Always Room For Improvement
I had an internal factory tour that reminded me of Mark’s recent blog on the Not So Lean Factory Tour. The plant was not nearly the horror story Mark experienced, and in fact, it was one of best examples of…
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Parker Hannifin and Market Driven Pricing
Seeking Perfect Prices, CEO Tears Up the Rules – WSJ.com I haven’t mentioned it in a while, was trying to give it a rest for a bit, but the front page of the WSJ highlighted this basic economic concept: prices…
Summary: Remaking American Medicine
Andrew Castle, a lean healthcare consultant in the UK, generously offered up this summary of the 4-part PBS documentary series. It’s a long summary, so I’ll just post the start of it here. Direct pdf file download Buy the series…
My "GM Bashing" in the ChangeThis Manifesto
Some of you might have read my “ChangeThis” manifesto, “How Toyota Can Save Your Life… At The Hospital.” I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from lean professionals, healthcare professionals (including an MD), and lean healthcare professionals. Thanks for that,…
Correcting a GM Assembly Line Story – Did GM Cars Really Go To “Minor Repair” or “Major Repair?”
In the past, I’ve referenced a story I had heard about a GM plant in 1980’s where the “completed” vehicles went to one of two areas: “minor repair” or “major repair”, the implications being that the factory relied on inspection…
More Lean Q&A
Here is the final installment of the lean Q&A, but if you have more questions, please feel free to comment here and I’ll post the best attempt at answers here. Here was lean Q&A batch one and batch two. Q:…
UK Hospitals Gemba Walk the U.S.
I was sent a nice “gemba report” essay from a UK lean healthcare consultant, Andrew Castle. Andrew consults for the UK National Health Service and came with a group to tour two American sites: Toyota Industrial Equipment (forktruck manufacturing in…
Misguided ‘Office Lean’: How Bad 5S Practices Give Lean a Bad Name
A few weeks back, the British media was having a field day with reports of and complaints about what sounds like a horribly misguided “office lean” effort at a British government office. Read more about it. The picture below is…
Lean for High Takt Times
Mark’s Note: After some of my adventures in blogging about lean in aerospace, I got a volunteer to add some perspectives from that industry. Thanks to Andy for joining up and I look forward to his contributions. Click on his…
Calling DFW or Texas Lean Companies
Personal request — I’m looking for a Dallas/Fort Worth area company that is in an advanced state of lean implementation. (that’s quite a flexible definition of what “advanced” means, obviously). West Texas (Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Abilene, El Paso) or Central Texas…
Signs are Not Error Proofing: Electrical Circuit Breaker Edition
I saw this at a hospital lab last year, a great example of true error proofing vs. just putting up warning signs. “Cautions” and “Warnings” are lazy engineering, in general, with product design. Signs are not good problem-solving in any…
Secrets to Success from Phil Gordon
Recently I was giving a speech and had to follow Phil Gordon, famous poker pro and host of Celebrity Poker Showdown. Needless to say, he’s a tough act to follow with stories of massive pots, wealthy businessmen who lose millions…