Which Albatross Needs Dumping?
WSJ.com – Lesser Than the Sum of Its Parts . . . The linked column requires a paid WSJ subscription, but I’ll try to summarize. The piece bemoans high labor costs as the things that are sinking Delphi and possibly…
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All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
Some Positive Lean Tales
So here’s a palate cleanser after talking about GM and the failed “lean” efforts that led to a strike at Conn-Selmer (see below). Here are two positive stories that prove lean doesn’t lean to unhappy workers and strikes. One is…
Not Tooting This Horn
Here is a sad article about a strike at a factory in Indiana that makes trumpets and trombones. It’s the UAW, yes that UAW! No, not car horns, brass horns. OK, enough bad boneheaded puns. It’s a fairly one-sided story…
Toyota to Introduce Hybrid Tech to Lineup
Article Toyota plans on rolling out hybrid tech across all of their product lines by 2012. Now I can probably be accused of being a Toyota cheerleader, everything they do is great, etc. I have pointed out before, though, that…
A Non-Lean Suggestion System
Thinking of employee suggestions, I had a flashback this week. Back when I worked at General Motors, we had a typical non-lean suggestion system. People could fill out a form with the idea, in triplicate, keep the green copy, something…
Lean Tools vs. Culture
IndustryWeek : Lean: Closing the Reality Gap Here is an article with a link to an upcoming Industry Week webcast (there will be software vendors on the call, you’ve been warned). One focus of the webcast is supposed to be…
Error Proofing Excel
I spend a good amount of time working in Excel, analyzing data and such. I often accidentally hit the “F1” key in a clumsy attempt to hit “Esc”. The keys are right next to each other and each key is…
Everyday Lean – Managing Your Files
In the age of file sharing, FTP sites, all sorts of web based collaboration tools and the ever dreaded email attachment, it’s as though everyone’s file cabinet is open to everyone else. This can be a great asset to any…
Muda and Kaizen in Customer Service
Here are two contrasting stories from my past week. The stories made me think of muda (waste) and kaizen, or at least the promise of kaizen. Waste in Customer Service: Last week, I wrote about the need to take my…
Here’s an Idea: Let Everyone Have Ideas
New York Times: Here is an interesting spin on the ideas of employee involvement and bottom-up problem solving: “Most companies operate under the assumption that big ideas come from a few big brains: the inspired founder, the eccentric inventor, the…
IKEA billionaire founder proud to be frugal at 80
Latest Business News and Financial Information | Reuters.com I like the idea of the IKEA founder and CEO “following the rules” of the company and setting an example of frugality by flying coach. I was always taught that Toyota was…
It’s Toyota, not "Japan," that you’re fighting Mr. Ford
The Cincinnati Post – Don’t blame Japan Here’s the latest column from Jim Womack (read my Q&A with him here). On Nov. 22 after a speech at the National Press Club, Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford told the media,…
