Making IT Lean: Applying Lean Practices to the Work of IT presents Lean concepts and techniques for improving processes and eliminating waste in IT operations and IT Service Management, in a manner that is easy to understand. The authors provide a context for discussing several areas of application within this domain, allowing you to quickly gain insight into IT processes and Lean principles.The text reviews IT Service Management, with reference to the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as a framework for best practices explaining how to use it to accommodate Lean processes and operations. Filled with straightforward examples, it provides enough modeling tools so you can start your Lean journey right away. Examining the work of IT from an IT practitioner perspective, the book includes coverage of: The OM Perspective considers the work of IT from an Operations Management (OM) perspective, showing how many of the concepts that have been successfully applied within manufacturing can be applied to IT The Lean Improvement Model explains Lean concepts and practices and details the authors Lean improvement model Lean Problem-Solving (Identifying and Understanding Problems) considers operational work in IT and explains how to apply Lean practices related to problem identification and root cause analysis Lean Problem-Solving (Identifying and Managing Solutions) describes how to use good problem identification as the basis for identifying the right solutions Lean IT Service Management examines IT work from an IT Service Management perspective, using the ITIL framework as a guide Implementing and Sustaining Lean IT Improvements explains how to implement and sustain Lean IT improvements Throughout the book, the authors use a simple model for Lean Improvement as the framework

Since the success of products significantly depends on the quality of product performance, inadequate management of the product design process can lead to improper performance of products that can result in significant long-term business losses. Design for Profitability: Guidelines to Cost Effectively Manage the Development Process of Complex Products presents a design guideline for complex product design and development that enables you to cost-effectively improve the technical performance of your products and consequently improve your competitiveness in the marketplace as well as improve profitability. The book helps you improve the competitiveness of your organization in the market and eventually improve profitability. It presents a mobile robots design guideline based on an empirical study of the mobile robots design process. This is an unprecedented guideline based on the empirical investigation of the internal aspects of the design process of complex products for cost-effectively enhancing the competitiveness in the market. The book also presents a hybrid lean-agile design paradigm for mobile robots. In addition, it points out key approaches and risks to manage the product development process efficiently. In designing complex products and integrated systems, industrial designers face a dilemma of cost-effectively striking a balance between product development time and product performance attributes. This book shows how and when value is added in product design and development through identifying statistically the most and least correlated design activities and strategies to product performance attributes. Introducing a new paradigm in the field of engineering design, the book gives you key approaches to efficiently manage the product development process.

Lean Transformations for Small and Medium Enterprises: Lessons Learned from Italian Businesses summarizes two decades of research, teaching, and practice on lean thinking. Based on quantitative analysis of 100 cases of Lean transformations and 20 in-depth case studies of successfully transformed SMEs, it explains how to undertake lean transformations that lead to operational and financial performance improvement, and uses the Lean Transformation Framework --conceptualized by John Shook at the Lean Enterprise Institute as a practical approach to design and de-risk the transformation process. SMEs leaders wishing to undertake and sustain a lean transformation must: Make a serious and lasting commitment to transform, avoiding the temptation to change course of action; Choose accurately the value streams that require improvement as defined by strategy deployment; Build capabilities to sustain the transformation; Lead by example by going to gemba and creating a culture of respect for people that goes beyond the visible devices and artifacts of Lean tools.

The success of a Lean manufacturing program depends far more on organization-wide leverage of Lean manufacturing tools than it does on the tools themselves. To this the organization must add the human relations aspects that earn buy-in and engagement by all members of the workforce, to the extent that workers will react immediately and decisively to the presence of waste. The synergy of the human and technological aspects of Lean form what Henry Ford called a universal code for the achievement of world-class results in any enterprise, and which he put into practice to deliver unprecedented bottom line results. This book expands upon and systemizes this universal code into a structure or framework that promotes organizational self-audits and continuous improvement. The book's first section offers a foundation of four simple but comprehensive Lean key performance indicators (KPIs): waste of the time of things (as in cycle time), waste of the time of people, waste of energy, and waste of materials. The Toyota Production System's seven wastes are all measurable in terms of these four KPIs, which also cover the key metrics of Eliyahu Goldratt's theory of constraints: throughput, inventory, and operating expense. The first section then adds a proactive improvement cycle that sets out to look for trouble by isolating processes for analytical purposes and measuring and then balancing inputs and outputs to force all wastes to become visible. It is in fact technically impossible for any waste of material or energy to hide from what chemical engineers call a material and energy balance. Application of this book's content should therefore satisfy most provisions of the ISO 14001 environmental management system standard and the new ISO 50001 energy management system standard. The second section consists of an unofficial (and therefore customizable) standard against which the organization

