Respecting copyright, I’ll just link to this funny cartoon from Nate Beeler. Maybe this is your Saturday chuckle. Subscribe via RSS | Lean Blog Main Page | Podcast | Twitter @markgraban Please check out my main blog page at www.leanblog.org…
Lean as a Cultural Transformation at Porsche A 2009 FORTUNE profile of Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking offers an instructive case study in what a serious Lean transformation can look like when it is led from the top and treated as…
No Detroiters Need Apply – Automotive News First off, I hate the whole “czar” term in our government. Ick. But if we need a “car czar”, I can’t think of a better candidate than Gary Convis, formerly of Toyota and…
Exec Shuffle: Hyundai Motor America Names Lean-Production Expert to Top Post I wonder how other automakers would do having process thinkers instead of finance people in top posts? John Krafcik, one of the foremost U.S. experts on lean manufacturing, has…
U.S. Big Three Trail Japan in Productivity – New York Times Sometimes, in the course of my reading and research, I stumble across something interesting in the NY Times archives. Keep in mind this is from 1995: The Big Three…
Marketplace: Supplier gets dwindling sums for its parts This story has been in the blog backlog, but it’s always an important topic, the idea of not just squeezing your suppliers on price. It’s not a good idea to just demand…
How GM Handles a Hit: Build Fewer – WSJ.comWelcome to new readers from the MoneyCentral MSN blog. To explore more about “Lean,” visit the main page of my blog or click on “What is Lean?” in the left column. The…
In Shift, Auto Workers Flee to Health-Care Jobs – WSJ.com: This story caught my ear, first, when I heard it on the Wall Street Journal This Morning radio show (XM channel 167), even though the host had a bit of…
For UAW Chief, a Bid To Forestall ‘Waterloo’ – WSJ.com The UAW leader for the U.S., Ron Gettelfinger was featured in today’s Wall Street Journal. He pretty much spoke the company line on the usual excuses for why the Detroit…
Detroit News Article GM, Ford, and Chrysler are frequent targets here for their “beat up the suppliers” approach to supply chain management. Here’s some encouraging news for GM (and for their suppliers)… not such good news for Ford General Motors…
Heath Care – New York Times Long, but interesting, piece in the Sunday Times about the history of how we got to the point of companies providing healthcare. No, and it’s not an article calling for a single-payer system (nor…
The End of the Line as They Know It – New York Times The link above is an article about “Detroit Three” employees taking voluntary buyouts. There are some insights into the working world of the plants these employees leave…