Quality doesn’t come from inspection, pressure, or choosing between speed and accuracy. It comes from well-designed systems, capable processes, and leaders who focus on learning instead of blame. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on quality through a Lean and Deming lens—covering psychological safety, metrics, variation, leadership behavior, healthcare quality, and why sustainable improvement depends on fixing systems rather than managing people harder.
In my morning reading yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see the phrase “root cause” in two stories I’ve written about here: Preventable Medical Errors (free, Modesto Bee) Deadly Products from China ($$, WSJ) I have a post I’ve written,…
As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China – New York Times Pet food, toothpaste, childrens’ toys…. (oh and let’s not forget the recent slave labor stories). Update: WSJ article with interviews from released slaves When does China’s reputation…
Mock Assembly Lines Work Out Glitches: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance Nissan has struggled with quality (particularly in their Mississippi plant), so they are taking some dramatic steps to improve their handoff and collaboration between design and production with a…
Toyota fixing engine failures in new Tundra truck – USATODAY.com It’s hard to tell if this level of quality defect is typical for a new model launch or not. Anyone in the auto industry care to share a perspective on…
Hospital-borne ailments face Medicare budget ax | IndyStar.com Healthcare has LONG been a piecework industry. Caregivers and facilities are paid for WHAT they do and the services they provide. Doing more work gets you paid more, much the same way…
Chinese say U.S. shares blame in food scandal – USATODAY.com I’ve been tempted a few times to post about the pet deaths from contaminated pet food — the contaminated ingredients came from China. This article caught my eye last week:…
Here’s a mini Lean carnival of some good posts from other blogs about Lean: Got Boondoggle? Lost in Translation Great story from Mike about someone going to the “Gumbo” (plus one other Lean buzzword butchered, funny stuff). Good lesson about…
In Bid for Better Care, Surgery With a Warranty – New York Times This outstanding NY Times article isn’t about “Lean” per se (they don’t call it out by name), but you can definitely see elements of Lean Thinking abound.…
Marketplace: Better health care through better information This commentator points out some shocking waste in the healthcare system: Although cancer doctors work long hours, they still fail, frequently, to provide therapies the medical evidence says the patient needs. Sometimes the…
Study: Hospital Goals Sometimes Compromise Safety With Lean, we have realized that improving quality does not run counter to decreasing costs. They go together. Using Lean methods, improving flow, error proofing and reducing defects, leads to decreased costs in any…
A blog reader, Tom, sent me a PDF of a column from the ASQ “Quality Progress” magazine, the April 2007 issue. The article is “Using Lean to Meet Quality Objectives,” by Dale K. Gordon. The ASQ website has a link…
globeandmail.com: Private sector health care: Think quality, regulation I don’t think healthcare and quality is a “Private vs. Public” debate. As we’ll inevitably have debate during the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, I think it’s important to keep quality in mind…
