Sep 19 2012
Lonnie Wilson: Does Your Business Have the Maturity of a Teen-ager? | IndustryWeek
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
The answer may determine the success of your lean implementation. If it is ‘yes,’ what are you prepared to do?
See on www.industryweek.com
Sep 23 2012
Article presenting team-building games as “best practice” | AME
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing

In his 1951 novel Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut describes team building games that were eerily similar to the ones in this article. This approach has therefore been around US corporations for at least 60 years. But does it work?
We know that simulation games are effective as a Lean training tool, for example, but they are direct metaphors for the production work the participants do. The idea that generic games, unrelated to work, would be effective at developing teamwork is anything but obvious.
A promoter of this approach is quoted in the article as citing “research from MIT,” which I couldn’t find on Google. Experimental proof would require two groups of similar teams engaged in similar projects, with one group using these exercises and the other not. Then it would compare their performance on work projects.
We are also supposed to show respect for people. How respectful is it to an employee’s expertise to put him or her through this kind of experience? With the same time and money, you could send a machinist to a seminar on new cutting tools, with the duty to report on learnings to colleagues, or you could send a warehouse manager to learn about, say, RFID.
See on www.ame.org
Share this:
Like this:
By Michel Baudin • Press clippings • 14 • Tags: Lean, Supply Chain Management, Team building