Succeeding with a Lean Implementation

July 27th, 2006 by Hal

Implementing lean in construction (or anywhere) has nothing to do with lean. It is about changing the business.

Implementing Lean in Construction — How to Succeed

Robert Arbulu and Todd Zabelle (presented by Glenn Ballard)

The authors present a strategy that takes advantage of the basic nature of project-based companies. They propose firms use each project to build on the implementation based on the characteristics of the projects. This narrow-and-deep project-by-project approach offers the opportunity to get executives "on the bike". The idea is that people learn when in action. Organize initial projects that include executives to give them the direct opportunity to be in the learning environment.

The authors introduced a useful framework based on Alan Larson's Demystifying Six Sigma for assessing what is going on during adoption of lean approaches.

Glenn finished the discussion by calling for a rethinking of the reasons for plan failure to give more attention to learning both in the initial adoption of lean approaches and for on-going improvement.

Combining Target and Kaizen Costing

When Good Strategies Fail in Implementation

Do-It-Yourself Lean

Lean Case Study Available

Succeeding with Projects Requires a New Set of Skills

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 27th, 2006 at 9:57 am and is tagged: lean, IGLC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Convert this post to a PDF document.

Social Bookmarking

Comment On This

If you haven't left a comment here before, you will need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.

On the Side

Humility Makes Toyota Different
02/20/2008

From the Lean Insider: Speaking to Toyota employees at the Detroit Auto Show President Watanabe asked that they take responsibility for recent quality problems.

"I do not regard the problem as something that suppliers are responsible for. We must work together so that we are fully aware of where suppliers are."

Bernstein closes saying, "At Toyota, they know that doing the best job of serving the customer is what makes the company profitable."

Lean Project Management
02/19/2008

Brad Appleton reviewed Lean Project Management, by L Leach concluding, "I found Lean Project Management to be a fairly quick read providing a good overview of some TOC and CCPM fundamentals and how they align with Lean thinking."

Claude Emond, Guest Blogger
01/11/2008

I'm glad to have Claude posting at RPM. It was Claude who gave name to these wonder filled times -- the project age. Please welcome him with your comments.

Toyota Bests Ford in 2007
01/07/2008

WSJ reported, "Ford and GM reported lower December sales, capping off annual declines of 12% and 6%, respectively. Toyota's 2007 sales (in US) rose 3.1% even amid tough competition and signs that the U.S. consumer is beginning to labor in a slowing economy."

Brush-Up on Lean Thinking
01/07/2008

Re-familiarize yourself with the principles and practices of lean with Lean for Dummies. Do it to put yourself in new action!

Increase Reliability Saying No
10/14/2007

Make every "Yes" count, Learn to Say, "No".

White Mountains in Autumn
10/04/2007
Eat your heart out! Beauteous!

Tips for (Project) Managers
08/26/2007

Inside CRM offers The Manager's Cheat Sheet. Here are three of the best: