As somebody who moved to Texas in 1999 (“I wasn’t born here, but I got here as quick as I could”), I love Texas barbecue. That means, in particular, the “Texas Trinity” of brisket, sausage, and ribs — although ribs…
Apparently, we’re at the time of year when companies send you the “we’re sorry, but we’re forced to raise prices” letter or email. Nobody is forced to raise prices. It’s always a choice. Yes, it’s a choice. Case: Home Alarm…
When I was in England on vacation recently, I saw this column in the Financial Times: Listen to your employees and so increase their productivity And the author, Sarah O’Connor, makes a great point in the sub headline – that…
I’m an avid book buyer, book reader, and published book author. Amazon is one of my favorite places to shop, not just for books. I first bought a book from Amazon back in 1997, right before I went to MIT. There…
Limes are a very big deal here in San Antonio, between the cuisine and, of course, margaritas. Hint: life is too short to drink “margaritas” with some corn-syrupy pre-made mix. All you need is tequila, lime juice, and agave nectar.…
I enjoy reading the magazine Inc. for my interests in startups and entrepreneurship. There are often examples and case studies that directly reference Lean thinking or just sound like Lean and Kaizen with another label. There were two articles in…
I’ve re-read this article a number of times: “Cancer clinics are turning away thousands of Medicare patients. Blame the sequester.” It’s a sad situation – the federal government, via Medicare, has cut the reimbursement to cancer clinics for chemotherapy treatment…
I’m not sure Google has much of a market for a $299 media player (with the AppleTV and Roku players being under $100), but it’s noteworthy that the new Google Nexus Q is made in the USA (see picture at…
I saw this article last week in the USA Today while traveling, with the online headline “Products nipped, tucked to save.” That headline makes me think first of old fashioned cost cutting – which in these economic times often means…
A common theme I’ve written about from the start of my blogging days is the Lean/Toyota notion that price is dictated by the market (the customers) — price is NOT something you can set in isolation based on your costs.…
TL;DR: An NPR story about workplace “efficiency” illustrates L.A.M.E.–Lean As Misguidedly Executed–where tools like 5S are applied without respect for people or employee engagement. True Lean builds capability with the people doing the work, not through top-down cost cutting. Oh…
Starbucks boosts prices on some beverages – USATODAY.com There are no direct “lean” fingerprints on the news stories about Starbucks adjusting their prices, but let’s talk about it anyway. One of Toyota’s contributions to the management world is the idea…
