The Manufacturer.com – Merck to cut jobs, close plants, get lean Merck was in the news quite a bit today, but this is the first article I’ve seen that mentions any claim to a “lean” strategy. If Merck thinks they…
TL;DR:The late Norman Bodek argues that Lean fails not due to poor workers or missing tools, but because management systems prioritize short-term results over developing people. Toyota’s real advantage, he says, is its long-term commitment to respect, learning, and empowering…
Article Link: Today is the launch date of the new Xbox 360 video game system. Although it’s a Microsoft product, it follows the typical Asian contract manufacturer supply chain path. “Mr. Holmdahl is the Microsoft vice president in charge of…
DesMoinesRegister.com Interesting to see that Iowa’s manufacturing economy is six times bigger than agriculture. It’s good for people to recognize that manufacturing is important, if not critical, and it is certainly overlooked. I think that’s mainly because we don’t have…
Here is installment #4 of the Jim Womack Q&A, where we discuss the car buying process, the teaching (or lack thereof) of lean principles in our universities, supplier relationships, and some of the blog reader Q&A. Part 1 Part 2…
Here is the sixth, and probably final, installment of my tales from the NUMMI tour. You can revisit them by starting with Tale #1 and continuing on from there. One more important reminder from the NUMMI visit reinforced something I’d…
Here is installment #3 in my exclusive Q&A with Jim Womack, co-author of Lean Solutions along with Daniel Jones. Here, Jim discusses more Lean Consumption and Lean Solutions concepts, discussing executive leadership types, the role of process thinkers, Dell Computer,…
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 New Q&A February 2006 Be sure to see all five parts of the Q&A, links are above and at the end of Part #1. Thanks to James P. Womack, co-author…
MySA.com : Printer Friendly Story From the same newspaper that brings you “The sun is hot” on the weather page. Don’t get me wrong, when I was at GM, I didn’t think the UAW was the more of a problem…
Industrial Reporting, Inc. Article Another case of how every factory and industry likes to thing they are different, with hand wringing over “lean works” or not when making things like pallets. I guess every industry has to go through it,…
Article Link –> Chicago Tribune | After Sox victory, firms go to work I’m in Chicago and saw this in the Trib. The World Series shirts are printed immediately after the winner is determined, which eliminates the waste of printing…
Guardian Unlimited Money | Work | So this is a problem in the UK? The U.S. has enough factors deterring kids from engineering and factory careers without TV shows making factory life look “boring, dirty and smelly”. “A survey of…