Tag: Ford

In 1981, Ford Motor Company and UAW leaders traveled to Japan to study Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda -- and they came home with very...

Summary: Today's "mixtape" post brings together timely ideas on continuous improvement, leadership, productivity, and workplace culture. From avoiding "blank slate" metrics and rethinking PDCA/PDSA...

Listen: In Episode 46, Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh spend a lot of time talking about AI, but that still, as always, begins with the...

The other day, I read about the passing of Donald E. Peterson, who was a key CEO for Ford Motor Company in the 1980s...

Listen: In Episode 42, Jamie Flinchbaugh visits Mark Graban in northern Kentucky and they get to record an episode in person. This was the origin...

tl;dr: In a riveting discussion, Ford CEO Jim Farley and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi delve into Lean principles, cultural shifts, and operational challenges. From...

This bonus episode captures an unscripted, post-event conversation with Jim Womack, Katie Anderson, Jamie V. Parker, and Mark Graban reflecting on GE's "Lean Mindset"...

Updated: The recordings from this inspiring day are now online. I'll be sharing thoughts and reflections in future posts. I was very excited to learn...

Thanks as always to Ryan McCormick for this... there's always so much good reading, listening, and viewing shared here by him! Insights about improvement, innovation,...

I've seen a number of people post on LinkedIn about the passing of the legendary "Mr. Oba" of Toyota (sometimes spelled "Mr. Ohba") --...

My first job out of college was as an Industrial Engineer at the General Motors Livonia Engine Plant. Blogging didn't exist then (I didn't even have email or internet access at work) or I might have started my writing career then. Oh, the stories. I've shared some of them on this blog over time. I've blogged about papers from the Don Ephlin files, a former UAW national leader. I have my own small collection of documents and artifacts from my days at GM that I thought to keep in a folder. I still have that folder today. A few of these memos tell the story of a quality and productivity death spiral that eventually led to our plant manager being replaced. And, by "replaced," I don't mean fired or given an early retirement. He was, at least in title, PROMOTED to a role at GM Powertrain headquarters. Thankfully, the new plant manager, Larry Spiegel, was one of the original "NUMMI commandos" and he made a huge difference to the plant and to me, personally.

Today at 3 PM, I'm doing a webinar at the invitation of the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council, as part of their "Quality Café" series. Thanks for the invitation! It's open to the public and it's titled: "Standardize What Makes Sense... Then Engage Everybody in Improving What You Standardized" I hope you can join us...