One thing I observed at the Stars/Red Wings playoff game last Wednesday is that the arena crew could pretty much swap out one of the pieces of plexiglass behind the net faster than the concession crew could pour a glass…
For a little over two years, my wife and I have had a single cup coffee maker, one of those systems that makes an individual cup of coffee (or tea, the real reason we bought it initially) at a time.…
My Way News – Airlines slow down flights to save on fuel I’m just thrilled anytime I see an example of an airline making a process improvement (a “kaizen” if you will) instead of their usual game plan of whining,…
I stopped in at my local Starbucks on Sunday morning to get some coffee beans and saw an interesting sign. The signed advertised that the Pike Place Roast beans had been roasted on April 13, in Carson Valley, Nevada. I’m…
Time to stock up on Forever stamps Sigh, first class postage has gone up from 41 cents to 42 cents. That really doesn’t impact me, since I mail maybe two or three things a month (thanks to online bill pay…
Why do you need a “be careful” warning message when you’ve already error proofed something? For liability’s sake? I am going to be flying back and forth to the UK a lot this summer, so I needed an airplane power…
Household: De-Clutter with a Six-Month “Maybe Box” The site “lifehacker” is one of my favorite blogs. While not about “Lean” per se, there’s often a great deal of overlap between personal productivity and Lean concepts. In the post I’ve linked…
In the course of my consulting work, I’m sometimes asked something like, “OK, so do you use this stuff at home? Do you 5S your kitchen and your garage?” Well sure, I’ve “5S-ed” my kitchen, in the sense that I…
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Cruise Control on Wet Roads Hazard This is sort of an old urban legend that has been making the rounds again, but there’s some truth to it in that we shouldn’t use cruise control in our…
As if explaining Lean to people at hospitals doesn’t stretch my brain enough, I sometimes find it’s a fun (or at least helpful) challenge to explain what it is I do to folks who’ve had no exposure to it (like…
Here are some of my recent posts at the Institute of Industrial Engineers blog, under my heading of “Everyday Lean.” Ballot shortages in New Hampshire Starting the new year with 5S Happy “heijunka holidays” Navigational nightmares at the airport Other…
by Dan Markovitz Whew! Just in case you panicked at the thought of not having access to email on your upcoming flight to Slippery Rock, JetBlue has come to the rescue with in-flight internet access. You’ll never again have to…