All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
Here’s the latest in the series on Everyday Lean. I love online bill payment. My bank and the web make it easy to view and pay bills while on the road, and eliminate a lot of paper that would otherwise accumulate…
Automotive News Is Toyota perfect? No. Are they open about admitting problems and working to get better? Yes. Please check out my main blog page at www.leanblog.org The RSS feed content you are reading is copyrighted by the author, Mark…
WSJ.com – Newest Director Shakes Up GM With Calls for Radical Change Today’s WSJ ($$ subscription required) has an article about GM’s newest director, Jerry York. Since he’ll spend a lot of time rabble rousing in Detroit, he’s having a…
I always thought manufacturing people were early risers. In my last manufacturing job, the factory started production at 5 AM and I started most days at 6:30 AM (I was an internal lean consultant). I sometimes surprised the teams by…
When I worked at the GM Powertrain Livonia Engine Plant in the mid-1990s, the hallway display cases held posters celebrating something called “The Livonia Philosophy.” It read, in part, like this: “through trust, communication, and respect for the individual, we…
Two Picks For EMS Industry – Forbes.com Following up on the discussion of “Shingo Investing” and the Industry Week Best Plants analysis, here is an article that touts the stock of Flextronics, a contract manufacturer. Flextronics has been mentioned here…
I had a bottle of a Sobe “LEAN” juice drink the other day. The “lean” name in the beverage isn’t the reason I drink it. I happened to notice a little saying under the cap, “Smarter not Harder.” That seems…
USATODAY.com – Get your Bladder Buddy here, on Cowell’s ‘Inventor’ So it’s a bit of a corny reality show with the required melodrama, but I liked some aspects of ABC’s new show “American Inventor.” If you fast forward through the…
I’m watching a web presentation on improving patient flow from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). I’m doing lean healthcare work now and the IHI is an excellent resource, including Steve Spear, formerly of Harvard (and referenced by Mike Lopez…
We have a new contributor to the Lean Blog, a blogger with a unique perspective on lean. He’s working in a research lab and is trying to apply lean and Toyota Production System principles there. Mike is a frequent commenter…
To me, Lean is all about simplicity and one of the most powerful applications of Lean has been in the radical empowerment of individuals to exercise the First Amendment. It started way back when the written word was developed. This…
I know the airport isn’t normally a bastion of lean, but the Albuquerque airport rental car shuttle bus stood out yeserday, in a bad way. There were three empty, idling buses with drivers queued up to take customers back to…
