Blog Articles
Shingo in Juran’s Quality Handbook
February 4, 2020 – Ken Snyder
In 1980, I graduated from my MBA program and accepted a position with a small, high-tech, Japanese-owned, electronics company. I spent the next few years learning how to make really complicated products. In December of 1980, I purchased several books to facilitate the learning process. One of these books was the quality reference book, Ju...
Read Full ArticleIs it Wrong to Always be Right?
February 4, 2020 – the Shingo Institute
We like to be right. To have correct answers, to solve problems of others, to be seen as experts on a variety of topics. This pattern starts early – long before we ascend corporate ladders and assume positions of influence and leadership. Starting in elementary school, we begin the laborious task of storing large amounts of information...
Read Full ArticleFlow Where You Can, Pull Where You Can’t
February 4, 2020 – the Shingo Institute
The Shingo Model™ captures ten timeless principles that apply to all, regardless of our beliefs or level of understanding. In my experience working with companies over the past 20 years, the principle that is least practiced addresses the idea that value should be flowed and pulled. So what does it mean to flow value? Why i...
Read Full ArticleA Look at “Flow and Pull Value”
March 6, 2019 – Ken Snyder
“Flow and Pull Value” is a principle in the Continuous Improvement dimension of the Shingo Model. This principle seems to be the most difficult for students of the Model to understand. The confusion experienced in learning this principle has caused us deep reflection on how we might better explain and teach this principle. Causes ...
Read Full ArticleShingo Japan Study Tour Recap
March 6, 2019 – the Shingo Institute
This year’s Japan Study Tour was based mostly in the Tokyo/Yokohama area with one trip by bullet train up to the Sendai area. After a delicious and authentic sushi lunch, the group visited the Meiji Shrine and the Imperial Palace. The first two days of the tour were spent in the classroom discussing the Shingo Model and how it a...
Read Full ArticleHighlights from the 2019 Shingo Conference
March 6, 2019 – the Shingo Institute
If you weren’t able to make it to this year’s Shingo Conference in the Cincinnati, Ohio area (Covington, Kentucky, to be exact), we certainly hope you’ll make it to next year’s Shingo Conference in Orlando, Florida. In the meantime, here are a few of the highlights of what you missed last week. At the awards gala, there were five (!) S...
Read Full ArticleA Look at “Go and Observe”
April 6, 2018 – Ken Snyder
Soon after publishing the Shingo Model™ over 10 years ago, we developed workshops to teach the Model. At first, the workshops were classroom-only experiences. We soon tested the idea of “go to gemba”[1] as part of the workshop. We quickly realized that including “go to gemba” was a far superior teaching method. Since t...
Read Full ArticleIt Shouldn’t Be This Hard
April 6, 2018 – Ken Snyder
I have often heard that “Lean takes 10 years minimum,” or “Where you start depends on where your organization is at,” or “Implementing Lean is an art, not a science,” and other excuses for why a transformation should take an inordinately long period of time. While I believed some of these excuses earlier in my career, I am increasingly co...
Read Full ArticleShould We Change the Model?
March 6, 2018 – Ken Snyder
Over the past several months, I have analyzed and discussed the Shingo Model™ on this blog and in private meetings with thought leaders. This has led to a lot of feedback from various people – both in response to Shingo blog posts, to my personal LinkedIn account, and in one-on-one conversations. I deeply appreciate the passion and c...
Read Full ArticleShingo Faculty Fellows
March 6, 2018 – Ken Snyder
In order to help the Shingo Institute accomplish its educational mission, the Shingo institute is in need of expanding its resources in the educational field. We decided to create a group of people, known as “Shingo Faculty Fellows,” who will represent the Shingo Institute in educational settings. The Shingo Faculty Fellows will be a reso...
Read Full ArticleThe Holy Grail?
March 6, 2018 – Ken Snyder
A few months ago, I spoke with an investment fund manager who invests in companies that practice Lean operational excellence. Both this fund manager and I shared our belief that Lean companies will outperform the general market, and will provide a better return to investors. This fund manager made the comment that if we could prove in an ...
Read Full ArticleA First for the Eastern European Union
January 17, 2018 – Ken Snyder
I am pleased to announce that the Thermo Fisher Scientific facility in Vilnius, Lithuania will receive the Shingo Prize at our annual conference next April in Orlando, Florida. This is the first organization in the central and eastern part of the European Union to receive Shingo recognition. The Lithuanian facility has world-clas...
Read Full ArticleProcess Improvement Technique from a 7-Time Olympic Medalist
January 15, 2018 – the Shingo Institute
We do our best to bring a wide variety of great speakers to the Shingo Conference and we’ve managed to get some great ones over the years. One of the keynote speakers on the agenda for the 30th Shingo Conference is one you might not expect. She will bring a unique perspective to the topic of process improvement as someone who has spent he...
Read Full ArticleThe First Special Issue
January 3, 2018 – Ken Snyder
When we hired Dr. Rick Edgeman as the director of research at the Shingo institute, he and I discussed how we could improve the process of improvement. I wrote about how critical it is to engage the research community in this effort in my February 2017 blog, “Improving Improvement.” With Rick’s vast experience in the academic world, he su...
Read Full ArticleA Dream Come True
December 1, 2017 – Ken Snyder
This past week I taught the first Shingo Discover Excellence workshop ever taught in Japan. And the opportunity to do it in an American organization that has a majority Japanese workforce was particularly enjoyable. The organization requested that the workshop be delivered in both English and Japanese, and the participants were roughly 50...
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