For those who DID see Sicko…
What are your thoughts? I wrote last week about my thoughts and hopes for the movie “SiCKO”. I’ve actually seen the film now. I won’t go into the details of how I managed to see it without any money flowing…
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Resolved: Tis Better to be in the Gemba
There were a couple of articles in the WSJ this past week that, in an indirect way, talk about the value of being at the “gemba” as a manager (gemba is a Japanese word that means “the actual place” where…
Lean Thoughts on “Sicko,” the Michael Moore Documentary
I’ve been asked a few times by blog readers about the movie “Sicko” since I work in the healthcare world. It opens tomorrow in the U.S. I haven’t paid for a Michael Moore movie since “Roger and Me,” a movie…
Lean Love Advice: Part 3 of 4
By Mike Lopez I’ve written about the four rules of Lean before. I have been thinking about how they apply to marriage. To refresh those of you who have not read the Harvard Business Review article by Steve Spear and…
Hello from the UK
Hello from the Global Lean Healthcare Summit in Warwickshire, England. It is amazing how truly global this movement is, as tonight I met or saw name badges of people from the US, Canada, UK, Italy, Denmark, South Africa, Germany, Netherlands,…
Limited Blog Posts through June 27
Dear blog readers — I’m going to be on the road through Wednesday June 27, not sure about internet access or time to post. As I mentioned, I’ll be attending the Global Lean Healthcare Summit in the UK. I know…
Toyota Slowing Down U.S. Plant Expansion?
Report: Toyota May Slow US Plant Builds: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance WSJ article: REDUCED SPEED Toyota’s New U.S. Plan: Stop Building Factories Toyota is concerned about overexpansion and overcapacity in the U.S., apparently. In Japan, most of Toyota’s factories…
What Would You Ask the UAW?
For UAW Chief, a Bid To Forestall ‘Waterloo’ – WSJ.com The UAW leader for the U.S., Ron Gettelfinger was featured in today’s Wall Street Journal. He pretty much spoke the company line on the usual excuses for why the Detroit…
Updated: GM Shows "Standard Work" to Journalists?
GM teaches writers to build it right each time Updated: GM *does* do some kaizen in the class What we call Lean or TPS, they call “GMS”: General Motors Corp. touts its global manufacturing system as the reason it’s been…
A Collection of Lean Success Stories
Sometimes these stories come across the wire in batches, there’s a flurry of positive Lean news this week: Pierce ablaze with orders Here’ s a story about “lean fire trucks” (and a horrible pun in the newspaper’s headline there, don’t…
“You’re Not Developing Your People,” says Norman Bodek
By Norman Bodek, PCS Press Note: This originally appeared recently on the NWLean email list. This is re-printed with Norman’s permission. Consider it a preview of an upcoming LeanBlog Podcast. I believe that Toyota has always wanted to make great…
Time for Value Added Engineering
Ford Adopts Focus Time – Detroit News By Andy Wagner: I have blogged before on the inefficiency of multi-tasking and the virtues of more single-piece flow in the engineering environment. Judging by this article, it looks like somebody at Ford…