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School of Lean

Introductory Topics

The School of Lean intro­duces tools that con­tribute to a con­tin­u­ous improve­ment process that can be applied to any type of orga­ni­za­tion or indi­vid­ual lead­er­ship sit­u­a­tion.

Lean is a set of time-test­ed, wide­ly imple­ment­ed man­age­ment prac­tices that cre­ates val­ue from the per­spec­tive of the cus­tomer, improves flow, and pro­motes respect for peo­ple.

​“Respect for human­i­ty” in Lean teach­es every­one in an orga­ni­za­tion to oper­ate with respect for employ­ees, cus­tomers, sup­pli­ers, and the com­mu­ni­ty over­all.

Lean’s sys­tem­at­ic approach helps to reduce process cycle time, improve deliv­ery time (or over­all effi­cien­cy), and pro­vide an opti­mal set­ting for con­tin­u­ous improve­ment toward a desired con­di­tion state.

With Lean, busi­ness­es or orga­ni­za­tions focus on elim­i­nat­ing in-house waste and activ­i­ties that add no val­ue to the cus­tomer. Lean enter­prise refers to an entire sup­ply chain or indus­try oper­at­ing under com­pat­i­ble Lean sys­tems and process­es.

This course from the School of Lean at Gem­ba Acad­e­my cov­ers what Lean is, why it mat­ters, and how to lay the ground­work for a suc­cess­ful Lean jour­ney, as well as a few Lean suc­cess stories.

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What Are the Introductory Topics Offered in the School of Lean?

So, what is con­tin­u­ous improve­ment in regards to the top­ics cov­ered in the course? Lean tools that can be used to devel­op con­tin­u­ous improve­ment process­es in Gem­ba Academy’s intro course­work include:

Introduction to Lean

Learn why Lean is ben­e­fi­cial for indi­vid­u­als in any orga­ni­za­tion — and any indus­try. Lean-dri­ven orga­ni­za­tions are always think­ing about ways to con­tin­u­ous­ly improve the way they learn. Explore the dif­fer­ent types of waste you can elim­i­nate with Lean think­ing and learn why peo­ple are the most impor­tant aspect of Lean.

The Components of the Lean ​“House”

Lean cre­ates val­ue for cus­tomers through the foun­da­tion of team­work, chal­lenge, and Kaizen (change for the bet­ter). It also stands on the pil­lars of con­tin­u­ous improve­ment and respect for peo­ple. Qual­i­ty and sta­bil­i­ty go hand-in-hand, as seen in real-world Lean suc­cess stories.

The Ten Commandments of Continuous Improvement

Con­tin­u­ous improve­ment is a mind­set and a way of think­ing that’s focused on improv­ing process­es while also improv­ing the lives of peo­ple. The focus is on the peo­ple. If you aren’t able to moti­vate, inspire, and respect oth­ers, your Lean skills won’t get you very far.Daily prac­tice is essen­tial for imple­ment­ing Lean think­ing. Learn why you must keep an open mind, say ​“yes if,” attack prob­lems and core process­es over peo­ple, and fol­low oth­er Lean commandments.

Developing Strategies to Sustain Operational Excellence

Learn how to lever­age what you learn at Gem­ba Acad­e­my, sus­tain con­tin­u­ous Improve­ment prac­tices, and under­stand why Lean and Six Sig­ma aren’t ​“pro­grams.” The tool­box of Lean prac­tices can be over­whelm­ing, but imple­ment­ing con­tin­u­ous improve­ment isn’t all about the tools — it’s all about the people.Don’t look for ways to imple­ment what you learn — find the places where their imple­men­ta­tion will ben­e­fit you and where they can be intro­duced seam­less­ly and organ­i­cal­ly. The key is to deter­mine what prob­lem you’re tru­ly try­ing to solve.

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What Is Continuous Improvement?

