I recently invited questions for Michael Balle, the author of the Shingo Prize winning book The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround. He has a new book (published by LEI, my employer), recently published, called “The Lean Manager.” Here…
Yesterday’s WSJ front page headline caught my eye, as a frequent Starbucks customer and obvious Lean zealot: Latest Starbucks Buzzword: ‘Lean’ Japanese Techniques The headline is full bodied and complex brew that gives us a lot to chew on before…
Today’s blog post will be just a bunch of random thoughts. For one, I just got back from London last night after a whirlwind Lean healthcare tour. I visited five hospitals between London and the south of England in three…
Thanks to XM Radio, I was able to listen to Sunday’s Detroit Red Wings playoff game and the WJR radio broadcast from Detroit (the “great voice of the Great Lakes”). I heard a commercial a few times that I managed…
No. Toyota’s factories do not run a formal Six Sigma program, and they do not hand out belts. What Toyota does teach, broadly and without much ceremony, is basic quality control and statistical thinking, the kind of tools that predate…
Dear Lean Blog Readers: I try hard to not bombard you with commercial messages, but I do want to take a minute to recognize three of the sponsors that allow me to bring these free resources to you, like the…
by Dan Markovitz Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0 blog at WSJ.com features his ideas for “Management Moonshots” — 25 ambitious and radical ideas that will significantly improve business management in the future. Frankly, I wasn’t terribly impressed. Some of the ideas…
By Adam Zak, Adam Zak Executive Search: “Respect for people: Very few businesses start up only on the backs of the sole founder. It takes a team.” Jamie Flinchbaugh Earlier this week, Jamie blogged about the Lean Entrepreneur. With layoffs…
Op-Ed Contributor – G.M.’s Secret Success – NYTimes.com I agree with the basic premise of this piece that not all is rotten in GM. For example, I rather like some of their recent products — design and execution (Chevy Malibu/Saturn…
Three airlines drop self-reporting safety program – USATODAY.com Dropping this program has got to be one of those “process indicators” of airline safety. I can’t believe that flying will be as safe without this program where pilots could report problems…
Sorry if this post is annoying to anyone, but I always do a short blog post about my sponsors and advertisers on the Lean Blog (to make sure that they get in front of you who read only via RSS,…
The Ice Cream Maker: An Inspiring Tale About Making Quality The Key Ingredient in Everything You Do I was reading the WSJ a while back and was intrigued by a book recommendation by Chrysler’s Robert Nardelli (you can read that…
