Happy Father’s Day!
I’d like to wish all the fathers out there a happy Father’s Day. And if you’re not a father, then a happy Father’s Day to your father. Since leadership is a prime component of lean success, it belongs on this…
Category Blog
All Blog Posts
All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
A Lean Business Idea?
Ok, so as much as I gripe about non-lean companies sometimes, I really do like to try to think positively. Working in lean healthcare certainly gives me those moments, particularly when I read about success stories and lean momentum building…
Dan Jones Lean Healthcare Presentation
Curious Cat Management Improvement: Lean National Health System There’s a link on John’s blog to a Dan Jones presentation, along the lines of the British NHS lean initiative. It includes the classic Toyota thinking: “We get brilliant results from average…
Lean Healthcare in the UK
Bloated NHS to get the Tesco treatment – Britain – Times Online: Thanks to Rob G. (from the UK) for pointing this out to me. There’s a great push for lean in the UK NHS. It’s even getting attention from…
Little’s Law Discussion
shmula » queueing theory: part 1 As an Industrial Engineer, I get warm and tingly inside when I see someone blogging about Little’s Law. I know, I need to get a life. There is also a second posting. I left…
Upcoming Interview: Buying American
If you read the post below and the article from PC Magazine, you might have seen this quote: “The thing with computers and electronics is that people have the feeling that it’s basically impossible to buy things that were made…
Lean Progress Newsletter
Issue #8 of Lean Progress is now available. You can download your copy now here: In it you will find an interview with Gary Smuda from Technicolor in the same format of interviews found in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to…
Why Handoffs Hurt
Seth’s Blog: My breakfast was right From Seth Godin: Room service just arrived, and my insanely complex OCD breakfast was exactly the way I ordered it. This was possibly a first. Then I discovered the reason. The person who brought…
My iPod was made in a Prison?
iPod City: Apple criticized for factory conditions There was a fairly shocking story in the Sunday Mail, a London newspaper, about the iPod factory conditions in China. The full text of the article isn’t available online, but I was able…
Once Again, Dell is Not TPS
Dell: Facing Up To Past Mistakes I’ve written about this before and I think this article highlights some of the key differences between Toyota and Dell. Dell’s “Direct Model” has often been compared to Toyota and is sometimes called “lean”.…
The Five Whys – Insights from Jamie Flinchbaugh
This article appeared in the May 31st issue of APICS extra. It featured yours truly and covers the topic of the five whys. You can learn more about APICS by visiting www.apics.org. Why Do You Ask? By Douglas R. Kelly…
Ugly Doesn’t Cost Any Less to Build
By Mark Edmonson, Lean Affiliates Mark Graban’s post earlier today “Lean Isn’t about ‘Productivity” and “Quality’” was inspired writing. I couldn’t agree more…Marketing and Product Development/Design are critical parts of the product value stream that many “high quality” companies neglect.…