Many books explain how to construct a value stream map, but few explain the process conditions and characteristics required to ensure a value stream map can be completed successfully. Lean Execution: The Basic Implementation Guide for Maximizing Process Performance fills this need.Although the book explains Lean methods and tools that maximize process performance, its main focus is on providing readers with detailed guidelines, process conditions, and helpful tips for ensuring successful implementation.Based on Clifford Fiore's insights and experiences gained through years of firsthand application and implementation of Lean methods, the book supplies easy-to-understand explanations of proven Lean tools, methods, and concepts. For example, the concept of flow/theory of constraints is reviewed using a garden hose analogy.The text introduces material in a manner that mirrors the natural sequence for general implementation. It provides simple calculations, worksheets, and examples to reinforce the key concepts involved with determining production rates and process variation.In addition to explaining how to apply Lean tools correctly, the book provides the big picture perspective required to select and apply the appropriate Lean tool at the right time, while gaining helpful insight about the process under review. Sharing valuable lessons learned by trial and error, the book can help practitioners save valuable time and resources by not repeating similar mistakes.The book concludes with a summary that outlines a blueprint for maximizing success during implementation.Clifford Fiore has spent more than 30 years at a Fortune 500 company and is a recognized leader in applying Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. He is also a certified black belt and Lean expert. Through his work in adapting process improvement techniques in engineering, manufacturing, and the supply chain, he has emerged as an industry leader in

Mastering Complexity is designed to help readers develop and maintain logical, adaptable solutions to business problems. It demonstrates how to visualize business dependency connections with a square spreadsheet called a Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM). Once the links representing dependencies are visualized in a DSM, it can be used to improve the business. The book focuses on simple practices that the reader can easily understand to solve business problems on his or her own. The book begins by identifying how logical elements are represented in a DSM spreadsheet. It shows where the elements can run in parallel, where the elements must run in sequence, and where the elements are tangled together. The book shows how to untangle these elements so they can be understood. The book then demonstrates how to build a dependency map in a DSM spreadsheet. It defines the various types of dependencies and shows how to order the spreadsheet elements to create a workflow. The author shows how to assign risk levels to the spreadsheet elements so a workflow can be optimized to manage risk. The book concludes with a look at several software tools that can be used to create, manipulate, and analyze DSM spreadsheets. It discusses how the tools work and where they can be ordered.

The fact that a process produces garbage is a testament to design inefficiency, and this book explains how to use the nature of that garbage to pinpoint and eliminate those inefficiencies. Lean Waste Stream: Reducing Material Use and Garbage Using Lean Principles supplies an unprecedented look at how to address business waste in a manner that will improve your organization's environmental and financial performance.Tackling the problem of business garbage from a Lean perspective, the book maintains a focus on how to minimize garbage in ways that cut costs. It considers the problem of garbage in terms of transportation, inventory, and labor costs with an effort to connect reductions in garbage production at all stages with lower operating costs and improved productivity.Explaining how to use garbage analysis as a tool to identify the problems in process flow that produced the garbage, this book describes how to look downstream for options to reuse, repurpose, and recycle garbage to minimize landfill impact and costs. The text includes practical exercises with step-by-step instructions, as well as real-world examples that illustrate how specific wastes have been dealt with profitably by various organizations.

