This image — a huge container ship coming from a far-off land — does NOT represent the Lean and Toyota Production System notion of “Just in Time.” If you visit, for example, the Toyota factory in San Antonio, they have…
The Wall St Journal loves writing about how “Just In Time” (JIT) is a risky inventory strategy. See my past posts about how the WSJ is so often wrong on this. The WSJ seem to only understand Lean as JIT, as opposed…
The Wall Street Journal, sadly, has a long track record of not understanding Lean, as I’ve written about many times on my blog. There’s a major flare-up at least once a year, as listed below: 2011: 2010: 2009:…
As a Lean practitioner, I found the Wall Street Journal article about Ryan DeLand, the 39-year-old leader of Whirlpool’s washing machine plant in Clyde, Ohio, to be fascinating. Here’s a free link: A Day in the Life of the 39-Year-Old…
This is the starting point for a blog post that I should expand on… after posting these initial thought fragments on LinkedIn. JIT might have been given the wrong name… please hear me out. There has been so much confusion…
Listen: Here is the episode if you want to stream the audio: As I did two weeks ago, when Jamie Flinchbaugh and I talked about “Lean 101” training (and should you skip it), I’m sharing another episode (as a “bonus”…
tl;dr: The WSJ usually oversimplifies Lean, but this GE/Larry Culp article offers a surprisingly accurate look at flow, kaizen, and the culture behind real continuous improvement. It’s one of the few mainstream pieces that captures Lean as a leadership system–not…
tl;dr: Bryce Harper’s so-called “bust” seasons weren’t busts at all–they were normal variation. When you plot his monthly OPS on a Process Behavior Chart, the data show consistent performance with a few true signals, not a decline. The problem isn’t…
True Just-in-Time (JIT) is about short, stable supply chains, production leveling, built-in quality, and long-term thinking–not zero inventory. What many companies practiced instead was inventory cutting: offshoring, long lead times, brittle logistics, and decisions optimized for short-term financials. When disruptions…
Scroll down for video, how to subscribe, video, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #412 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Dr. Jonathan Byrnes, the co-author of the new book Choose Your Customer: How to Compete Against the…
I was incredibly saddened today to hear that Norman Bodek passed away yesterday in Japan, where he had recently moved with his wife, Noriko. Norman was 88. This was announced through an email from Norman’s company, PCS Press, and I…
TL;DR: Akio Toyoda describes the Toyota Production System as a people-centered leadership system focused on Jidoka, short lead times, and making work easier–where productivity is a result, not the goal. I was really happy to see this publication by Toyota,…