A friend sent me this article from CNN Money. It’s not often that you see a mainstream article that provides data to refute the idea that outsourcing is THE way to reduce costs. The article mostly deals with outsourcing customer…
Evolving Excellence: Adventures in Customer Service I was already thinking of blogging on customer service adventures today when I saw the post by Kevin Meyers on his blog. His post is worth reading, as it illustrates how a lean process…
No, this isn’t a 5S discussion. Every once in a while, I peek at the blog servers stats to see what people search for (on Google, for example) before getting here to the blog. This is just a sample that…
IndustryWeek : Continuous Improvement — Taking A Big-Picture Approach To Lean Here’s a good column from IW, comparing the enterprise lean approach of Newport News ship building with the “plant floor only” approach taken by GM and Ford. An excerpt:…
Leading Lean: Get Your Payback From Lean! Here’s the latest column from Jamie Flinchbaugh, focused on leadership’s responsibility to create opportunities for successful factories. If you’re freeing up resources, equipment or people, it’s the responsibility of top management to find…
WSJ.com – As Airlines Pull Out of Dive, United Charts Its Own Course ($$ Subscription) Most of what we hear about airlines is “low cost” this or “cutting costs” that. Everyone is chasing Southwest’s low labor costs or copying them…
1 — ‘Slow and steady’ drives Toyota’s growth – (USA Today) 2 — Toyota Closes In on G.M. (NY Times, requires free registration) 3 — Toyota Powers Ahead at Kentucky Plant (NPR) This is probably my final post until next…
I’m a bit late with this post, but I wanted to make sure to get this article link out nonetheless. Womack wrote a column published in the Washington Post Sunday December 11 in direct response to the speech that was…
Here’s another example of the Lean Consumption model at work. The business model of car sharing is increasingly gaining momentum in North America. Including both for-profit and not-for-profit companies and organizations there were a reported 15 car sharing programs operating…
Hello, blog readers, just a quick update here. It’s been an exciting week on the Lean Manufacturing Blog. Thanks to being included on the Lean Enterprise Institute email blast, blog traffic really spiked, with over 2,000 visitors in the last…
By Mark Edmondson Today I went to the local post office to buy holiday stamps and Priority Mail boxes. (An aside: Priority Mail for gift parcels is a great deal – you can cram as much stuff as possible into…
Bloomberg.com: Bloomberg Columnists The writers continue to pile on GM. I know Doron Levin has been covering the auto industry in Detroit for a long time. Some highlights: The pre-holiday bombshell dropped Nov. 21 by Rick Wagoner, General Motors Corp.…
