All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
TL;DR:The late Norman Bodek argues that Lean fails not due to poor workers or missing tools, but because management systems prioritize short-term results over developing people. Toyota’s real advantage, he says, is its long-term commitment to respect, learning, and empowering…
I love the show “Made in America” with John Ratzenberger (of Cheers fame) that airs on the Travel Channel. Ratzenberger tours the country visiting factories and American-made products and you get to see a sincere sense of pride and wonder…
News 8 Austin | 24 Hour Local News | LOCAL NEWS This begs the question — how many uniform/clothing factories are left in the U.S. that could make these uniforms? There must be some, I mean New Balance uses lean…
Article Link –> Relentless-Toyota is poised to overtake GM, but here’s the scariest part: Now it’s stepping on the gas. Interesting “state of Toyota” article by the Detroit News. Like a great tanker holding its course through stormy seas, Toyota…
Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Improvement Tip: Find “Muda” and Root it Out The IHI is doing a great job of driving lean in the healthcare world. This overview of waste reduction has a noteworthy comment. They claim that the Japanese…
Similar Article, Free Link A friend sent this link to me this afternoon almost immediately following a discussion we had about the current state and immediate challenges facing the US auto industry. The article quotes Michael Moore who spoke yesterday…
CNN – Nov. 22, 2005 How ironic that we’re reading about mass layoffs in the “big, old, and slow” companies (such as the auto industry) while there is a projected shortage of skilled manufacturing workers. There’s no shortage of people…
Toyota Quickens Quest to Unseat GM As a friend in Detroit pointed out, it’s interesting that Toyota is allowing Fuji/Subaru to build Toyota vehicles in Indiana, might be the first time Toyota is allowing others to build their cars. I’m…
Reuters Business Channel | Reuters.com Unlike another blog, I’ll point out that were no injuries here. Here’s proof, for those of you who want it, that Toyota isn’t perfect. We should wonder how Toyota will use root cause problem solving…
QW: Freedom from command This might make for interesting reading in conjunction with the earlier piece on a Lean Air Force. Consultant and writer John Seddon highlights some of key conceptual differences between command-and-control management with what is needed in…
Something happened this morning that caused me to start thinking about this and it’s been hanging around with me all day. Outputs, in my case today quality documents, can certainly provide value. But should we rank this value based on…
Article Link: Today is the launch date of the new Xbox 360 video game system. Although it’s a Microsoft product, it follows the typical Asian contract manufacturer supply chain path. “Mr. Holmdahl is the Microsoft vice president in charge of…
