Handoffs = Errors
I saw a perfect illustration this morning of how unnecessary handoffs in a process can lead to errors. I visited a local coffee shop in Albuquerque and ordered a cup of coffee from the woman working the register. I asked…
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Job Cuts, Morale, and Visual Aids
Ford’s salaried job cuts done for now “For now.” I’m sure that’s encouraging to the survivors at Ford. I got an email from a GM friend about the salaried layoffs and the predictable impact on morale there. “[In a meeting]…
Extending the Life of Equipment
Here’s an interesting article on how Chrysler will be selling its manufacturing equipment from the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant to a Russian manufacturer. This isn’t the first deal of its kind, but it shows that Chrysler is being creative in…
Bad "Root Causing" in the ER
globeandmail.com : Vancouver General’s ER doctors warn patients The problem described in this article is a very common one, regarding “patient flow.” When hospitals don’t have beds available for patients, this is often due to poor processes, slow room turnaround,…
Where do you spend your $?
I’m not anti-Wal-Mart, anti-Starbucks or anything like that. I think people should be free to compete in a fair market, and if Starbucks brews a better pot than Bob’s Coffee Shack, then Bob should either get better or close. But…
State Competitiveness
Since Mark has been posting on the woes of the Big 2 automakers based in Michigan, I thought I would share some interesting statistics. Much is said about labor rates in the U.S. compared to China and other countries, but…
Hillary on Lean and GM
Chicago Sun Times I don’t mean to turn this into a political forum. I will say I don’t like Hillary Clinton or her politics. But, it always catches my interest when you hear any politician talking about lean and the…
Leading Lean: Missed Opportunity
Departments – ASSEMBLY Here is the latest lean column from Jamie Flinchbaugh. You can read my Q&A with Jamie here, and he is also the author of the book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Lean.” Jamie makes the argument that the main…
Hotel Room Error Proofing
This Is Broken – Hotel room warning I saw a large ad in the paper Friday that reminded me of this blog posting (link above). Be sure to click on the link to see a picture of what I’m talking…
A Very Cool Flow Rack?
BRL005_NDES_Flow_Rack – Bosch Rexroth Corp. I’m sure most lean practioners have used flow racks for material storage, part presentation, and/or kanban systems. Here is a rack that has something new (at least to me). The rack (large picture here) has…
Womack Audio on Bloomberg.com
Bloomberg.com: News & Commentary Check out the link on the right hand side for the interview with Jim Womack (requires Real Player software). Here are some highlights, I’m paraphrasing the best I can. On GM not catching up to Toyota:…
Not Tooting This Horn
Here is a sad article about a strike at a factory in Indiana that makes trumpets and trombones. It’s the UAW, yes that UAW! No, not car horns, brass horns. OK, enough bad boneheaded puns. It’s a fairly one-sided story…
