A poignant story showed up in the Washington Post during the recent GM strike that hits at the heart of the principle of respect for people. It came from the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Management, required to work…
I’ve done this before with the WSJ… since I was in Seattle, I saw the Sunday Seattle Times, which had many articles that had some inadvertent (and unsaid) Lean angle (or so I thought). Article 1: Snap goes deadline at…
Thanks to a Lean Blog reader, Ryan, for sending this in (click on the ad for a larger image). He asked why BMW would brag about it taking SEVEN years to develop a new vehicle? This is much slower than…
I’m in Seattle, about a mile from the stadium where the Seahawks are playing the Saints tonight. I was tempted to get a ticket, but I should be working and I’m able to watch on TV (providing some background noise…
Guest Post By Mike Thelen: ——————————– I received an interesting piece of “junk mail” this morning. What caught my attention and provoked me to open it was simply that it was from Honda and my Lean obsessive-ness engaged. Now, I…
With our Lean efforts, it’s always good to ask, are we: Copying Toyota’s past methods, Copying Toyota’s current methods OR Copying Toyota’s thought process and concepts If you’re a regular Lean Blog reader, you’ll know that I’d argue for doing…
Sports Leagues as Systems: A Lean View of Long-Term Thinking Editor’s Note (2026):This post from 2007 still resonates today as professional sports leagues wrestle with decisions about rule changes, media rights, scheduling, and fan engagement. The tension between short-term revenue…
Here is a follow up to Part 1 of the recent Q&A I’ve facilitated with our friend, Dr. Bahri. Thanks to the blog reader (who works for a non-Dental, non-Medical company) who emailed me these questions. I always love hearing…
Click here for Part 1 and Part 2 of the series of posts about my visit to Dr. Sami Bahri, the “World’s First Lean Dentist.” In Part 2, I talked about how the Lean “tool heads” might be disappointed, and…
Thanks again to Dr. Sami Bahri for hosting me last week. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 of my visit report, stay tuned for Part 3 and for another Q&A. Thanks so much to Dr. Bahri for taking…
Huge Price Paid for Stupid, Careless Medical Error | Tortdeform Lots of discussion of the sad case of the mixed up laboratory specimens and Darrie Eason having the unnecessary double mastectomy. One comment (from a reader of the blog I…
American LED-gible, Inc. American LED-gible (www.ledgible.com) manufactures many products that would be suitable for Lean environments, such as andon boards, counters, timers, and other electronic displays. They have extended their sponsorship of the Lean Blog, so many thanks! Please check…