No. Toyota’s factories do not run a formal Six Sigma program, and they do not hand out belts. What Toyota does teach, broadly and without much ceremony, is basic quality control and statistical thinking, the kind of tools that predate…
So I’m finally watching the DVR-ed episode from March 10, 2009, that gave widespread exposure to the issue of medical mistakes. Oprah began the show by citing the statistic that errors cause more deaths than “breast cancer, AIDS, and car…
Here’s another Lean Blog reader question from Joe, who writes: Last year I was part of an ERP implementation team at our company, and while part of that I became interested in lean manufacturing. For reference I manage our Field…
Back in February, I did a parody of a “Goofus and Gallant” cartoon, if you remember them from “Highlights for Kids” magazine that was in every doctor’s office and dentist’s waiting room. I was having some concerns about copyright infringement,…
Lean Leap to Health Care #3 (click for Part #2) by Scott McDuffee It would seem to be an efficient method to move into Health Care to PUSH my resume to as many potential employers as possible – thus increasing…
Why ‘Quality’ Care Is Dangerous – WSJ.com Yesterday’s WSJ opinion piece by Dr. Jerome Goopman (author of How Doctors Think) and Pamela Hartzband caught my eye. Thanks to the four or five of you who also emailed me the link…
A USA Today article offered a small but telling example of how Toyota applies root cause problem solving and kaizen in everyday work. Even in times of financial pressure–or when business is going well–this kind of employee-driven improvement shows what…
Mark’s Note: Welcome to the first in what will be a series of blog posts from Scott McDuffee. I was introduced to Scott through a mutual Lean associate and he happens to live near by me in Texas. Scott is…
FOXNews.com – Mystery Celebrity Link You’ll have to click on the above link to see who said the following (the link is from Fox News and is absolutely safe for work, for those who are not trusting the link). “‘I—Äôm…
Forgive my horn tooting here, but here is the current list of Amazon’s Top 10 Healthcare Administration books (rankings change frequently). So what I’m thrilled about is that the topic of Lean is apparently in the “mass market” of ideas…
A Look at Obama’s Auto-Bailout Team – WSJ.com Stop me if you’ve heard that joke before… so here is the assembled team that will oversee the demise, I mean fixing, of the U.S. auto industry. I actually wrote this Sunday…
Family Business – WSJ.com In today’s WSJ, there’s a review of a new book called Parentonomics: An Economist Dad Looks at Parenting, in the mold of the excellent book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Who…
