Another Maytag Story
Chicago Tribune news : Business: This is a tough spot to be in. Ideally, you’d like to grow your way into increased efficiency — avoid hiring instead of letting people go. But if the choice is to sacrifice some jobs…
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All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
Quality in Baggage Handling
As I sat on the plane, waiting to depart, we watched a video that featured the airline CEO (the airline rhymes with Bontinental). The CEO, in his smiling delivery, talked about the “most professional people in the business” and showed…
Thomas L. Friedman: Save us, O Toyota
International Herald Tribune Thomas L. Friedman starts a recent column with a provocative question: “If I am rooting for General Motors to go bankrupt and be bought out by Toyota, does that make me a bad person? It’s not that…
Global domination, the Toyota way
The Globe and Mail:: This is a pretty good overview, “state of Toyota” article. The article discusses how TPS is about more than just reducing waste and cutting costs. “Everybody” now does just-in-time delivery, but there’s obviously more to TPS…
Henry Ford Listed in Fortune’s "20 Key Decisions"
Fortune 75 – Best and Worst Calls in Business History – FORTUNE (PDF) Now I think the “$5 a day” story is pretty widely known by now, but did you know that “To qualify for that $5, workers would have…
Do you tolerate the waste?
MRO Today: I really like the way this is put in the column: – Do you rationalize away the reasons for waste in your practices? – Do you eliminate waste at a leisurely or convenient pace (improve when you have…
Brunswick to Close Factory
L.A. Times Here’s a sad update on an earlier story about Brunswick. They decided to move bowling ball production to Mexico, closing the factory in Michigan. The CEO said:“After discussions with union representatives, we have found that little more can…
Update on Duke Medical Mistake Case
Eyewitness News 11.com: Duke Awaits Analysis in Instrument Probe: It’s lean healthcare day on the blog, I guess. This is an update to a story reported earlier. “Bassett received a letter from Duke in January, which said surgical instruments had…
Lean Thinking Poster at a Chinese Airplane Factory
KRT Wire | 06/14/2005 : Above is an article that talks about Boeing and Airbus moving airplane production into China. This item struck me as very Toyota like in the attitude: “Ubiquitous white poster boards with company slogans hang in…
Stop the (end-of-quarter) Madness!!!
www.focusedperformance.com Ah, end of quarter time. Predictable craziness that happens four times a year. How are your lean efforts impacted by end of quarter? Does standard work and standard WIP get thrown out in an effort to “do everything you…
Are We " Good Enough" in Manufacturing?
Seth Godin : Seth’s Blog: The seduction of “good enough” Seth Godin is a fantastic writer on marketing, product development, and innovative ideas. This thought struck me, though, as it could easily apply to our factories: Are they “good enough”?…
In Friedman’s flat new world, the sky’s the limit
ContraCostaTimes.com | 06/12/2005 Thomas Friedman’s book “The World Is Flat” is great reading for anyone looking at issues of globalization. This article is nice summary of sorts, with reference to his “Dell Theory of Global Security” (or something like that)…
