Our Insights

Read the latest insights and commentary from our experts surrounding Lean, our industry, and more.

UK SME Procurement in Digital Government

The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee has called for more UK SME involvement in digital government. GENEO argues that SME procurement must become practical, measurable and safe for public-sector buyers.

Standardised Work: The Architecture Inside the Document

Standardised Work is a system with a solid architecture in the depths of the document itself. And its impact, used effectively, is the secret sauce to continuous improvement, productivity (with a solid quality focus) and a dream for digital twinning. In the previous article we explored. Wait, stop. I explored and some of you read…

What Is Standardised Work, Really?

Do we truly understand what Standardised Work means? “That’s way too much effort, that. And for what return?” That’s a leader’s voice on the floor. The ‘kaizen blitz’ (don’t get me going on terminology) was done some weeks back and now things are unravelling. I’ve been asked to give an independent’s view on the culture,…

Organisations Forget Faster Than They Learn, Unless Work Is Standardised

There I was, scrolling through a Mercer article at circa 2000 metres of altitude on a chairlift leading to a stunning view of the pyrenees mountains. I was trying to check a number that had caught my eye on staff turnover in the workplace. I had to check because when I was reading the article…

Standards, our foundation for all things kaizen

There can be no kaizen without standards. Or is it without standards there can be no kaizen? Dammit, someone needs to standardise this saying! Oh wait, yes, it doesn’t take much googling to find out it was Ohno himself said this and I can now categorically say, it is the former and my memory serves…

Wrestling With Commitment: The Kaizen Flag and What It Really Signals

Let the kaizen flag help flag the need for commitment. Following my blogs on Monozukuri and Hitozukuri, this piece looks at leadership commitment (yes, I know, I keep going on about this) and how we can help ourselves with a simple visual. I first came across the Kaizen Flag after my time with CarnaudMetalbox, as…

Part 7 – GEN-OPS as a Modern Expression of the Toyota Way

How GENEO scales respect for people and continuous improvement in a digital world. The Toyota Way is often summarised through two pillars: respect for people and continuous improvement. These ideas are widely admired, frequently referenced, and yet surprisingly difficult to sustain at scale; particularly in complex, regulated, and digitally enabled environments. Many organisations adopt Lean…

Part 6 – Where Monozukuri and Hitozukuri Meet: Continuous Improvement

A GENEO perspective on embedding improvement into everyday work. Continuous improvement is often spoken about as a cultural aspiration. Organisations talk about empowerment, engagement, and innovation, yet struggle to make improvement consistent, sustainable, or meaningful at scale. At GENEO, we believe the reason is simple. Improvement is too often separated from the work itself. When…

Part 4 – Hitozukuri Is Not Training: How Standards Develop Thinking

A GENEO perspective on capability, learning, and developing people through work. In many organisations, hitozukuri, the development of people, has become synonymous with training. Courses are scheduled, competencies are signed off, and completion rates are tracked with impressive precision. From a distance, it looks like progress. Yet on the floor, a different reality often exists.…

Part 3 – Digital Monozukuri: Making Quality Visible at the Element Level

A GENEO perspective on clarity, craftsmanship, and modern standardised work. Digital technology has promised many things to operations, amongst some but not limited to: greater visibility, faster feedback and better control. In some cases, these promises have been realised. In many others, technology has simply added another layer of abstraction between leaders and the work…

Part 2 – Why Monozukuri Fails When Standards Become Documents

A GENEO perspective on standardised work, clarity, and operational excellence. Most organisations do not struggle because they lack standards. They struggle because their standards no longer serve the work. Across manufacturing and regulated industries, SOPs and work instructions have steadily grown longer, more complex, and more defensive. Written to satisfy governance, mitigate risk, and “cover…

Part 5 – The Role of Standardised Work in Hitozukuri

Standardised Work as a Leadership Development System. A GENEO perspective on visibility, behaviour, and how leaders learn to lead. Leadership development in operations is often treated as something separate from the work itself. High-potential programmes are created, frameworks are taught, and leadership behaviours are discussed in abstract terms. Yet when leaders return to the floor,…