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Continue reading →: Visual Management at the RestaurantOne of the fun things on our Japan Lean Experience tour was to sample some of the food and of course drink. On one particular evening we had a smaogasboard of delights and on the way out npticed some interesting and humourous signs. This one is self explanatory and a…
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Continue reading →: A Little Thanks Goes A Long WayOne of the things I saw when I was in Japan was a great example of how a simple behaviour of recognising the efforts of your co-workers had on boosting employee satisfaction. The organization we were visiting, Aeon Malls, had a system whereby every employee could raise and give a…
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Continue reading →: Postcard from Lockdown Take IIAs we reach the end of lockdown, everyone is set to change gears a little as we get the country back to work, mostly. The “teddies in the garden” champion has continued to update his exhibition everyday and gets the top marks for artistic interpretation. Fishing teddies are permissible, as…
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Continue reading →: 5S Find III – World Production SystemI have a third interesting document that was recently rediscovered from my 1995 “Kaizen Breakthrough” training, in Grand Rapids Michigan. I’ll break these down a bit as there are a few pages, but these started with a diagram of what we now know call the “House of Toyota” which has…
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Continue reading →: Shingo Principle – Respect Every Individual IIJust recapping on an earlier explanation, what we learn from the Shingo Model, is that Ideal Results Require Ideal Behaviours. The Shingo principle, “Respect for Every Individual” sounds similar to a common lean phrase, “Respect for People“. However, it is different in the way that we should think of our…
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Continue reading →: 5S Find – Notes on Mizusumashi 1995Continuing the fortuitous find of my old notes taken from a two week lean study tour of the USA in July 1995, I present some hand typed notes on Mizusumashi. “Definition – Mizusumashi= ultra high frequency pulling and is the method of transportation, or the provider of such transportation used…
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Continue reading →: Postcard from LockdownI’m not sure if anyone has noted the “Teddies in Windows” phenomenon, but I read this morning that 1-3 houses in NZ have joined in. Here are some of the offerings from my exercise route. I feel this panda may have done something wrong? or even does this serve warning…
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Continue reading →: Welcome to Lean TomatoesWelcome to my Blog! I’d like to share a bit more and my greatest passions, the first being my interests in all things Lean Thinking and the relentless pursuit of knowledge to share with others. The second being my love for gardening and in particular growing tomatoes. To cut a…
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Continue reading →: History of Toyota Production System – Circa 1995I was doing some 5S in my storage locker and I found a folder of notes given to me during a “study tour” to the USA in 1995. This was a week long Kaizen Breakthrough event hosted by the Donnelly Corporation in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We were all new to…
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Continue reading →: Developing People at ToyotaOn a recent trip to Japan I had the special honour to meet and listen to a presentation by Isao Kato. Isao spent 35 years with Toyota Motor Corporation in a variety of management positions in manufacturing, HR, training and employee relations, also supplier development before retiring in the early…
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Continue reading →: Shingo Principle – Create Value for the CustomerShingo views “value creation” for the customer in a similar way to Lean Thinking. Ultimately, value must be defined through the lens of the customer and be willing to pay for. My observation is that often organisation focus too much on creating value for shareholders and can lose touch of…
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Continue reading →: Shingo Principle – Assure Quality at the SourceI often feel that back in the ’80’s we over did quality and it got a bad name when consultants and auditors made compliance overly complex and onerous on both the organisation and individuals alike. I myself once took on a role early in my NZ career, and had a…
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Continue reading →: Team Engagement Japan StyleDuring my Japan Lean Experience tour last year, we had the pleasure of being hosted by Aeon Kunawa. Aeon is Greek for “eternity” and this organisation plans, builds and manages malls and a supermarket chain to name just a few of their core operations. It’s a small company *jokes, with…
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Continue reading →: Postcard from KyotoContinuing our trip to Japan last year, Kyoto was one of the highlights in terms of sightseeing. The original ancient capital, Kyoto is the spiritual centre of Japan, and is rich with cultural heritage. On a warm April day we saw many wearing traditional dress, although we later discovered that…
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Continue reading →: Postcard from GinzaWhilst we all enjoy our daily fix of the Rugby world cup, I thought I’d share a few details of my recent Japan Tour. I never tire of my trips to Japan and particularly there is much to see in Tokyo for the lovers of all things automotive! In the…
About me
Hi. I’m Richard Steel – an independent Lean and operational excellence consultant.
I was fortunate to complete my initial Lean experiences from 1994 – 1997 with Professor Dan Jones, Toyota, Nissan and Shin-jujitsu consulting.
Over the past 30 years I’ve helped businesses and organisations across industries streamline what they do, cur out waste and build a culture of continuous Improvement.
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Diary of a Kaizen Warrior 