Lean manufacturing (or thinking) can help companies gain a competitive advantage. The core idea is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste (and not compromising productivity).

Lean approaches are helpful for the development and maintenance of documentation compliant with ISO Management System Standards (MSS). These standards include ISO 9001, ISO 13485, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, and many others.

Jeopardy! has been in the news lately. The iconic game show has spent some time choosing a new host since the passing of the legendary Alex Trebek.

When researching material for my thesis many years ago, I discovered there was no “silver bullet” for the organizational model for a continuous improvement effort. There is no single model that works for everyone; it varies from organization to organization.

I’ve been pleased to see so many organizations embrace a robust approach to quality improvement through methods like Lean and Six Sigma. There are indeed some detractors out there, but for the most part these are people that have observed failed deployments of quality initiatives. 

The single most important thing manufacturing leaders can do to engage their employees is to share the ‘why’ behind their daily work, says Kathleen Skarvan, CEO at New Prague, MN-based Electromed—Quality’s 2021 Plant of the Year.

President John F. Kennedy famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” This was his challenge to every American citizen to contribute in some way to the public good.

Lean approaches are beneficial for the development and maintenance of management systems compliant with ISO 9001, ISO 13485, ISO 14001 ISO 45001 standards and 21 CFR 820 FDA regulation.

As a Master Black Belt I teach Lean Six Sigma courses and often provide definitions of common terms. One such term is “value” which I define as the ratio between quality and price (value = quality/price).

“It may sound like an older version of the iPhone,” writes Dean Marsman in Quality, “but it’s actually a very simple and helpful system that can make the fundamentals of lean manufacturing even clearer to both business owners and employees.”