Jamie Flinchbaugh is a founder and partner of the Lean Learning Center in Novi, MI, and the co-author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road. He is a coach and consultant to executives and practitioners in industries ranging from hospitals to high technology. You can follow his writings on his blog at www.jamieflinchbaugh.com. To contact Jamie directly, go to the web site www.leanlearningcenter.com.

Leading Lean: A Fond Farewell

Jamie Flinchbaugh

January 26, 2011

I have written “Leading Lean” for ASSEMBLY for over 5 years. This marks my 55th and final contribution. I still have plenty to say, but it’s time for me to move on from this particular role.

Leading Lean: Driving Innovation at Every Level

Jamie Flinchbaugh

November 22, 2010

Every corporation wants to be innovative. But, being innovative is not a behavior. It’s not something on your to-do list between picking up dry cleaning and writing performance reviews. Innovation is the by-product of plans, processes, people and behaviors.

Leading Lean: Do You Know Your Control Points?

Jamie Flinchbaugh

October 1, 2010

Ever have the strange feeling that something big is wrong, but you don’t know what it is? Managing by control points is the only cure.

Leading Lean: Engaging the Board of Directors

Jamie Flinchbaugh

July 28, 2010

The CEO must be the champion and leader of a lean transformation, but the board of directors can have a major impact, too.

Leading Lean: Bring Lean to Your Sales Team

Jamie Flinchbaugh

May 27, 2010

Lean applies to every function within a business. You cannot succeed on your lean journey without engaging the sales organization at some point.

Leading Lean: Keys to Employee Engagement

Jamie Flinchbaugh

March 26, 2010

Manufacturers have no trouble hanging onto key employees these days, since job opportunities are scarce. But, that hasn’t reduced the need to find new ways to engage people. No matter what type of economic opportunities a company can provide, engagement still plays an important role in employee retention.

Leading Lean: Salvage Your Waste

Jamie Flinchbaugh

January 28, 2010

A great lean thinker has a lens for value.

Leading Lean: Learn to Improve; Improve to Learn

Jamie Flinchbaugh

November 23, 2009

Continuing education is key to any lean deployment strategy.

Leading Lean: Turning Thinking Into Action

Jamie Flinchbaugh

September 29, 2009

An action plan is one of the most important parts of an A3 report. Turning ideas and conversations into crisp, focused action plans is something every lean leader needs to do.

Leading Lean: Develop a Target Condition Before Your Action

Jamie Flinchbaugh

August 31, 2009

My last three columns have touched on different aspects of applying lean thinking to projects and problems, including different aspects of A3 thinking and methodology. This month focuses on yet another aspect, the target condition.

As more companies automate their screwdriving processes with collaborative robots, there are many factors to consider to ensure employee safety, consistent required torque high degree of repeatability and zero defect products. Join Universal Robots and screwdriving experts Atlas Copco for this joint webinar featuring the latest developments in automated screwdriving.

Few business leaders in the world have applied lean strategy as successfully as Art Byrne—and none has the ability to explain how to do it with such succinctness and clarity. Famous for turning around the wire management company Wiremold, where he rethought every aspect of operations from the customer’s standpoint, Byrne has successfully implemented lean strategies at more than 30 companies in 14 different countries.

Assembly Magazine

2020 October

The 2020 October Assembly features our cover story: 2020 Assembly Plant of the Year - There's No Looking Back at Murakami, plus much more. Check it out today!

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