When Ford Was A Startup
800-CEO-READ Blog: When Ford Was A Startup: Here’s a post by Tom Ehrenfeld, a friend of the Lean Blog. He writes about a book from 2004, “Wheels for the World” by Douglas Brinkley. Looking at Ford in the 1910’s (the…
Category Blog
All Blog Posts
All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
Lean Isn’t Just About Cost — Healthcare
Kaizen and Lean Manufacturing thoughts | Gemba Panta Rei Thanks to the Gemba blog. The article he linked to talks about the need to cut costs in healthcare and mentions the Virginia Mason Hospital with its Virginia Mason Production System…
Dark Outlook for Non-Lean Car Makers
WSJ.com – Ford and Chrysler Show Dark Outlook For U.S. Car Makers I received an email from a blog reader, Jack, from Tampa FL. I assume he’s from outside the auto industry and he wrote: In light of Mr. Womack’s…
Womack’s Take on Ford
Jim Womack sent out one of his emails today, this time focused on Ford, with their termoil. Either he writes quickly or he already knew Ford was in trouble and was inspired to write by the appointment of new CEO…
Virginia Mason Production System
Oregon Health Forum – Events Thanks to Andrea for this. Who is Virginia Mason and why does she have a production system? No, it’s a hospital, one of the leaders in the lean healthcare world. Here is a link to…
Giving a Great Apology
I’m sure that among the readers of The Lean Blog there there is nothing but support for the lean principles of developing and respecting people. However, even with the best of intentions, consistently abiding by these principles, particularly in fast…
An Encouraging Lean Example at United Airlines
Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association union website Ok, here’s some positive balance after my crabby posts from earlier (the timing is right to dig this up after typing it — as part of a blog batch — over the weekend). I’ve…
Lean Tools Not Working In Pharma
Lean proves mean in drug manufacturing Sigh, yet another attempt to say “lean doesn’t apply in our industry.” A survey of pharma companies shows they think lean isn’t working. “The survey of more than 1,500 pharmaceutical manufacturers, conducted by solutions…
Why Make It Hard to Buy?
Sigh, crabby mood… for those of you who don’t like the “Crabby Mark” blog posts, here come a few today. It’s often commented about here (and Jamie Flinchbaugh makes this point in his first podcast discussion with me), that lean…
Mark On Another Podcast
PodcasterNews – Industry Report 9-12 Lean Roundtable My LeanBlog podcast isn’t about me spouting my opinions — it’s about me interviewing and having conversations with interesting guests. But, I made a second appearance on the “Better Process” Podcast — in…
Some Poor Problem Solving
More travel adventures… I woke up this morning and got into the shower. I was surprised that the soap and shampoo that I used Monday morning was gone (that’s waste, throwing out half used toiletries). I stepped out of the…
Who are the Lean Success Stories?
Question for the blog readers: Who are the great lean companies? Don’t give me a list of Shingo Prize winners. Don’t tell us who has done a lot of lean stuff or who has used lean practices here and there,…
