NPR : Reasons for GM Slide Go Beyond Work Force Honestly, I’d expect more from liberal NPR and their headline. You’d expect NPR to be the friend of the UAW “working man” (or woman), but I don’t appreciate how their…
New Haven Register – Bitter Ending Thanks to Lean Blog reader Tom for sending this my way, sad story that it is. Hershey’s candy is moving a plant from Connecticut to Virginia: The Hershey Co. will close its Peter Paul…
Sponsored by American-LEDgible, Inc. It’s time for another LeanBlog Contest! Update: Deadline is May 18 Submit your Visual Management stories and get a chance to win a Black 8 Gig Apple iPod Nano, a $249 value, courtesy of our sponsor…
Episode #23 of the LeanBlog Podcast features a panel of Lean leaders from the Group Health Cooperative, a consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system that coordinates care and coverage. Based in Seattle, Group Health and its subsidiary health carriers, Group Health…
I could have also titled this post “I screwed up!” or “Who Screwed Up? Me!” but we try not to point the finger of blame in the Lean mindset…. it’s especially uncomfortable when you have to point it in the…
From blog reader, Peter, in Denmark: Hello again Mark. Half a year ago I reported on a story in Denmark concerning Lean in the kindergarten. Now I am bringing you new news! The Danish television show “Rabatten,” which translates into…
By Dan Markovitz There’s been some confusion over my recent post criticizing the Business Week article on Toyota’s “frugality.” I do not believe that Toyota is frugal (read: “cheap”). Rather, I believe that the company is simply focused on value.…
I heard a great comment on Monday from a hospital President. He said, quite passionately, I might be paraphrasing slightly: “We don’t have a shortage of nurses and other workers. What we have is a shortage of good management systems,…
IndustryWeek : When Not To Go Lean Here’s another concept of Lean As Misguidedly Executed. I could nitpick the title of the IW piece, from page 51 of the May 2007 issue, for being misleading. For a publication that promotes…
Another great thought from David Mann this week was highlighting how a Lean culture will “embrace it’s misses” rather than try to cover them up. His example was in the context of a production line not making it’s production goal…
Big pieces of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner arrive | Seattle Times Newspaper This is really Kevin Meyer’s issue at Evolving Excellence, but I can’t resist blogging about this myself. Boeing is often hailed as a Lean company (or at least they…
Check out the comments below this earlier post to see an initial response from the Lean Enterprise Institute’s Chet Marchwinski. He promises a lengthier response from Womack and Jones after they have had a chance to read the book that…