It’s a not-so-regular feature, but it’s time to clean up the Lean Blog Backlog (say that 10 times fast), the stories that I’ve tucked aside but haven’t gotten the full blog post treatment. Come back tomorrow for Part 2 of…
Lean Leap to Health Care #3 (click for Part #2) by Scott McDuffee It would seem to be an efficient method to move into Health Care to PUSH my resume to as many potential employers as possible – thus increasing…
Award Recipients – The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence – shingoprize.org The full list of winners has been released. Congratulations to all! It’s personally quite an honor to be included in this list. Steven J. Spear: Chasing the Rabbit: How…
Steve Spear spent six months embedded with a Toyota team as a doctoral student, learning the Toyota Production System by teaching it to a supplier in Kentucky. In this episode, he explains what he calls “high velocity” organizations — companies…
No Detroiters Need Apply – Automotive News First off, I hate the whole “czar” term in our government. Ick. But if we need a “car czar”, I can’t think of a better candidate than Gary Convis, formerly of Toyota and…
I recorded an upcoming LeanBlog Podcast with Steven J. Spear yesterday. Here is that episode: He’s promoting his new book Chasing the Rabbit: How Market Leaders Outdistance the Competition and How Great Companies Can Catch Up and Win. Update: the…
A new design for healthcare delivery – The Boston Globe Good column here from Steve Spear (of “Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System” fame) and Dr. Donald Berwick (of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement). Prof. Spear does a…
VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Toyota Production System –> Dead Link Here is a nice succinct definition of the Veteran’s Affairs hospital production system in Pittsburgh. It draws on the work of Spear and Bowen and their “Decoding the DNA” definition…
Today’s Detroit News wrote about lean in healthcare, this time in their own beloved University of Michigan system. Titled “U-M Hospital Takes Page from Toyota,” it starts out with a flaw, stating: “U-M is one of the first medical centers…
Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog OK, so it doesn’t seem very lean for a blog to link to a blog that’s linked to an article. But…. the Curious Cat blog is very much worth checking out for information about TPS…
Fixing Healthcare From The Inside, Today Available through HBS… this is written by Steven J. Spear, a former Harvard professor who has written about Toyota quite a bit. He has since left and joined the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, focusing…
HBS Working Knowledge: Steven Spear is asked what makes a good TPS-style manager, he says it all comes down to problem solving. “The team leader and group leader were capable of teaching these [problem solving] skills in a directed, learn-by-doing…