All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
Business Week Article Here is a new article from Business Week, which also focuses on the upcoming book How Toyota Became #1: Leadership Lessons from the World’s Greatest Car Company. I’m going to have a chance to meet the author,…
I saw this ad (click on the photo for a larger, readable view) in the Wall Street Journal Monday. It’s an ad run by a patient advocacy organization called “RID” (Reduce Infection Deaths). The headline is “15 Steps You Can…
Lean bloggers tend to be hard on the commercial airline industry. It’s not unjustified considering how they’ve treated their own employees and their customers in recent years, and the lack of profitability that goes with that poor treatment. I suspect…
Marketplace: Road construction paved with problems Dr. Deming always preached to not choose suppliers based on price alone. Many companies and industries have never learned that lesson, so why should we expect governments to do any better? This Marketplace story…
By Dan Markovitz Mark posted yesterday about the relative leanness of light rail vs. buses. He pointed out that a rail line probably has more capacity, but it’s very much a fixed asset, a “monument” if you will. Buses are…
A poignant story showed up in the Washington Post during the recent GM strike that hits at the heart of the principle of respect for people. It came from the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Management, required to work…
I’ve done this before with the WSJ… since I was in Seattle, I saw the Sunday Seattle Times, which had many articles that had some inadvertent (and unsaid) Lean angle (or so I thought). Article 1: Snap goes deadline at…
Thanks to a Lean Blog reader, Ryan, for sending this in (click on the ad for a larger image). He asked why BMW would brag about it taking SEVEN years to develop a new vehicle? This is much slower than…
I’m in Seattle, about a mile from the stadium where the Seahawks are playing the Saints tonight. I was tempted to get a ticket, but I should be working and I’m able to watch on TV (providing some background noise…
Guest Post By Mike Thelen: ——————————– I received an interesting piece of “junk mail” this morning. What caught my attention and provoked me to open it was simply that it was from Honda and my Lean obsessive-ness engaged. Now, I…
With our Lean efforts, it’s always good to ask, are we: Copying Toyota’s past methods, Copying Toyota’s current methods OR Copying Toyota’s thought process and concepts If you’re a regular Lean Blog reader, you’ll know that I’d argue for doing…
Sports Leagues as Systems: A Lean View of Long-Term Thinking Editor’s Note (2026):This post from 2007 still resonates today as professional sports leagues wrestle with decisions about rule changes, media rights, scheduling, and fan engagement. The tension between short-term revenue…
