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All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.

What About The Other Car Makers?

by Dan Markovitz This blog has commented (here and here) on the WSJ’s rush to predict the folly of just-in-time manufacturing in the wake of the earthquake last week that crippled Japanese auto production. (“Blame it on kanban, the just-in-time…

Comments of the Week

If you’re reading via RSS, that’s great, I support free full-text RSS feeds for my readers (over 800 now via RSS, compared to about 500 who visit the website). One thing you’re probably missing out on, unless you do visit…

The JIT Sky Didn’t Fall

Forbes.com – Partial Production to Start Tuesday Reuters Article – Toyota to Resume Full Production Wednesday What do the Chicken Littles at the WSJ have to say now? After the earthquake in Japan last week, the WSJ ran a predictable…

My New (Additional) Blog on MBT.com

The magazine “Manufacturing Business Technology” (from Reed Publications) is launching their new website today. I’d invite you check them out at www.mbtmag.com. For their new site, MBT asked me to contribute content on Lean Manufacturing, which I’m happy to do…

Changing the Culture at Ford

At Ford, the ‘Outsider’ Is Optimistic – WSJ.com There’s an interview with Ford CEO Alan Mulally today, we’ve featured him before on the blog (click the “Ford” link at the bottom of the post for more on the company). The…

SME Lean Yearbook 2007

Link to Purchase on SME.org I was very honored to be asked to write an essay/case study on lean healthcare for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers new “Lean Yearbook” publication and that book is out now. It’s a large magazine…

Not Respecting the Front Line Workers

Road Commission under fire – mlive.com: One of the two pillars of the Toyota Production System is “respect for people.” It’s a shame that we have to work on something so basic and fundamental, as this, but respect is often…

Computers, Backups, and Risk

So we talked earlier about risk and manufacturing. What about risk and PC’s? If you “single source” your data on a single PC or single hard drive, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Hard Drive (or PC) failures are much…

The First Lean Dentist

I recorded my Podcast interview with Dr. Sami Bahri, “The First Lean Dentist,” last night. What a treat it has been to talk with Dr. Bahri. I can’t wait to get this edited and released so you all can hear…