Companies adopting a Lean philosophy strive to remove or shorten time spent on activities that the customer doesn’t value. For example, although steps like estimating and makeready are thought of as ...

Jon Sievert says he gets many different answers when he asks people to describe lean: tightening the belt; doing more with less; reducing inventory; cost-savings program; waste elimination; quality ...

Many HVAC distributors didn’t waste time passing along price increases that they blamed on the new 25 percent tariff on imported steel entering the U.S. How can contractors deal with these increases ...

Is there a component of lean that’s more widely taught than The Eight Wastes? In any lean seminar or text, they are usually among the first concepts mentioned. (Sometimes, they are represented as The ...

One of the most common misconceptions about lean manufacturing techniques is that they only apply to large-scale operations. Lean is the continuous improvement of operations to cut down wastes. “What ...

Every business is unique. For most, simply adopting a single, prescribed approach is a risky move. In the case of Six Sigma, it can be especially tempting to, seeing the success of major companies ...

Amid our hectic daily routines, it's easy to become consumed by the whirlwind of activity around us. But we must pause and take stock of any hidden inefficiencies that may be holding us back. This way ...

From the buildings we work in, the data centers we depend on, and especially in the machines we design, we inevitably rely on bolted joint connections. Unfortunately, due to the perceived simplicity ...