All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
Wichita Eagle | 08/21/2005 | Cessna works to streamline supply chain, reduce costs Now, this is just a single article, and reporters often misunderstand things or don’t tell the whole story, but let’s play a game of “are they being…
Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Business When reading this article, I kept thinking about the trend toward bigger batches with shipping – bigger mega ships that take 4-5 days to unload at port instead of 2-3…
Evolving Excellence — Inbreeding is killing ’em Here is a good post from the Superfactory Evolving Excellence Blog. Is the auto industry worse than other industries about saying that you must have specific industry experience before they’ll consider hiring you?…
Reuters Business Channel | Reuters.com: Another example on the theme of costs and prices “International competition may limit manufacturing companies’ ability to pass on higher raw material costs to their customers, said David Huether, chief economist of the National Association…
Editor’s Note (2026):Nearly 20 years after this post was written, Toyota’s approach to supplier relationships remains a powerful counterexample to short-term, cost-driven thinking. In an era of fragile supply chains and recurring disruptions, the Toyota Way’s emphasis on long-term partnerships,…
Skilled workers essential – The Clarion-Ledger I never bought the argument, laid out last month by the president of the Canadian Auto Parts Manufacturers’ Association that, “The level of work force in general is so high [in Ontario] that the…
Business Week This is a good article talking about how a leading Indian IT outsourcing company, Wipro, is adopting the principles of Toyota and the book, The Toyota Way. On the theme of discipline (see the Tom LaSorda article below),…
Toyota’s 1st-quarter profit declines 7% The WSJ article wrote: “The news underscores the company’s willingness to sacrifice short-term profit to maintain its torrid pace of growth. Still, it will disappoint Wall Street critics, who have called on Toyota to invest…
In the article “Occupational Hazards – Keep It Lean and Safe,” the author says, in part: “In the worst-case scenario, an overzealous company may implement extreme Lean Manufacturing strategies where safety is not merely overlooked, but compromised.“ I don’t this…
WSJ.com – Amid Price War, Chrysler To Revamp Manufacturing (subscription required): Today’s WSJ has an article about Chrysler’s attempts to produce three different models, instead of just one or two, at their assembly plants. Such flexibility will lead to increased…
In his article “Putting Six Sigma in Perspective”[1], Michael Hammer uses the mantra:”Use the right tool for the right problem”. An excerpt that summarizes what he means (he uses the term “process redesign”, which in this context is synonymous with…
www.dailysouthtown.com/: Here is a nice example of a Chicago-area company using lean to respond to the market, which is forcing prices downward. To keep profits up, they’ll have to reduce costs and lean is obviously a great way to do…