GE is famously known for their use of Six Sigma as a cornerstone of the company. “Six Sigma,” of course, refers to a statistical value of 3.4 defects per million opportunities. On their overview of Six Sigma, GE says: “Today’s…
The search for causes of Flight 5191’s crash (Letters to the Editor) Follow up to the Lexington crash and more contributing factors. I think part of the lesson here is 1) lack of proactive problem solving and 2) a combination…
I ran into my first real “nasty” person in the healthcare world back a few months back. I still have my scars from working on lean and improvement activities in the factory world, the nasty looks and the negative attitudes…
As posted by LeanBlog.org founder Mark Graban, there is a new website available that focuses on helping individuals who want to guide their own self-learning, called The Lean Library. It includes a comprehensive list of lean books, book reviews, links…
Here’s the interview Pete Abilla did with Lean/Agile software leader Mary Poppendieck. There are 12 questions in the link above, here is one focused on lean tools we all know (reposted with Pete’s permission): shmula: I’d love to see examples…
Jamie prompted me that we were reaching a milestone on the Lean Blog. This little post here is #1000 since I started this in January 2005. That’s about a rate of two posts per day — articles I’ve linked to,…
When people talk about labor, they often focus on unions, disengaged employees and high wages. But there is a much bigger problem facing manufacturers today – a real skills shortage. Industry Week focused on this topic in a special report…
Sandia’s neutron generator production wins Shingo Prize – New Mexico Business Weekly: I’m surprised that the U.S. government would spent time and energy trying to win a Shingo Prize. I don’t doubt their lean efforts, don’t get me wrong. Sandia…
Exciting news, I’m going to record a LeanBlog Podcast interview with Dr. Jeffrey Liker, of the University of Michigan and “The Toyota Way” fame. The interview will be Friday morning, Aug 25. Update: Here is the podcast. If you have…
Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Business Columnists Here is an article about the upcoming Toyota San Antonio plant and its leader, “T.J. Tajima.” Is it unique to have a guy from purchasing in charge of a…
Conference To Hear How Hospital Saves Time (from This Is Lancashire) I’m sure they are doing good lean healthcare work at this hospital in the U.K.: THE boss of the Royal Bolton Hospital is to be the main speaker at…
Six Sigma Blog: Fire alarms: The Dell notebook scare and Six Sigma defect control CIO Magazine I’m sure you’ve heard of the cases of Dell laptops catching on fire and the resulting recall. Sony, the manufacturer of the batteries, offered…