Customer Service can be strategic in reducing customer pain points through the use of Lean and Six Sigma. In some

By OpEx Learning Team, Last Updated March 9, 2009

My Kung Fu brother and I spoke last week and he taught me something that remains with me: I continue to do Wing Chun because it allows me to

By OpEx Learning Team, Last Updated February 18, 2009

Systems that are internally consistent and externally pragmatic stem from just a few rules. Systems with exceedingly many rules typically fail or

By OpEx Learning Team, Last Updated January 23, 2009

I'm always impressed when CEO's demonstrate Deming-like behavior as they lead; it's rare, but there's almost a magical, mobilizing, and inspiring

By OpEx Learning Team, Last Updated September 30, 2008

In a very tough economic environment, it is inevitable that everyday people like you and me will be impacted. Gyrations in demand -- which is often a