Although there are many organizations that have implemented Lean production systems and become more profitable as a result, there can be a gap between what those organizations currently do and how they should plan for and profit from new business. Capitalizing on Lean Production Systems to Win New Business: Creating a Lean and Profitable New Product Portfolio explains how to create a Lean product portfolio to fill that gap so you can become more profitable from that new business.Providing a fundamental understanding of the Lean enterprise production system, this book can help an organization take its current Lean knowledge and translate that knowledge into a step-by-step methodology to win and launch new business. Lean topics covered include: Value Stream Mapping Plan for Every Part Process Design and Standard Work Scheduling and Material Flow Machine Changeover Quality and Continuous Improvement By developing the New Product Acquisition and Launch Portfolio presented in this book, you can dramatically improve your ability to produce the products customers desire and deliver them on time. Focusing on the concepts that are critical to the longevity of your Lean enterprise system, this book will help you understand how to deliver a product that meets the quality and delivery standards of your customer. It will also help you understand how this new product fits into your Lean enterprise system.Detailing how to achieve a successful new product launch through upfront planning, this book provides you with the tools to enhance efficiencies throughout your supply chain.

Equipment downtime can bring a lean manufacturing operation to a complete standstill. Total productive maintenance (TPM) is such a fundamental part of becoming lean because a machine failure at one step of a continuous flow process will halt all the steps before and after it. Strategies aimed at eliminating downtime are essential in any operation in which the processes require the use of complex machinery and equipment. TPM: Collected Practices and Cases provides a variety of case studies taken from articles previously published in Lean Manufacturer Advisor: the monthly newsletter by Productivity Press.

Kaizen teian -- the Japanese-style proposal system for continuous improvement -- is the most direct and effective method for channeling employees' creative energies and hands-on insight. This book is the first in a new three-volume set that brings the management, guidance, and development of kaizen teian systems into perfect focus. This first volume explains many aspects of running a proposal program on a day-to-day basis and provides cartoon examples of successful kaizen teian programs in four major Japanese organizations. This concise reference outlines the policies that support a "bottom-up" system of innovation and defines the three main objectives of kaizen teian: to build participation, develop individuals' skills, and achieve higher profits. (Originally published by Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, Ltd.)

As the latest addition to "The Basics" Series, The Basics of Quality Auditing provides an inexpensive and easy-to-follow WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW format that is perfect for training. It discusses the four main questions all audits should answer: Is there a procedure? Is the procedure being followed? Does the procedure meet the needs of the system? and What must be changed or improved to increase the output quality? After explaining the audit process, the book illustrates how audit programs are currently being used and how they have evolved beyond the standard uses of policing actions or procuring information about a supplier to becoming a continuous improvement tool. The appendix provides sample audit forms and checklists that auditors can model.

If IT companies seek to differentiate themselves from the competition, they must turn to consultative selling. Consultative selling is analyzing the needs and challenges of your customers and selling unique services that enable your customers to reduce costs, increase profits, and improve overall business performance. The Art of Consultative Selling in IT provides a practical framework for becoming a successful consultative seller and shows how to use the blue ocean strategy to identify opportunities in areas where there is no competition. The first section discusses the advantages of consultative selling and explores the concepts of blue oceans. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. Competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be established. The author explains how you can use consultative selling techniques to create your own blue oceans of unknown market space, where opportunities for growth are both rapid and profitable. In the second section, the author defines the consultative selling framework (CSF). This framework is based on proven processes, best practices, and real-time case studies to make consultative selling a reality. It provides clear guidelines for understanding your customer's current landscape and challenges, owning its priorities, and helping it to achieve its short-term and long-term goals. The author explains how to use CSF to generate innovative ideas and present them to your customer through profit improvement or efficiency improvement proposals. The book concludes with examples of several innovative business improvement ideas that you can present to your customers, including Agile project management, master data management (MDM), application portfolio rationalization, and business process management (BPM). The author discusses the benefits of each methodology and lists the trigger points to think about when deciding whether the methodology can add value to a pa

There is a seismic shift underway in the employer/employee relationship that is redefining the nature of jobs and careers. Sole proprietors and independent contractors now represent more than 20 percent of the workforce, and that number is expected to reach nearly 50 percent within the next 10 years.Despite the proliferation of people engaging in freelance and contract work, however, the path to success is not always easy. Free Agent: The Independent Professional's Roadmap to Self-Employment Success details a pragmatic action plan to help you succeed in this new skills marketplace.Supplying practical strategies to help you get ahead of the change and become an in-demand resource with a steady stream of income, the book describes how work is changing and what is driving the growth of freelancing. Next, it explains how to get your new independent venture off the ground, how to find your first client, and what you need to know to avoid common pitfalls.To transition successfully from employee to free agent, you must have a plan to avoid the pitfalls and a support team to give you the expertise on complicated topics such as business structure, contracts, and accounting. This book is your guide to successfully navigating the transition.Detailing the tools and practices that will enable you to succeed as a free agent, the book includes case studies and interviews with those who have already made the transition. The book concludes by describing how to optimize your new freelance work style to make the most of your time and energy, so you can focus on doing more of what you love.

