Weekend Fun: Beer Kaizen Parody Video

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Props to KCOE for the spot-on parody video of Bruce Hamilton's legendary Toast KAIZEN”: Introduction to Lean Principles DVD. Even if you just watch the first few minutes, it's pretty priceless if you're familiar with “Toast.”

Highlights for me included:

  • “Gettin' some beers for my buddies….”
  • The intentional (I think) skewering of blind adoption of 1-piece flow (putting each beer in the freezer to chill one at a time)
  • “Somebody really ought to do those dishes…”
  • “… OK, as long as it's not Sam Adams!”

But again, that is a serious point to be made that sometimes small batches are actually more efficient than single piece flow. I know that sounds like sacrilege, but blindly moving to one-piece flow before the process can handle it can cause A LOT of problems. Thanks for a funny video.

Check out the Kennametal Center for Operational Excellence at St. Vincent's College.


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Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker, and podcaster with experience in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. Mark's new book is The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. He is also the author of Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, and the anthology Practicing Lean. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.

9 COMMENTS

  1. It’s not necessarily batch vs one piece, but aligning demand, consumption, and production size and throughput. Three buddies needed three cold ones at one time. Now if it was one buddy knowing he’d eventually want three cold ones at thirty minute intervals… perhaps then a kanban of putting one in the freezer when one is pulled out would be best so there’s not a waste of over-freezing or using up valuable freezer/fridge space if he passes out (what a wimp!) and doesn’t drink that last one.

  2. Mark,

    Thanks for sharing this video. For me, the best line was towards the end, when “Bruce Hamilton Jr.” talks about having to watch the Toast video over and over again. I’ve personally watched Bruce’s video at least 50 times. Strangely enough, each and every time it still gets me thinking about lean principles (a great thing!) and chuckling about the lack of proper hygiene after cleaning out the sink.

  3. Brilliant! When can we get it in Spanish to advance the training of our diverse workforce, as we have with “Toast”?

    My only disappointment was that he did the dishes. After the laundry, the lawn mowing, etc., I thought we were going to get “Somebody really ought to do those dishes” as the final refrain.

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