TL;DR: Quality Circles are still thriving in Japanese hospitals and companies–rooted in the philosophy of developing people through structured problem solving. What some in the West now call “A3 Thinking” or “PDSA” is alive and well in Japan as a…
TL;DR: A Toyota tour guide at the Tsutsumi plant once added a small hook to a catwalk railing because she didn’t like setting her bag down. Her manager approved it. A colleague installed it. No ROI analysis was required. That…
Tomorrow, I’m leaving for Japan and I’ll be with Kaizen Institute for our second Lean healthcare study tour (see a PDF about the trip). We have an incredibly diverse group, with attendees from the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia,…
You might remember that I partnered with Kaizen Institute about two years ago to do their first “Lean Healthcare Study Tour” to Japan. I blogged a bit about the last trip last week. It was a great learning experience, as…
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’ve really enjoyed reading the book The Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality, which was published last year. I think this link will work… You can view my public Kindle notes and profile online. If you haven’t read Dr. Deming’s…
My guest for episode #186 is my friend Jon Miller, CEO of Kaizen Institute and a long-time blogger at Gemba Panta Rei. Today, we’re talking about his upcoming book, Creating a Kaizen Culture: Align the Organization, Achieve Breakthrough Results, and…
The year is 1981. A Major League Baseball strike interrupts the season. We’re in the midst of the Cold War. President Reagan is shot. Kim Carnes’ (not to be confused with ThedaCare’s Kim Barnas) tops the charts for the year…
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…
Today’s guest post is by author Natalie Sayer, who was my guest for Podcast #145. While doing research for another project, I had the opportunity to watch the move Happy, a documentary looking at the science of happiness around…
I’m on my way home from Japan as this post gets published. I will probably take the week off from blogging for the Thanksgiving holiday and I’ll reflect on the amazing trip and the learning… resuming posts about the trip…
Yesterday, our tour group had a chance to visit an outstanding factory. They manufacture gas meters and they do everything from casting aluminum, creating printed circuit boards, stamping, painting, assembly – all in a single site. It reminded me a…
