All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
I really enjoyed spending the last two days at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, Iowa the last two days. On Tuesday, there was event planned by MGMC and the Iowa Lean Consortium based on the “Kaizen Live!” site visits that…
Recently, when I posted a bit from the old 1984 NUMMI Team Member Handbook (more still to come on that), it allowed me to connect with Tom Wilson, a retired GM leader who spent time at NUMMI in the 1980s. In…
My guest for Episode #266 of the podcast is Karyn Ross (@KRCLean4Service on Twitter), co-author of the new book (with Jeff Liker): The Toyota Way to Service Excellence: Lean Transformation in Service Organizations.
When I was on vacation, my wife and I rented an apartment in Beaune, France, instead of getting a hotel room. At left is a picture from the center of town. It was nice to be able to wash clothes…
This article from the Toronto Star caught my eye the other day: Cyclist says his pool noodle makes Toronto streets safer for him There was a law passed in Ontario requiring drivers leave one meter of space between them and…
I saw this article the other day on Deadspin, one of my favorite non-Lean blogs Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, got really frustrated with an NFL-provided Microsoft Surface tablet. As with many technology issues, it wasn’t…
A few weeks ago, I saw this announcement about Dean Gruner, MD, the second CEO to lead ThedaCare during their Lean journey: Dr. Dean Gruner, ThedaCare President and CEO, Announces Retirement “Dean Gruner, MD, president and CEO of ThedaCare since…
TL;DR: Archival GM and NUMMI documents reveal how deeply Toyota embedded kaizen, problem-solving, and respect for people into daily work–principles that contrasted sharply with old GM management practices and still offer timely lessons for Lean leadership today. These firsthand materials…
When I was in England on vacation recently, I saw this column in the Financial Times: Listen to your employees and so increase their productivity And the author, Sarah O’Connor, makes a great point in the sub headline – that…
I watched the movie "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" for a second time. The film focuses mainly on Jiro Ono, a now 90-year old sushi chef in Tokyo who has received the rare and coveted Michelin 3-star rating for his restaurant. The film reminds me of Lean thinking, especially the drive for Kaizen, or continuous improvement.
You might remember my post from June about an emergency physician who wrote a journal article bashing “Lean” — but what he described didn’t sound like Lean at all. As I said then: “In the article, Dr. Cotton describes the…
Joining me for Episode #265 of the podcast is Bernita Beikmann, AIA, EDAC, LSSBB, a Principal and Director of Lean Strategy at HKS, an international architecture firm. Bernita is originally from Kansas and has a Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State University…
