In order to start the Kaizen improvement process, the following elements are essential:

1. The clear separation between what is considered  "value" and what is considered "waste" within the given context.

2. The knowledge of the 3 types of family waste: Muda, Muri and Mura.

In the world of Lean Manufacturing, we hear always more frequently about coaching.

Unfortunately, I have found that in Italy there is still a great deal of confusion about what it is and what coaching activity entails and often what is instead consulting, mentoring or training passes off as coaching.

In the company, it is possible to see the force of resistance to change at work just as soon as new ideas which in fact question the entire hierarchy, are introduced.

The resistance to change is much stronger the closer you get to the vertex of the company pyramid.

Kanban is a Japanese word meaning “signal”.

But what kind of signal?

Most of the time, this type of signal indicates two things:

1. It is time to supply.

2. It is time to produce.

Why was it invented?

Lean Manufacturing and the Kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement are based on work groups. It is not possible to implement WCM or TPM if we are unable to manage and promote teamwork.

What are the base conditions that a good Kaizen coach must create so that the group performs very well?

Have you ever thought to buy a new car?

Every time you identified the brand, color, and other details of pertaining to your choice, you began to see it everywhere around you. The things that you didn’t notice beforehand will be visible from now on.

If we study the various graphic representations of the Toyota Production System, Just in Time, TPM and WCM, it is possible to notice that in these models there is always the recall at the involvement of all the company people.

The neverending improving work is done to get rid from wastes and to improve the value aggregation in work activities and this is the daily focus of a company that follow the Lean Production paradigm. This work can be done efficiently and with a R.O.I. only if the problem solvings workshops are always done with a 360° vision and opennes attitude about the analyzed problems; this is the basic attitude that is required and it is necessary to develop in a lean team work.

The guiding principle behind the "Lean Product Development Process" is the following:

Be Customer Oriented!

To meet the needs of your clients and offer them products that contains what they value most it's necessary to embrace this principle and make it real within your company culture.

It is proved that putting change into effect means that the person or the team who must operate the change is going from the comfort zone to the performance zone.

As already explained widely in the preview of the book “Team Building for Lean Production” (see banner here below), the comfort zone can be defined as the combination of ways of thinking and habits that a person or a work team has no interest in changing.

In the process of implementing Lean Manufacturing culture, it is essential to know how to communicate correctly what Lean Production is.

Knowing about the way of thinking of our collaborators makes the process of communication with our listener efficient and harmonious.