In November 2012, I had the opportunity to visit Japan for the first time as part of a Lean healthcare study mission. It was fascinating to compare notes with colleagues from the U.S., Belgium, and Holland as we visited factories,…
I had a chance, on Tuesday, to attend what’s often informally called the “Detroit Auto Show” (or the NAIAS, formally). As a kid, I went to the show every single year and always loved it, especially the concept cars (like…
I read this valid complaint from somebody on a LinkedIn group…. it led to a “facepalm” that I managed to catch on camera: I interviewed with a medium sized company for a quality Manager position a while back. They were convinced…
Thanks everybody for reading my blog in 2013! I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to read and participate in the discussion and I h0pe you’ll continue visiting the site in 2014… in what will be my…
TL;DR: This post revisits the origins of lean production through John Krafcik’s 1988 article, reflecting on how lean manufacturing began as an integrated management system rooted in culture, leadership, and respect for people–and why those foundations still matter more than…
Hi, this is Dr. Les Muda, the world’s first (and only) Lean healthcare comedian, taking over Mark’s blog today for a guest post about a new product I am very excited about – the Apple iPhone 5S. First off, I…
A Lean thinking friend’s wife had emergency surgery (she is going to be fine) and my friend sent some pictures of Lean-related things he saw at the hospital. The good included: Sheets posted on the wall to get staff input…
I was fortunate to have three interviews published in the past week, where I was talking about Lean Healthcare and Kaizen, so I thought I’d share them here. Cutting Waste is More Important Than Ever: An Interview with Lean Healthcare…
If we're doing trivial Lean projects without addressing patient harm or patient waiting times, we run the risk of "5S-ing the deck chairs on the Titanic"...
I was preparing for the Gemba Academy webinar that I’m doing next Tuesday (you can still sign up) on: Stories about the Eight Types of Waste in Healthcare. I found this fun picture from about 2008 that I decided to…
TL;DR: At Toyota, the principle is closer to “respect for humanity” than “respect for people” — and that difference matters. It’s not a slogan or a soft value. It is one of two equally important pillars of the Toyota Production…
I’ve been going back through my notes and pictures from my first trip to Japan in November… my goal is to blog about something or share a picture on a weekly basis. Read more about my guides, Kaizen Institute. We visited…
