Not Neatness for Neatness Sake
MSN Careers – Is a Messier Desk Better? I was going to blog about this book before and Dan Markovitz had beaten me to it. But, Matt, a Lean Blog reader, sent me this new article on the same topic…
MSN Careers – Is a Messier Desk Better? I was going to blog about this book before and Dan Markovitz had beaten me to it. But, Matt, a Lean Blog reader, sent me this new article on the same topic…
RFID tracks hospital’s devices Dallas Morning News News for Dallas, Texas Business This article was in the Dallas paper a week ago. It talks about a local hospital that is implementing fancy cabinets and an RFID tracking system for inventory…
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…
By Dan MarkovitzBack in October, Lifehacker ran a lengthy article on “personal kaizen.” The thrust of the piece is how we can improve our lives by adopting the kaizen approach of the TPS and applying it to our own work…
Article Link Thanks to Ron for sending this article my way. Check out his excellent blog post on the difference between being fast and “playing fast,” tying the football idea to manufacturing (although I’m hoping my Wildcats can finally beat…
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…
Don’t Strain Yourself Here is a great article about how a company has implemented lean to improve safety. Concepts like 5S and waste reduction go hand in hand with ergonomics, safety, quality, and productivity. Oh, and this company is from…
I went through a discussion today that reminded me of a similar situation early in a lean effort at my old manufacturing company a few years back. Early in lean efforts, one of the things I focus on is 5S,…
I’ve been wondering for a while what the value of my CPIM certification is (a previous employer paid for it). APICS has been trying to reinvent itself as more of a lean organization rather than just being an MRP methodology…
By Dan Markovitz, Time Back Management: A response to an earlier post… Is messiness really beneficial? I think the authors of A Perfect Mess make a silly distinction. On the one hand, you have order for order’s sake. The authors…

Why Clean Up Your Desk? Delight in Disorder Instead (WSJ $$)What does a clean desk have to do with 5S? It depends. Do you have your own desk or do you share a workspace with others? Can you find any…

Here is a simple example that I think qualifies as a “5S” example, albeit a non-traditional one. This is a dirty beverage counter at an airport, see the straw wrappers and trash. It was dirty and messy when I walked…