Con­tin­u­ous improve­ment refers to con­stant refin­ing of orga­ni­za­tion­al func­tions, ser­vices, prod­ucts, or process­es through iter­a­tive improve­ments imple­ment­ed through prac­tices like Lean and Six Sigma.

A con­tin­u­ous improve­ment process may employ a four-step mod­el known as the PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act). The PDCA cycle goes as follows:

  1. Plan: When you iden­ti­fy a process that is waste­ful or pro­duces no val­ue, make it an oppor­tu­ni­ty for growth — and make a plan for how to change it.
  2. Do: Imple­ment the plan on an exper­i­men­tal lev­el. A small­er-scale will allow you to make iter­a­tive adjust­ments and fine-tune your rollout.
  3. Check: Mea­sure the suc­cess of your change through data — ana­lyze the improve­ments in the process by com­par­ing before and after metrics.
  4. Act: Roll out the change on a wide scale and imple­ment your improved process, while con­tin­u­ous­ly check­ing that your results hold true. If your new process doesn’t scale, start the cycle again.

The School of Lean empha­sizes buy-in and engage­ment from employ­ees, team­work, and lead­ers who coach the process as much as the product.

Con­tin­u­ous improve­ment process­es can fol­low meth­ods of sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly mea­sur­ing orga­ni­za­tion­al prac­tices to reduce vari­a­tions, defects, and lead and cycle times. Con­tin­u­ous improve­ment is tar­get­ed to incre­men­tal­ly and iter­a­tive­ly improve exist­ing process­es through proven sys­tems, tools, and practices.

Benefits of Gemba Academy’s Introductory Topics Course

Lean is ben­e­fi­cial for indi­vid­u­als and any sort of orga­ni­za­tion — no mat­ter the indus­try. Lean enables peo­ple and orga­ni­za­tions to change for the bet­ter by elim­i­nat­ing typ­i­cal waste through improv­ing process­es and devel­op­ing people.

Gem­ba Academy’s Lean course­work will teach you that in order to suc­ceed, you must learn that respect for peo­ple is just as impor­tant as con­tin­u­ous improve­ment. Lean improves both qual­i­ty and sta­bil­i­ty, but it requires both.

Lean process­es will help your orga­ni­za­tion increase employ­ee engage­ment and morale, reduce oper­at­ing costs, and improve safe­ty — lead­ing to increased prof­its, and long-term growth and success.

Orga­ni­za­tions around the world use these proven Lean prac­tices, and now you can use our exten­sive train­ing videos to insti­tute Lean and devel­op con­tin­u­ous improve­ment process­es in your organization.

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  • Access When You Need It

    Take your own con­tin­u­ous improve­ment jour­ney on your own terms — and your own sched­ule. All Gem­ba Acad­e­my sub­scribers get access to our more than 2,000 expert-led Lean and Six Sig­ma lessons at your fin­ger­tips. Get the lessons you want, when you want them, on any device.

  • Rein­force Your Learning

    With quizzes, assess­ments, and tem­plates avail­able to give you a deep­er under­stand­ing and mas­tery of the mate­r­i­al, Gem­ba Acad­e­my pro­vides the rein­force­ment required to help the lessons stick. Sim­u­la­tions and real-world exam­ples prove the valid­i­ty of the con­cepts in var­i­ous use-cas­es and indus­tries, and pro­vide you with both a firm foun­da­tion of knowl­edge and the abil­i­ty to apply it to your own processes.

  • Expert Advice

    All Gem­ba Acad­e­my cours­es are led by Lean experts, who pro­vide real-world, time-test­ed, proven exam­ples and expe­ri­ences of putting Lean and Six Sig­ma to work as you devel­op con­tin­u­ous improve­ment process­es to use in var­i­ous indus­tries. Con­sume lessons and advice straight from indus­try thought lead­ers and devel­op the con­fi­dence (and prepa­ra­tion) to apply your knowl­edge and exper­tise to improv­ing your own processes.