I’d like to thank my friend Skip Steward for inviting me to be a guest on his podcast called “Connecting the Dots.” The podcast is one of their initiatives that’s intended to get the word out (internally and publicly) about…
Jay Hodge taught the Toyota Production System at a General Motors stamping plant in Indiana — then got a call from Toyota asking him to come work for them. In this episode, he shares what he learned about lean culture,…
My guest for Episode #400 is Jeffrey Liker, the retired University of Michigan professor who has recently released the second updated and revised version of his seminal book The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer. The new edition…
Lesa Nichols worked closely with Hajime Oba at Toyota’s Supplier Support Center (TSSC) and later became a production manager at Toyota’s powertrain plant in Georgetown, Kentucky. In this episode, she shares lessons from Mr. Oba on overburden, learning from mistakes,…
Steve Spear shares lessons from Hajime Oba, who founded Toyota’s Supplier Support Center (TSSC) and became one of the most influential teachers of the Toyota Production System in North America. In this episode, Spear describes how Mr. Oba looked at…
This is an article that I originally published on LinkedIn back in 2014. It was also picked up and re-published by Entrepeneur.com. Other than this silly video that I created, this article is probably the second most-read piece of content…
The other day, I stumbled across an old article that I remember, as it was published in the Wall Street Journal in 2004. The WSJ normally has a paywall, but this article is old enough that it’s free to the…
My guest for Episode #345 is Edward Niedermeyer, author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors. The book offers a deeply reported look at Tesla’s history, strategy, and culture–and why manufacturing and leadership still matter. Ed is Senior Editor…
tl;dr: Toyota’s Takaoka #2 line shows how flexibility and Kaizen go hand-in-hand. With rapid, low-cost changeovers, worker-driven improvements, and a focus on customer needs, the line adapts to demand without sacrificing quality–a reminder that agility is built into the culture,…
I was invited to be a guest on a Detroit radio talk show that’s hosted by Dr. Paul Reeves, a show called “Dr. Paul’s Family Talk.” Dr. Paul is an educator (and a drummer, like me!) and he asked some…
Ever since I started podcasting in 2006, I’ve been using a company called “Hipcast” to be the “hosting” company for the podcast audio files and feeds. For those of you not familiar with podcasting, that’s the website where I upload…
Today, I'll be touring the Toyota truck plant in San Antonio again, the plant known as TMMTX. I'm there with our "Symposium on Learning Organizations" group, all 40 of us. In this post, I share some pre-tour goals and share some links to previous Toyota plant visits (in Texas and Japan).
