Chad Bareither

“We have a strategy.” - “We have a morning meeting.” - “But they don’t seem connected.” That is where many small shops get stuck. Leadership sets a priority. The team reviews yesterday’s issues. Customers keep calling. Expedites keep happening. The same problems show up again next week. The issue is not effort. The issue is that the strategy never became a process change. And that is the missing link. Process improvement is the bridge between strategy deployment and daily management. Strategy...

A mentor once told me: “If I had to teach Lean using only one concept, it would be flow. Make the work flow. Where it doesn’t, learn why—and make it flow better.” The longer I work with manufacturing and operations teams, the more I agree with him. Lean is often introduced in a classroom. We explain value, waste, flow, pull, standard work, visual management, problem-solving, workplace organization, and continuous improvement. We introduce Japanese terms, draw diagrams, and share examples from...

I once heard a realtor friend of mine say that as his clients choose to downside, they are usually 5 years too late. What he means is that the process itself takes a year, and in advance of that is the cleanout, repairs, and staging. In business “I think we’re ready to scale.” usually comes after you already NEED to scale. You feel the effects - The owner is busy. The team is working hard. Customers are asking for more. There are opportunities in front of the business. So the natural thought...