The Lean Expert: Educating and Elevating Lean Practitioners Throughout Your Organization outlines a method that can help organizations engage associates and empower them to achieve "expert status" in the nine core principles of Lean. By implementing the Lean Discipline Expert process detailed in the book, companies will demonstrate to their associates that they believe they are the organization's greatest assets, while empowering them to make lasting improvements to the organization. The book provides a robust and proven process for creating a Lean culture. It outlines a method, with defined steps, for the development of Lean Discipline Resource People that will help associates achieve "expert status" in the core Lean principles of 5S Visual Management, Value Stream Mapping, Standard Work, Total Productive Maintenance, Quick Changeover, Error Proofing, Process Problem Solving, Material Management, and Continuous Improvement.You will be able develop Lean strategies, create a Master Schedule, initiate activities for supporting goals and objectives, and complete a Train-the-Trainer class as well as achieve facilitation skills to teach, communicate, guide, and lead Lean overview training as well as comprehensive subject-matter training. In addition, you will understand how the Lean Discipline Expert process can help to support associate involvement at all levels and learn where and how the nine principles overlap and interact. By engaging and empowering various levels of associates throughout the organization, you will provide strength and ownership for your business and, most importantly, your associates. The book includes access to additional resources on the book's page at www.crcpress.com. It includes a tracking mechanism for monitoring candidate progress, facilitation feedback forms, LDE checklists, and certificates of accomplishment you can use to acknowledge associates that achieve Lean Discipline Expert status.

A facilitator has been traditionally defined as someone who helps a group of people understand their objectives, and assists them in planning to achieve them, without taking a position in the discussion. Recently, the International Standards Organization's (ISO's) implementation and other long-term, multi-year team involvement has challenged neutrality in all cases and has created a new type of facilitator, the results facilitator.The Results Facilitator: Expert, Manager, Mentor identifies the skills, training, and education that today's facilitators must possess. Outlining the new role of the facilitator, it presents powerful tools and techniques that can help facilitators achieve success. Continuous learning is a must and should follow the model-Learn-Practice-Evaluate-Act.The book demonstrates the use of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for measuring progress toward achieving the objectives of a long-term program. It also supplies authoritative guidance on how to effectively plan, conduct, and complete meeting responsibilities. What can go wrong for a facilitator is outlined and methods to eliminate or mitigate these undesired situations are shown.The text details the core competencies that have been established by the International Institute for Facilitators (INIFAC) as well as the International Association of Facilitators (IAF). It shows where improvements can be made in each and recommends a joint IAF and INIFAC effort to consolidate into one facilitator's competency list.The book explains the need for an additional phase to the Tuckman's Group Dynamic Model. It shows several coaching processes including how to use the Toyota Production System's Kata for team improvement. The chapters have a facilitator exercise at the ends to help the reader apply their new knowledge to build their confidence and knowledge.

It is estimated that U.S. manufacturers are currently operating at only 65 percent effectiveness in implementing Lean production. Covering the fundamentals needed to be competitive in today's marketplace, Beyond Lean Production: Emphasizing Speed and Innovation to Beat the Competition provides readers with the tools to help their organizations achieve 100 percent effectiveness in Lean production.Explaining that overseas factories can't compete with U.S. factories in speed of delivery to domestic customers, the book provides the understanding required to add speed and urgency in all that you do in the office and the factory. It explains how to eliminate waste so you can meet and even exceed your customers expectations regarding service, quality, and cost.The book is organized into two phases. The first phase, Holding Actions, covers the fundamentals needed to hold your position against the competition until you can implement the methods described in phase II of the book. It presents 12 little-known tools and strategic weapons that you can immediately put to use to improve on your current competitive position. Phase II, The Business Command Center, presents unique and powerful concepts that can be used with the fundamentals covered in phase I.Explaining how to use speed as a competitive weapon, the book will help you to remove the obstacles that interfere with continuous flow manufacturing. It presents the concept of circulatory management that can put a stop to the ever-increasing layers of management with decreasing ownership.By implementing the holding action and the business command center described in this book, you can significantly improve your odds of beating the competition at home and overseas.

If you've employed consultants and embarked on a Lean transformation only to find your efforts stall after the consultants leave, this book will teach you what you must do to stay the course over the long term. Using a compelling novel format, Sustainable Lean: The Story of a Cultural Transformation illustrates the process of implementing a sustainable Lean transformation. The book follows Jim, the plant manager of an electronics firm that has already seen its first Lean initiative fail. Jim realizes that if he doesn't act quickly, his job and the jobs of everyone in the factory might be in jeopardy. Jim meets a Lean consultant who agrees to help him implement and sustain a new transformation. Readers follow along as Jim learns invaluable lessons that help him and his plant see costs plummet, on-time delivery reach nearly 100 percent, and defects drop by close to 80 percent.Using simple terms and an ongoing example, the book demonstrates how to use top-down metrics to identify strategic and tactical opportunities for improvement. It describes how to conduct Hoshin Kanri (strategic policy deployment). It also describes the relationship between top-down metrics, organizational accountability, the breaking down of "stovepipes," and the concept of "alignment" that comes about as the result of Hoshin Kanri. Detailing a data-driven methodology to help you set boundaries for effective decision making, this book will inspire manufacturers to achieve world-class production and efficiency standards one factory, one business at a time.

Professional certification has become a very popular topic and a significant number of individuals are making it a priority. Some people are torn on whether or not to obtain a certification to bolster their career. Others see the advantage of diversifying their professional portfolio and pursuing popular certifications in the areas of Project Management, Information Technology, Quality, or Human Resources. The Basics of Achieving Professional Certification: Enhancing Your Credentials provides clear-cut guidance on how to select a certification that is right for you and how you can continue to build your credentials in support of personal and professional goals. This easy-to-use guide can help anyone looking to achieve professional certification make informed decisions about the many options available. It can also help avoid the pitfalls of making the wrong choice as a result of being incorrectly informed. Examining the range of professional certifications offered by associations and organizations, it explains how to select the right professional certification and outlines best practices for completing the certification process. The book includes a CD that represents more than a year of development between resources in the U.S. and Europe. Packed with tools, it supplies permanent access to a suite of helpful training and development software, including: Library management system to track training material, books, and related items (created in MS Access) Learning management system to ensure training compliance (created in MS Access) A number of project management resources, including a comprehensive exam preparation program Royalty free multimedia resources to add pizzazz to your e-learning programs Forms, templates, and checklists to support training administration Tools to help evaluate training programs Software to make training

Accessible to the Lean novice and shop floor employee, The Basics of Line Balancing and JIT Kitting explores line balancing and the pre-assembly of components into a finished product in a just-in-time fashion (JIT Kitting). It explains how to use time studies, develop yamazumi charts, discover and eliminate waste, balance your line, and create new standard work content for the shop floor. The book facilitates a clear understanding of the seven deadly wastes (muda) as well as what you can do to eliminate them from your facility. Describing the purpose and use of standard work, it explains how to properly staff work cells and how to develop flex plans for fluctuations in demand using this data. The first few chapters explain how to determine takt time and how to use that information along with time studies to identify when you are not meeting customer demand.The chapters on JIT Kitting explain how there are other advantages to kitting besides eliminating waste and increasing productivity. The book explains how you can use JIT Kitting to improve quality by having the parts available and limiting the options of numerous parts to the operator. It also provides the understanding needed to ensure the right parts are installed, thereby correcting issues with the build of materials.

