April 15th, 2020
When you’re first introduced to Lean, one of the things that can be slightly confusing is the many ways in which ‘time’ is mentioned. We all understand that time elapses and that any given moment is a specific time, but suddenly in Lean we hear phrases like: Cycle Time Lead Time Work Content Time Elapsed […]
February 27th, 2020
I’ve recently been working with an organisation that has several key members of staff retiring from the business over the next few years. Realising the risk to the business from a shortfall of valuable knowledge and experience needed for successful running of day to day operations; they have identified a need to plan for dealing […]
February 11th, 2020
Measuring the Return on Investment of Continuous Improvement (CI) Much is written and published about when, where and how to implement Continuous Improvement (CI), less is said about why. To some extent, it could be that the reason why seems obvious – if you have a problem, the reason you use CI techniques is that […]
January 21st, 2020
The constant challenge for business leaders is to understand that there may be a better way to carry out business activity than the one that has been successful for the last 30 years and is now ingrained into the values and beliefs of their organisation. Lean Thinking was developed for the manufacturing sector during the […]
January 9th, 2020
It’s important to recognise the need for a proper understanding of the real situation before starting to improve things. In Six Sigma a lot of emphasis is put on DMAIC – Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control – as the correct method for structuring improvement projects. In fact, although the terminology stems from Six Sigma theory, […]
December 17th, 2019
Mike Notman, Managing Partner – Bourton Group LLP Before everyone heads off for the festive season, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the last year and share with you some of our many accomplishments and also plans for next year. Earlier in the year, we were delighted to scoop the Best Performance […]
November 21st, 2019
When introducing myself at the start of a training course and explaining my current role, I tend to say my time splits into around 30% training or coaching and 70% leading projects. Shamefully for someone who regularly delivers whole modules on the importance of data integrity, I’ve never actually checked if that’s true, but it […]
November 3rd, 2019
A few weeks ago, I met with the CEO of a European based Global business and as we opened the conversation, he asked me for my take on the current situation in the UK. Thinking about it, I realised that the current situation had been going on for quite some time and that we’ve been […]
October 22nd, 2019
In recent times so much Lean Six Sigma application has centred around the benefits that can be gained in transactional working environments. That’s why it’s always great to have the opportunity to use Lean techniques in the place they were originally developed – on the factory floor. Earlier this year Bourton Group led a project […]
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