I’m getting a chance to tour the NUMMI plant in Fremont CA, the joint venture between Toyota and General Motors. I’m very excited about it and will post some thoughts over the weekend. Anybody already been there and have perspectives…
Well, the Lions almost did it. The offence was ugly, painful for even the most die hard of Lions fans to stomach. The defense was sensational however, and they were able to keep the team in the game right up…
You may have noticed in the post below that we have a new posting member of the Lean Manufacturing Blog, Luke. We have a mutual acquaintence in the lean world and I’ve invited him to contribute to the blog. He…
I was pulling this data together for a lean overview presentation that I’m doing. This quote, from a Toyota handbook, helps illustrate that Toyota, for all of its high-minded goals and purpose, is in business to make money. “The Toyota…
That’s the story I get from my corporate travel office, trying to get a copy of an invoice for a flight. “The queue for accounting is quite long, that’s why it takes up to 48 hours to get. Once they…
WSJ.com – subscription required Great article in Tuesday’s WSJ. I’m hoping a free copy will become available online. The article details how the “Detroit of Japan”, Nagoya, is undergoing a re-birth and is helping drive recovery in the Japanese economy…
UPDATE: It’s finally here, part 1 of the Q&A Hello blog readers. I’m very excited. I have been promised a Q&A session with the authors of “Lean Solutions”, James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones that I will post here.…
DesMoinesRegister.com Here is an editorial from the Des Moines Register newspaper, prompted by the planned closure of the Maytag plant in Newton Iowa, previously featured here. I certainly believe that manufacturing is one of the few true “value creating” parts…
Reopened coffee plant brightens up a devastated city – Business – International Herald Tribune: This isn’t really a lean article, per se, but if you think your factory has problems, imagine the mess at the Folgers plant and the effort…
Also available directly (autographed copies) through the LEI (www.lean.org) I’m really looking forward to reading this. I’ll get a review posted ASAP and encourage any other readers to post comments here on the blog. Please check out my main blog…
Toyota plant retains fastest engine making title I started my career at a GM V-8 engine plant in the mid 90’s. “Hours per Engine” was the primary metric… at least pre-lean (or really pre-“synchronous manufacturing”, as lean was a dirty…
MySA.com: Business Notice how Toyota is training their new Group Leaders (2nd level manufacturing managers). They are going to the Indiana plant and learning the process. I’ve never seen a factory where the mangers (yet alone the first level supervisors)…