Lean and Media Companies?
I received an email from Norway, asking a question I couldn’t answer, so I’m turning it to the blog readers: [ I work for a] European media group based in Norway . We have around 8.500 employees and operations in…
Year 2007
Example: 5S and Reducing Waste
www.kansascity.com | 09/10/2007 | To survive and thrive in these days of globalization, manufacturing companies must carve away the fat. Here’s a nice news story that describes 5S and workplace organization as more than just a neatness or cleanliness exercise.…
Dare to Wear this Button?
I’ve written before about the “Ask Me” campaign that runs in many hospitals, usually in context of “ask me if I’ve washed my hands.” One hospital runs a slight variation of the buttons and a sign campaign that encourages patients,…
From Autos to Healthcare
In Shift, Auto Workers Flee to Health-Care Jobs – WSJ.com: This story caught my ear, first, when I heard it on the Wall Street Journal This Morning radio show (XM channel 167), even though the host had a bit of…
Bad Systems: TSA at DFW Terminal A
I’m going to try to tie this into Lean, or so I think. I had the most mind-numbing experience at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (my home airport, Terminal A, near gate A35, last Monday night (Labor Day). As I…
Relying on Memory Leads to Errors
Patient Safety Blog – Telling Our Stories Here is an unfortunate story about a surgeon operating on the wrong side of an 86 year-old man, who died sooner after. There’s no clear cause-and-effect between that error and death: The surgeon…
LeanBlog Podcast #31 — David Meier on ‘Toyota Talent,’ Standardization, and the San Antonio Plant
Listen: LeanBlog Podcast #31 is a discussion with David Meier, most recently the co-author of the book Toyota Talent, written with Dr. Jeffrey Liker. In this podcast, we discuss the topics from Toyota Talent, including standardized work and how to…
Dell to Focus on Long Term?
Can Michael Dell Refocus His Namesake? – New York Times The Toyota Way philosophy preaches a focus on the long term business objectives or as stated in the book (and summarized on wikipedia): “Base your management decisions on a long-term…
Updated: Press leaving Toyota for Chrysler
Autoblog.com report This is surprising — Toyota’s top U.S. executive, Jim Press, who had been the first American named as a Toyota corporate director, is leaving to take a top sales and marketing job at Chrysler. Does this mean Tom…
Lean in the USA Today
USA Today – Lantech has success all wrapped up It’s a brief mention, but a positive mention of Lean in the USA Today Money section this week. Lantech, a Kentucky company, has had some amazing growth and they credited Lean…
Duct Taping the Dreamliner
Flightblogger: Temporary Fasteners Causing Major Problems for 787 Program Ok, so Boeing isn’t using duct tape in their efforts to cobble together the first Dreamliner plane. But, this blog report I’ve linked to says they were using: “… over-the-counter parts…
Leading Lean A-Z
by Jamie Flinchbaugh, co-author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean Decades of knowledge in lean have been passed on, written down, turned into curriculums and even documented in the annual reports of some companies. But why do so many fail…