Holacracy – An Industry of the Self-Governed?
In one of the bigger business-related news pieces of the past week, online shoe mega-retailer Zappos has announced that it will be switching up its leadership by…. not having any. Actually, what’s been announced is that the company plans to shift to a “holacracy” system by the end of 2014. A holacracy is a setup…
Tony Ferraro | January 8, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Improve Productivity | 3 min read
The Paperless Warehouse – How & Why
What do bank statements, purchase receipts, and (now) your own business records have in common? They can all be paperless. Not only that, but they can be improved by going paperless. Businesses have been converting their records to an electronic format for a number of years now, and it’s not too late to jump on…
Tony Ferraro | January 7, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Improve Efficiency | 3 min read
How Safety & Lean Go Hand In Hand
Over the years, factories, warehouses, and even offices have gotten safer and safer over ongoing concern for worker health and well-being. As a result, working conditions have focused increasingly on following workplace rules and keeping employees out of harm’s way for the past century. On the other side of things, businesses are constantly striving to…
Tony Ferraro | January 6, 2014 | Lean, Safety Solutions | Continuous Improvement, Workplace Safety | 5 min read
6 Ways Lean IT Can Help Enterprises
Lean has been helping companies streamline their production, eliminate waste, and generally improve the way things are done for many years. Initially, the concepts behind lean were primarily used only in companies and facilities that were directly involved with physical product creation, such as manufacturing plants, factory floors and things of this nature. However, over…
Tony Ferraro | December 11, 2013 | Lean | IT LEAN | 5 min read
Helpful Tools to Make Layouts for a Production Line
Businesses are rarely setup in the most efficient configuration from the very beginning. If you happen to be one of the keen and lucky few to have the foresight to do so, congratulations. If not, you might be looking for advice on how to re-organize your production line in a more lean manner. While the…
Tony Ferraro | December 5, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement | 3 min read
Using Lean Six Sigma to Solve Workplace Production Issues & Inefficiencies
When a problem arises in the workplace it’s only natural to want to fix it as soon as possible. The most common response to a lapse in efficiency or production is to find the most immediate and apparent cause of an issue and implement steps to correct it. While this approach is not inherently wrong,…
Tony Ferraro | December 4, 2013 | Lean | Six Sigma | 3 min read
Lean Manufacturing in a Nutshell
Lean manufacturing is a topic which has been talked about a lot over the past few years, and it continues to get more attention almost every day. While there can be no doubt that lean strategies in manufacturing and other industries are extremely important, and effective, they can also be confusing. It is impossible to…
Tony Ferraro | November 15, 2013 | Lean | 5 min read
Chaku Chaku & Other Lean Terms You Should Know
We’re constantly told that change is a good thing, and, depending on the details of your current operation, most lean experts would also agree with that sentiment. Take the concept of Kaizen, for example. Kaizen is the environment of constant improvement and elimination of waste – in both time and materials – that lean operations…
Tony Ferraro | November 11, 2013 | Lean | Chaku Chaku, Lean | 3 min read
Yokoten: From In Theory to Implanted
Most of the Japanese terms that have arrived in the American business world have their roots in lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing sprouted up out of Toyota’s re-tooling of it’s operations some decades ago and continues to be adopted by more and more companies today. “Yokoten” is no different. A lean term meaning “horizontal deployment,” Yokoten…
Tony Ferraro | October 24, 2013 | Lean | Lean, Yokoten | 2 min read
