Critical Thinking | AllAboutLean.com

Heroes, Firefighting, and Corporate Culture

Christoph Roser — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 11:00:47 +0000

Heroes save the day. Heroes turn around the disaster and rescue the puppy from the burning building. Heroes are admired, and everybody wants to be one. Everybody wants a hero when they need one. But what about the people who prevent the need of a hero? What about the people that make sure the disaster ... Read more

The post Heroes, Firefighting, and Corporate Culture first appeared on AllAboutLean.com.

Industry 4.0 – What Works, What Doesn’t

Christoph Roser — Tue, 03 Oct 2017 11:00:44 +0000

Industry 4.0 is (still) all the rage in manufacturing industry. I’ve already took A Critical Look at Industry 4.0. A lot of Industry 4.0 is hot air with a return on investment only far into the future. However, there are a few ideas that actually may work soon enough. In this post I would like ... Read more

The post Industry 4.0 – What Works, What Doesn’t first appeared on AllAboutLean.com.

Where Lean Went Wrong – A Historical Perspective

Christoph Roser — Tue, 16 May 2017 11:00:50 +0000

The Toyota Production System is widely considered to be the best production system for any larger company. Achieving similar performance is the vision (or dream?) of many companies. Pretty much all of lean manufacturing is the attempt to copy the approach of Toyota in the hope of a similar stellar performance. Yet most lean transformations ... Read more

The post Where Lean Went Wrong – A Historical Perspective first appeared on AllAboutLean.com.

Loss of Material: Theft!

Christoph Roser — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 11:00:53 +0000

Most of the material you purchase eventually goes (hopefully) to the customer. Some will be waste, others may be scrap. Yet a small part is also likely to be stolen, probably by your own employees. In this post I will look at the effects of theft and give you some industry examples. Where Does Your ... Read more

The post Loss of Material: Theft! first appeared on AllAboutLean.com.

Reddit: I am Chris Roser, a professor studying the past, present, and future of manufacturing, and just published my first book. AMA!

Christoph Roser — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 11:00:47 +0000

On September 27, I did my first Reddit: “I am a … ask me anything.” With almost four hundred comments, I consider it a quite successful AMA. I am Chris Roser, a professor for production management; a lean expert; a Toyota, Bosch, and McKinsey alumnus; and I’m interested in the past, present, and future of ... Read more

The post Reddit: I am Chris Roser, a professor studying the past, present, and future of manufacturing, and just published my first book. AMA! first appeared on AllAboutLean.com.

“Lean Standard” ISO 18404 – A Questionable Idea …

Christoph Roser — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 11:00:22 +0000

Recently I learned about a new ISO 18404 standard certifying lean and Six Sigma organizations. I think this is a highly questionable idea, with little benefit for the quality of lean manufacturing. This certification madness won’t make much difference for the quality of lean but will mostly siphon off money to the International Organization for ... Read more

The post “Lean Standard” ISO 18404 – A Questionable Idea … first appeared on AllAboutLean.com.

Volkswagen Supplier Relations Failure

Christoph Roser — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 11:00:50 +0000

In the last months, there has been an unprecedented power struggle between Volkswagen and its suppliers. Two of the suppliers stopped delivering, leading to a full stop of multiple production lines at six Volkswagen plants, including its main plant Wolfsburg. This whole mess comes on top of the separate problems Volkswagen has had with its Dieselgate. ... Read more

The post Volkswagen Supplier Relations Failure first appeared on AllAboutLean.com.

The Curious Case of 100% Work Performance

Christoph Roser — Tue, 17 May 2016 11:00:32 +0000

Employment is an exchange of work for money. In my last post I showed a few tricks on how operators keep management in the dark about the true workload. However, management is also not giving out all the details on their side either. Naturally, the true value of the work is difficult to assess. Even ... Read more

The post The Curious Case of 100% Work Performance first appeared on AllAboutLean.com.