As of September 2022, the American economy meets the technical requirements for a recession. Layoffs are sweeping the nation, inflation has reached record highs, and cost of living standards are rising from coast to coast. Businesses across the board, from the...
Lean Horizon Consulting
Lean
Financial Close to Disclose: Impact of Delays and Poor Quality
Monthly, quarterly and annual Closes and Discloses are an integral part of the business cycle. When you have a great month, quarter or year you want to share the great news, describe the success and give credit to your team for a job well done. When things don't go...
Finance Department: Historians or Navigators?
Is your finance team under enormous stress that leads to burnout? Is there low morale and high turnover? Lately this seems to be the rule rather than the exception. Increasing regulations, poor data integrity, demanding Boards of Directors, and outdated accounting...
Six Sigma Versus Lean Tools
Lean and Six Sigma have now matured as the premier continuous improvement tools in today’s business environment. But there is still much confusion over which is the best tool to use and when. Some companies declare themselves staunch six sigma advocates and some are...
How do you Drive Lean in a Process Industry?
In a process industry environment small improvements make a big difference due to the high volume of product moving through the facility in a short period of time. I remember one facility that was running at the high end of the customer material specification due to...
Are Your Metrics Holding You Back?
Metrics…every company has them. Not all metrics are created equal, and quite frankly, some metrics can derail a Lean transformation. I was with the CEO and CFO of a rather large industrial manufacturing company, and I learned that they measured their plant management...
Lean Accounting and Accounting for Lean Presented at Shared Services Exchange
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A Hospital Without Waste
Is there a Hospital which continually strives for WASTE reduction? There appears to be a hospital in India, which seems to know the answer to this question. That's Aravind Eye Hospital in India. When you walk in here and visit the hospital without an appointment, you...
Any Color You Want Except Tuxedo Black
Henry Ford could get the customer any type of Model T as long as it was black. But the Ford Motor Company now finds itself in the strange position of being able to supply vehicles in any color except (metallic) black as a result of the catastrophe in Japan. The...
Balanced Scorecards vs. Strategy Deployment
The original intent of the Balanced Scorecard attempts to identify targets (both financial and operational) that are strategic in nature. However, most companies that I am familiar with misuse this tool, and tend to merge daily management measures (KPI’s – Key...
Flatlined: Why Lean Transformations Fail and What to do About It
