The Lean Logistics Blog

One of the most difficult aspects of creating our cost models can be the design of the outputs and the user interface.  What to display on the outputs, how to display it, and how the user affects these outputs can make or break the effectiveness of your cost model.  It is easy to make these [...]

I’ve always taken to the basic Chinese proverb of:  “I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand. “ It’s no surprise that even though many lean concepts are simple to comprehend and can be practiced in our everyday lives, it can be painstaking to sustain these practices.  It’s [...]

Inventory is not only a critical part of supply chain management; too often it is the main cause of a painfully incremental progression toward effective and genuine supply chain management. Inventory is not only a critical part of supply chain management; too often it is the main cause of a painfully incremental progression toward effective [...]

A conversation and exclusive interview with Tonya Vinas, B2B writer and editor, and Robert Martichenko, CEO, LeanCor Supply Chain Group. Learn: The importance of focusing on total logistics cost How to apply lean to transportation management The five laws of lean transportation Read the interview.

“Derek, do you have any target benchmarks?” It’s inevitable, any time I speak to an audience, at least one person wants to see benchmark numbers.  Whether its inventory turns, headcounts, picks/hour, transportation as a percent of material cost, or a host of other metrics, they act as if knowledge of another company’s results provides them [...]

I once spent several long days working on solutions to a problem while trying to create countermeasures to address several gaps in a project.  The more time I spent walking the process the more I realized that the reason for the failures was fairly simple.  The real problem was that basic project management principles were [...]

1. Decide When to Use a PDCA The beauty of the PDCA cycle is that it can be used as a tool for the most simple project, for complex and intricately detailed projects, or as an effective tool for company-wide policy change. Use a PDCA: For development of a new product or service For improvement [...]

It never fails to amaze me how simple an idea can be, yet how difficult it can be to actually implement.  I’m sure everyone can think about at least one task they’ve chosen to assume, assuming the reward would require little work and result in an impressive payout.   Think about how many times you’ve tried [...]

Those of us practicing lean supply chain principles are focused on problem solving as a fundamental process to achieve continuous improvement. While we utilize multiple lean tools and processes, there are some fundamental lean principles to drive effective problem solving. At the top of the lean principles list for problem solving is “Engage Worker Knowledge [...]

I was recently sitting at my desk running through a checklist of improvement opportunities when I focused on several key issues within our company server room.  While none of the problems had adversely affected operations or  customers, my team had agreed that a proactive approach is certainly much better than a reactive one. Over the [...]