Update 12/17: Click here for part 2 of the Womack podcast. LeanBlog Podcast #12 brings us a special guest, James P. Womack of the Lean Enterprise Institute, the author of many books, including the classic (published 10 years ago) Lean…
MySA.com: Metro | State The Toyota truck plant in Texas has started production. For all of the talk this week from the Big 3 about yen/dollar valuations and advantages that Toyota has with importing vehicles, it sure is strange that…
By Luke Van Dongen I was very fortunate to have met Bob Emiliani at the Linking Lean Thinking to Education conference in Worcester Mass last month. Bob has a wonderful combination of industry and academic experience and has several publications…
Sticks and Stones May Break Bones, But Warsaw, Ind., Makes Replacements – WSJ.com This was the fourth and final part in the WSJ series “Still Made in the USA.” There isn’t as much to talk about from a lean perspective…
Home of the Range – WSJ.com Part 2 of the WSJ series (Part 1 here) focuses on Viking, the high-end cooktop and grill manufacturer, based in Greenwood Mississippi. I’m glad that the WSJ is focusing on U.S. manufacturing, but the…
Here is LeanBlog Podcast #7, a new discussion with our friend Norman Bodek, President of PCS Press and the author of many books, including Kaikaku: The Power and Magic of Lean. In this Podcast, we discuss Toyota’s response to recent…
By Mark Edmondson, LEAN Affiliates I made a day trip to the Assembly Technology Expo in Chicago last week. What an adventure. After all, here’s an event dedicated to the latest automated innovations for manufacturing: Over 600 leading suppliers were…
Landmark Study Investigates Root Causes of Profitability Gap Among North American Automotive Manufacturers Here is a Harbour Report study which claims the key to American Competitiveness is “beyond lean.” I always hate it when people talk about what is beyond…
This is an incredibly sad, and completely preventable, situation. Three babies are dead, and three more injured, because the wrong drug was administered to them at an Indianapolis hospital. Let’s keep in mind, first, this quote from the World Health…
The Lean Library Here is a long overdue review of the book, The Toyota Way Fieldbook. I wrote the review following the format of The Lean Library and have also gotten the review published over there. The Fieldbook is an…
WSJ.com – Ford and Chrysler Show Dark Outlook For U.S. Car Makers I received an email from a blog reader, Jack, from Tampa FL. I assume he’s from outside the auto industry and he wrote: In light of Mr. Womack’s…
Jim Womack sent out one of his emails today, this time focused on Ford, with their termoil. Either he writes quickly or he already knew Ford was in trouble and was inspired to write by the appointment of new CEO…