Lean thinkers and TPS advocates sometimes get a bad rap as being Luddites. That’s not true, I’d say it’s more that Lean thinkers have a healthy skepticism toward technology being a “silver bullet.” You typically need good process in addition…
OK, so I’ll admit I had a case of “rabbit ears” when I took the WSJ to task for calling the doomed BP Deepwater Horizon rig a “lean” operation. They were using the colloquial everyday use of “lean,” a term…
This is going to seem like a political rant, but I promise this is mainly a post about Lean and healthcare, or at least it’s about dysfunctional parallels in both settings. It was said that President Ronald Reagan and Speaker…
Today’s guest blogger is Joe Dager, of the site Business901. He’s a very active blogger and podcaster and he’s very active on Twitter (@Business901) as well. Joe also takes the step of turning the podcasts inteviews into free e-books, which…
Mark’s note: Yes, I’m still on vacation. I’m very thankful for my cadre of guest bloggers, including today’s guest, Jeff Hajek. Jeff is an active blogger at his site “Gotta Go Lean” and he is the author of the book…
Mark’s note: The vacation guest posts continue with a piece by a long-time friend of my blog, Matt Wrye. He’s a frequent commenter and wrote a post last year called “Clear and Relevant Metrics.” He recently started his own blog…
Mark’s note: Today’s guest blogger is Jim Huntzinger, the organizer of many topical Lean Summits including Lean Accounting, Training Within Industry, and Lean and Green. We talked about Lean Accounting in Podcast #33. In this post, Jim talks about a…
An editorial written by an American Airlines pilot in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram caught my attention (“Unintended consequences of the Passenger Bill of Rights“). The pilot makes the case that the actions of Congress taken to prevent multi-hour passenger delays…
We had an amazing first day at the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit here in Orlando. We have 260 Lean healthcare leaders, including about 30 physicians, from 7 countries represented and there’s a lot of sharing, learning, and inspiration occurring.…
If you’ve been anywhere near a TV lately, you’ve probably heard and seen this hypnotizing “What is iPad?” commercial (YouTube link). The announcer breathlessly and shamelessly tells you how “beautiful” and “magical” the iPad is… “it’s crazy powerful,” he says,…
I recently heard this on a cable news channel that was blaring in the airport: “The current passport processing time is 3 to 6 weeks”. Well, that’s not right from a Lean perspective. In this post, I’ll talk about breaking…
I’m here at the Shingo Prize conference for the second year in a row. Lots of good networking and talks I’ll share a few quotes and highlights, along with a picture of my friend and sometimes guest blogger, Adam Zak.…
