First, if you’ve read The Hitchhiker ‘s Guide to Lean, you will know that we believe the entire concept of deeply understanding our current state is a vital skill and principle to drive performance improvement. I recently penned an article…
I had to buy a new router for home (a different quality discussion about why my old one quit working after a year). I noticed an error proofing (poka yoke) device on the back of the router (the orange strip…
I was able to have dinner at the famous Pizzeria Uno in Chicago on Friday. It had been too long since I’ve had really good Chicago stuffed pizza — REAL Chicago pizza, not the fake bready stuff that too many…
Including the Missing Links in the Global Supply Chain – InformationWeek White Papers: Here’s one more reason to NOT pay attention to “lean” articles from software vendors. Don’t waste your time on the link above, but it includes the line:…
By Mike Lopez A Bay Area-based global outsourcing expert, Mark Zetter, and HP’s former worldwide manufacturing education manager, Eric Olsen, Ph.D., have written a white paper on Lean Outsourcing. In the article, they raise a very good point. United States-based…
This is an incredibly sad, and completely preventable, situation. Three babies are dead, and three more injured, because the wrong drug was administered to them at an Indianapolis hospital. Let’s keep in mind, first, this quote from the World Health…
I know not everybody travels, so y’all might not be concerned about attempts to see lean (or NON lean) practices in the travel world. But, I travel almost weekly, so this is one “gemba” I see quite a bit. One…
WSJ.com – Ford and Chrysler Show Dark Outlook For U.S. Car Makers I received an email from a blog reader, Jack, from Tampa FL. I assume he’s from outside the auto industry and he wrote: In light of Mr. Womack’s…
USATODAY.com – Ford to cut one-third of salaried staff, $5 billion in costs, stop dividend As a guy who grew up in Michigan and around the auto industry, this is sad. Does it really take a new “$30 Million Dollar…
Sigh, crabby mood… for those of you who don’t like the “Crabby Mark” blog posts, here come a few today. It’s often commented about here (and Jamie Flinchbaugh makes this point in his first podcast discussion with me), that lean…
More travel adventures… I woke up this morning and got into the shower. I was surprised that the soap and shampoo that I used Monday morning was gone (that’s waste, throwing out half used toiletries). I stepped out of the…
Here is LeanBlog Podcast #5, with a new guest: Jamie Flinchbaugh, co-author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean. In this Podcast, we talk about the “language of waste” and how waste reduction is a critical tool in the implementation of lean…
