My First Visit to the Toyota Truck Plant in San Antonio (TMMTX)
This blog post is about my first visit to TMMTX in 2010.
Year 2010
Hospitals Under Pressure, Resorting to Layoffs and Slash and Burn, Not Lean
Generally, with the term “lean,” it’s easy for people to leap to a conclusion that Lean equals layoffs. This is often the fear in healthcare when Lean consultants are involved, especially since consultants usually equals cost cutting in healthcare, which…
3 Questions to Ask Before Starting with Lean
This is a companion post to yesterday’s “3 Reasons the General Public Thinks Hospitals Can’t Improve.” Lean zealots often take for granted that, not only does Lean work, but that people want to improve. Before we dive into teaching people…
New Sponsor: LeanPosters.com
I’d like to welcome a new sponsor to my blog, LeanPosters.com. You’ll find their ad in the right hand column… As is the case with many of my sponsors, LeanPosters.com is a small business, so I like helping entepreneurial ventures…
3 Reasons the General Public Doesn’t Think Healthcare Can Improve
Lean thinkers see the waste in healthcare when they are at the hospital “gemba“. I think this is true whether you are a Lean person who is new to healthcare or if you’re a long-time hospital person who has learned…
Reminder: Free Lean Leadership Webinar at 2 PM EDT Today, “On the Mend”
Join the co-authors of the book “On the Mend: Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the Industry“, John Toussaint MD and Roger Gerard PhD, for a free webinar on lean leadership – today at 2 PM eastern. You can…
Lean Blog Week in Review #2 – September 12, 2010
Here’s my second attempt at the Lean Blog Week in Review video. Thanks to those who gave feedback about the first. This new one has no background music and the sound should be the same in both L and R…
Controversy over New Standardized Work at Some Starbucks Stores
As a regular Starbucks customer (especially so when I lived in Boston, a few stories directly above a Starbucks store), I try to follow the company closely, including reading the “Starbucks Gossip” blog from time to time. I’ve posted before…
Don’t Copy: There Is No “Instant Pudding”
One of the things I get frustrated with is people who want to take shortcuts with Lean. There are some who are only interested in copying and taking the easy path to yummy Lean goodness. You see this in the…
Start Every Hospital Meeting w/ 5 Minutes on Employee and Patient Safety
Recently, I posted a video of a “daily huddle” meeting at Everett Clinic (not exactly the type of huddle pictured at left). Yesterday, in honor of the Labor Day holiday, I had a post about employee safety and how that…
Labor Day – Our Obligation for Worker Safety
Today is a federal holiday in the United States, Labor Day. I know that’s obvious to the 70% of you reading from the U.S., but it seemed worth pointing out to the international readers. Labor Day became a holiday in…
Lean Blog Week in Review #1 – September 4, 2010
This is a new experiment, the “Lean Blog Week in Review.” Let me know what you think. Ideally, I would do these each week, as a recap for those who are behind on the blog or as a way to…