The Lean Logistics Blog

Be a Better Developer Being on the software development side of LeanCor, it is important to have structure to your code.  Something that we as developers do to maintain our code is practice DRY.  DRY simply means “Don’t Repeat Yourself.”  Rushing is a common problem that can occur when balancing emergencies and standard projects.  It’s [...]

Both Lean and Six Sigma lend distinctive disciplines and tools to supply chain management and logistics. Using these disciplines and tools will allow an organization to uncover and deal with wastes and inefficiencies. Although Lean and Six Sigma tools are very powerful, we need to remember that for Lean and Six Sigma to work in [...]

Creating a lean warehouse (or distribution center) is not something you accomplish overnight. It takes vision, planning, strategy, tools and tactics. Relative to people, you need to develop team members into problem solvers and then provide a leadership infrastructure to support their efforts. Identifying and solving problems may seem basic; however experience would suggest it [...]

When I started at the Lean Logistics Center (LLC) in Iowa a year and half ago, there was a myriad of work that needed to be done in the operation: visual management, standard work, 5S, and level flow to name a few. The question was: “where to start?” As a Process Engineer the answer was [...]

Call them silos, stove pipes or departmental barriers, natural forces create them and detrimental forces seem to maintain them. And true supply chain management cannot be realized until they are eradicated Why do so many departmental barriers continue to exist given the benefits afforded by best practices in supply chain management? More importantly, what can [...]

A common complaint I often hear from folks in shipping and receiving is that they are either waiting on trucks or trucks are waiting on them.  The immediate next question to ask is, “Do you have a receiving schedule?” – to which many answer “No” or “Well, we used to have one, but it didn’t [...]

Modeling delivered cost within a supply chain is a hot item for businesses.  This is due to the fact that it is difficult to pull out some accounting statements, point to a few numbers, and say, “yep.  Here’s your Total Landed Cost.”  However, the true power of creating such models lies not only in capturing [...]

If you’re a student of lean thinking,  you have no doubt encountered many Japanese terms, phrases, and concepts.  Due to the success and proliferation of books on the Toyota Production System, many lean terms have become “household words” in operations and logistics. One doesn’t have to be a linguist to appreciate the beauty, imagery and [...]

Over the years I have heard front-line associates say, “It feels like they’re imposing lean on us.”  Middle managers often feel threatened as lean principles expose problems at their levels.  There is also a fear that making a process too lean can create a different set of issues or circle back around to the same [...]

Whether you’re getting dressed in the morning or completing a complex job within a manufacturing facility, the power of standard work can often be  easily overlooked. When LeanCor opened its first lean sequence center in North Liberty, Iowa in the summer of 2008, the first task was to implement the house of lean.  Stability is [...]