Putting the cart before the horse
by Mike Lopez This morning, I experienced my annual visit to the optometrist. The wait was 30 minutes, but that is not what I wanted to address. At the optometrist, they have a fancy machine that takes a picture of…
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United Adds $25 Fee for 2nd Bag
Yahoo News Story By Mike R. Lopez: I saw this story about United Airlines charging customers to check a SECOND bag. Not the fifth or sixth bag, but NUMBER TWO! This reminded me of a training slide that we have…
The Bloodbath to Come
by Mike Lopez All these lead paint toy scandals are only the beginning. On July 12, 2007, Businessweek ran a story, “Made in China: Faulty Tires.” This story foreshadowed the bloodbath to come. For every scandal, we can expect several high…
The Roots of Lean
by Mike Lopez Today and tomorrow, I have the pleasure of taking part in a Lean Six Sigma summit being hosted by our corporation. One of today’s presenters was Mike Micklewright. He posed many challenging and introspective questions to our…
Lean Love Advice: Part 4 of 4
By Mike Lopez I’ve written about the four rules of Lean before. I have been thinking about how they apply to marriage. To refresh those of you who have not read the Harvard Business Review article by Steve Spear and…
Lean Love Advice: Part 3 of 4
By Mike Lopez I’ve written about the four rules of Lean before. I have been thinking about how they apply to marriage. To refresh those of you who have not read the Harvard Business Review article by Steve Spear and…
Lean Love Advice: Part 2 of 4
By Mike Lopez I’ve written about the four rules of Lean before. I have been thinking about how they apply to marriage. To refresh those of you who have not read the Harvard Business Review article by Steve Spear and…
Lean Love Advice: Part 1 of 4
By Mike Lopez I’ve written about the four rules of Lean before. Earlier tonight, I was thinking about how they apply to marriage. To refresh those of you who have not read the Harvard Business Review article by Steve Spear…
Psychology & Lean
By Mike Lopez Extraversion or introversion. How do those personality traits figure into a Lean implementation? I have seen very event driven implementations of Lean. There are Kaizen blitzes, Value Stream Mappings, 6S events, and others. I think it is…
Quality Systems & Innovation
By Mike R. Lopez: The June 11, 2007 issue of BusinessWeek features a great story about 3M’s recent problems with Six Sigma, “At 3M, A Struggle Between Efficiency And Creativity.” As a Lean Six Sigma black belt at my company,…
Question to Readers: Where should I go to learn supply chain management?
By Mike Lopez A question for readers: Which short courses or classes in manufacturing or supply chain management would you recommend? Who has the best program for a young professional with a strong technical background that is becoming a supply…
More NPR Stories about Toyota
by Mike Lopez Yesterday and today, NPR’s Morning Edition had two short stories about Toyota. Yesterday, they highlighted the Georgetown Plant. Listen Here. Today’s story was an interview with Toyota US President, Jim Press. Listen Here. Please check out my…