News Articles for the Lean Thinking Category

Mar 28th 2016

Lean Vs Taylorism

Wikipedia defines Taylorism and Lean as follows. Scientific Management, also called Taylorism, is a theory of management that analyses and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labour productivity. Lean thinking is a business methodology that aims to provide a new way to think about how to organize human activities to deliver more benefits to society and value to individuals while eliminating waste.… Read more

Mar 14th 2016

“Man” first or system first?

Two eminent physicians Pamela Hartzband and Jerome Groopman argue that there is no one best way to treat patients and that Taylor’s scientific approach to operational efficiency is inappropriate to managing patients. They say “man” must be first, not the system.… Read more

Feb 29th 2016

Lean in Software Development

Identifying “waste” and implementing lean in production environment is easier than in service industry, especially in software development industry. If you are an IT / software development company, you need to read this article which identifies the different wastes in IT companies and explains how to go about implementing lean principles in IT companies.… Read more

Feb 22nd 2016

Lean in energy sector

Yes waste occurs even in generating energy! Yes, energy sector is also under pressure to reduce generation and distribution costs. Yes, lean principles work in energy sector. And, yes, lean is applied in energy sector. Read more…… Read more

Feb 15th 2016

Do Lean and Six Sigma Work in Healthcare?

United Kingdom’s National Health Services (NHS) employs around 1.6 million people with an annual budget of £136.7 billion.  Read this article to find out if Lean and Lean Six Sigma works in health services and the benefits of implementing these programmes.… Read more

Feb 1st 2016

Will the Chinese factories perform well in Western countries?

In this The New Yorker article, Jeffrey Rothfeder (author of Driving Honda: Inside the World’s Most Innovative Car Company), argues that “no Western manufacturer can hope to compete on a global stage without adopting some version of lean production.” But unfortunately, Chinese management rarely encourage worker empowerment and innovation which are the core elements of lean.… Read more