Part 2: 20 Years Ago at GM, the Quality Death Spiral Continues… With More… Mark Graban Apr 19, 2018 7 Blog Recently, I blogged about a quality catastrophe that I lived through at GM just over 20 years ago, at the…
20+ Years Ago at GM: The Quality Death Spiral of Bad Management & Blaming… Mark Graban Apr 10, 2018 7 Blog My first job out of college was as an Industrial Engineer at the General Motors Livonia Engine Plant. Blogging…
GM’s CEO Roger Smith Thought Toyota Had Magic, But This Was the… Mark Graban Jun 9, 2016 12 Audio Thanks to this post by Bruce Hamilton (aka "Toast Guy" or "Old Lean Dude"), I was reminded of the old General…
The Day I Thought I’d Get Fired from “The Old GM” –… Mark Graban Apr 4, 2014 11 Blog Following up on yesterday's post that talked about "the old GM" putting cost ahead of quality, I sometimes I get…
My Talk in Vegas: Leadership Lessons from Statistics and Psychology Mark Graban Apr 3, 2018 3 Webinars Today, I’m giving a keynote talk at the Lean & Six Sigma World Conference being held in Las Vegas. I don’t…
2nd Post for the Deming Institute Blog: The Failed “Livonia… Mark Graban Jan 17, 2017 0 Blog Yesterday, the W. Edwards Deming Institute published the second in my series of three posts for them: "The Failure…
My Post for the Deming Institute Blog: Why Dr. Deming’s Work is So Important… Mark Graban Jan 6, 2017 0 Blog I'm extremely honored that The W. Edwards Deming Institute published my first blog post in a series of three that…
Podcast #259 – Steve Bera, Reflections on NUMMI and #Lean, Part 2 Mark Graban Aug 9, 2016 2 Blog Today's episode #259 is Part 2 of a discussion I started with Steve Bera in episode #256. Steve was one of the!-->!-->!-->…
Throwback Thursday: “This American Life” on NUMMI Lessons,… Mark Graban Jul 23, 2015 1 Audio Episode #403 of the public radio program "This American Life" originally aired in 2010, telling the story of the…
“My Best Mistake:” Working for General Motors Mark Graban Apr 24, 2013 4 Blog As a LinkedIn "Influencer," I was invited to contribute a story to the "My Best Mistake" series. I wrote about!-->…
Reader Question: When the Stated Values Don’t Match Daily Reality Mark Graban Dec 15, 2010 3 Blog I received a question from a reader, a retiree from a manufacturing company who is now a volunteer for a healthcare…
NPR on the “End of the Line” at NUMMI and My Story About an… Mark Graban Mar 27, 2010 12 Blog Here's some Saturday morning listening... a story from yesterday's "All Things Considered" on the "End of the Line"…
Where Did I Start with Lean? Mark Graban Jul 23, 2009 17 Best I love it when I have a chance to meet Lean Blog readers and Twitter followers in the "real world." In the past few…
My Blog Had The 18-Hour Flu: Thoughts on Downtime and Management Pressure Mark Graban Feb 29, 2008 2 Blog So I think things are back to normal after a somewhat stressful day of wondering why my blog "broke." Unlike some!-->…