Move beyond Value Stream Mapping and Create Your Lean Future In Creating Your Lean Future State: How to Move from Seeing to Doing, Tom Luyster, with Don Tapping, details the implementation of lean after the creation of current and future state maps. This book is a follow-up to the successful Value Stream Management: Eight Steps to Planning, Mapping and Sustaining Lean Improvements. It follows the case study of a manufacturing company that has already created a Future State Map, with the authors showing step-by-step how to focus on key information, visually manage product flow, and level production. Get the benefits promised by your future state map, and implement a lean system that will stick without backsliding.

This dictionary, specific to lean business processes, contains over 500 terms used in lean management and manufacturing. Easy to access, accurate, and comprehensive, LeanSpeak will become the desktop tool of choice for lean manufacturing practitioners, from the shop floor to the corner office. Here are some examples of entries in LeanSpeak: gemba: Japanese word of which the literal translation is "the real place." In the manufacturing field, gemba means the shop floor, where the actual product is being made, as contrasted to the office, where support services are provided. lean: shorthand to refer to a lean manufacturing system, of which the Toyota Production System is the foremost example, that has relatively little non-value-adding waste and maximum flow. The term has been used pejoratively to refer to anti-labor practices intending to reduce the number of workers within a company and to strong-arm tactics with suppliers. takt time: the rate at which product must be turned out to satisfy market demand. It is determined by dividing the available production time by the rate of customer demand. For example, if customers demand 240 widgets per day and the factory operates 480 minutes per day, takt time is two minutes. If customers want two new products designed per month, takt time is two weeks. It is a calculated number, not a reflection of your capability. It sets the pace of production to match the rate of customer demand. Also available as an ebook in Microsoft Reader, Adobe Acrobat Reader, or Palm Reader formats.

The first part of The Basics of Benchmarking provides a guide to the language of benchmarking and answers some commonly asked questions. The second part of the book walks through the three phases of the benchmarking process -- Analysis, Discovery, and Implementation -- and provides charts and checklists on what questions should be answered at each phase, and what outputs should be produced. The book closes with a complete process map and outlines the entire site visit process.

Continuous generation and implementation of ideas is critical to creating an environment that helps foster the development of improvement techniques. The Basics of Idea Generation provides a cost-effective method that can help inspire employees to consistently identify and implement new ideas, using a proven five-step process. The process starts by creating an opportunity statement. From there the method then has one collect raw materials, before holding an idea workout, and then evaluating the idea. Implementation is the final step. The author also explains the 20 tools that help complete each step, along with solutions to overcoming the barriers to creativity.

Unlike other books that promote a specific process and performance improvement discipline, this book shows organizations how to achieve success by fixing basic operational issues and problems using a broad and wide-sweeping process-based toolkit. In addition, it helps individuals who have worked in stale- or siloed-thinking enterprises make the transition to a process or improvement-oriented culture and teaches those who are unfamiliar with process tools to look at their work with a new lens and adopt a continuous improvement and analytical-thinking mindset. The authors have successfully used the various methods, tools, and concepts found in this book to overcome practical, daily problems at various organizations. This book will surely help operators, managers, practitioners, and executives, who are charged with improving processes and workplace culture, produce better products and services.

Sustainable product design is more than eco design: it goes beyond 'green' to consider the work environment, community impacts, consumer health, and economic viability, as well as environmental attributes. "Beyond Child's Play" explores the concept of sustainable product design in the context of the global doll-making industry. To initiate this research, the author reviewed eco design parameters and developed criteria for sustainable product design in the doll-making industry. Using this framework, she conducted three case studies of do I making: the American Girl doll produced in China, the Kathe Kruse doll produced in Germany and the Q'ewar Project doll produced in Peru. Themes emerged from this research that have relevance beyond the doll-making industry: the value of making a product with care; designing work for human dignity; intention and vision for sustainability; the implications of materials choices; and, transparency and sustainability. Sustainable product design calls for fundamentally new thinking. By connecting the term 'sustainable' to 'product', we raise expectations for a radically different approach to design, production, and consumption. This framework integrates the eco design principles of detoxification and dematerialization with the principle of 'humanization', to ensure that the work environment where the product is made is safe and healthy and that local communities benefit from production. This approach places increased responsibility on the industrial designer and decision-makers throughout the supply chain, including governments, corporations, and citizens. Sustainable product design can be implemented effectively only when systems are in place that support sustainable production and consumption.