A Fatally Broken ER
Woman dies in ER lobby as 911 refuses to help Click here for a more positive ER story posted on the same day… a UK hospital that used Lean to reduce ER waiting time dramatically… read this and think about…
Year 2007
Are You Really Asking?
Here’s one I came up with yesterday… having a discussion with supervisors about asking questions as leaders. There’s different tones of voice and different intents, when asking questions. The worst form would be, “Why the hell aren’t you following the…
"Detroit is looking for a foreign villain"
‘Face of Toyota’ Steps Up At a Delicate Time – WSJ.com: I’m surprised that Jim Press, about to be elected to Toyota’s board, would be so blunt: “Mr. Press — who has said his job is to be ‘the face…
Toyota Slowing Down U.S. Plant Expansion?
Report: Toyota May Slow US Plant Builds: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance WSJ article: REDUCED SPEED Toyota’s New U.S. Plan: Stop Building Factories Toyota is concerned about overexpansion and overcapacity in the U.S., apparently. In Japan, most of Toyota’s factories…
Psychology & Lean
By Mike Lopez Extraversion or introversion. How do those personality traits figure into a Lean implementation? I have seen very event driven implementations of Lean. There are Kaizen blitzes, Value Stream Mappings, 6S events, and others. I think it is…
Updated: China’s Manufacturing Reputation
As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China – New York Times Pet food, toothpaste, childrens’ toys…. (oh and let’s not forget the recent slave labor stories). Update: WSJ article with interviews from released slaves When does China’s reputation…
What Would You Ask the UAW?
For UAW Chief, a Bid To Forestall ‘Waterloo’ – WSJ.com The UAW leader for the U.S., Ron Gettelfinger was featured in today’s Wall Street Journal. He pretty much spoke the company line on the usual excuses for why the Detroit…
Lean, No Wait ER’s
U.S. hospitals try to pick up the ER pace You might have seen this sad case of a fatally broken ER on the news over the weekend and I have more comments on that later. On a more positive light,…
Submit Questions for Upcoming Podcasts
I’m recording a few podcasts in the coming weeks and would love to include your questions. You can email me using the link in the left hand column of this page or you can call and leave me a voice…
Jim Baran on Value Stream Leadership and Lean Careers [Podcast]
LeanBlog Podcast #27 is the second part of two with Jim Baran, the Owner of Value Stream Leadership, a leading recruiting firm that specializes in Lean talent. Part One of that discussion can be found here. In this part of…
GM Does Teach Kaizen in the Standard Work Class
Detroit Free Press Forums In my previous post, I questioned if GM was teaching true “Standard Work” to reporters who came to their training center in Lansing. My cynicism may have gotten the best of me, as it seemed, from…
Toyota’s Convis Retires
Georgetown News-Graphic: News This was already announced, so maybe his retirement has just now taken effect, Gary Convis, the former leader of the Toyota Georgetown plant (TMMK): “Gary really knows how to listen,” Steve St. Angelo, Georgetown plant president, said,…