Kaizen Songs

Kaizen Song: Mr. Pareto

This one was inspired by hearing Mr. Roboto on the radio shortly after helping a team make good use of Mr. Pareto's chart and related 80-20 principle during a lean implementation planning session. What else rhymes with "kilroy"? Mr. Pareto (to the music of Mr. Roboto by Styx) Domo arigato, more>>

Kaizen Song: Kits

It seems like many of the kaizen songs end up being about material flow and Lean logistics. At the risk of being campy, here is a lesson in Lean from musical royalty... Kits (To the melody of “Kiss” by Prince) U don’t have 2 keep the bins so full, 2 more>>

Kaizen Song: It's a Long Way to the Top (Teaching Takt, Flow, Pull)

By Brad Schmidt Here's a little back-to-school rock 'n' roll. It's a Long Way to the Top (Teaching Takt, Flow, Pull) [To the tune of It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) by AC/DC] Doing an assessment Seeing lots of waste No one will more>>

Kaizen Song: We Demand Visual Controls

We Demand Visual Controls (to the music of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”) A fax was on my desk, it spoke of promises “My order isn't there, hey when was it sent?” Which came as some surprise, logged in and saw the line “We thought it shipped more>>

Kaizen Song: Downstream Pull

This kaizen song is dedicated to all of you materials managers and planners out there working to establish pull systems... Downstream Pull (to the melody of "Downtown Train" by Tom Waits) Line side another yellow andon No engineers on the night time shift I look through the parts list and more>>

Kaizen Song: Hey, Juneka

Inspired by Ron Pereira's multi-part blogging about heijunka this week, at the Lean Six Sigma Academy, including heijunka in the front office, here is a new kaizen song. Hey, Juneka (heijuneka) (to the music of The Beatles' "Hey, Jude") Heijuneka, don't make a batch Fill one order, then fill another more>>

Kaizen Song: Ship It

I’m running low on these. I do recall thinking this one was almost too easy. Enjoy. Ship It (to the music of “Whip It” by Devo) Track that WIP If you want the parts to ship Parts on the rack Some of them are scrap When takt time comes along more>>

Kaizen Song: g.e.m.b.a

g.e.m.b.a. (to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”) Young man, there's no need to feel down I said, young man, pick your reports off the ground I said, young man, 'cause your boss ripped you a new one There's no need to be unhappy Young man, there's a place you can go more>>

Kaizen Song: I Stop the Line

It's a very busy week, no time to blog today. So I'll post another one of the kaizen songs I wrote back in the days when I had a lot more time on my hands. Please enjoy this musical interlude. I Stop the Line (To Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the more>>

Kaizen Song: Cycle Times They Are A-Changin’

Doing some 5S with computer files this weekend I came across a folder of "kaizen songs" we had made for fun a few years ago. The melodies are well-known folk, rock or country tunes. This one is called Cycle Times They Are A-Changin' and it's based on the Bob Dylan more>>