Dark Outlook for Non-Lean Car Makers
WSJ.com – Ford and Chrysler Show Dark Outlook For U.S. Car Makers I received an email from a blog reader, Jack, from Tampa FL. I assume he’s from outside the auto industry and he wrote: In light of Mr. Womack’s…
Tag WSJ
"Boneheads" at Toyota?
WSJ.com – Toyota May Delay New Models To Address Rising Quality Issues: I posted this article last week, but I looked at it again before recording a new Podcast interview with Norm Bodek. This part at the bottom of the…
Toyota to Go Slower for Quality
WSJ.com – Toyota May Delay New Models To Address Rising Quality Issues I haven’t found a free version of this article yet. Here is another article with a brief summary and a blog posting that references the article. The Gemba…
Made in America? Your Choice.
WSJ.com – Made in USA? Now, Customers Get to Choose Back when the Chinese iPod factory was in the news (prison or not?), I asked if people would be willing to pay more for an American made iPod, you know,…
Operational Problems Slow Starbucks Growth
“Starbucks’ Sales Slide on Frozen Drinks” Starbucks is blaming operational problems for their sales slide (actually, it’s just the rate of sales increase that fell, from 7% to 4% – let’s ignore the faulty Wall Street math that views a…
Surgical Error Proofing
WSJ.com – ‘Tagged’ Sponge Beeps If Doctors Leave It Behind Leaving foreign objects inside the body after surgery is a problem that plagues hospitals. One earlier study found that medical personnel left foreign objects, most often sponges, inside a patient’s…
We’re Not Done with Waste
WSJ.com – In the Lead “For Now, the FocusIs More on Innovation Than on Budget Cuts” Free version hereThis column goes into the category, almost, of the “what’s beyond lean?” article that pops up from time to time. The trend…
An MBO Case Study in China
WSJ.com – In China, 3,500 Test the Waters Of the Pearl River I’ve written before about how polluted China’s rivers are, the cost of unbridled factory growth and an unregulated environment. While you might think the article linked to above…
GM Gaming the Cash Metric
WSJ.com – Can Mr. Fix-It Find Time for GM?: I knew companies played games with inventory numbers. Although there’s no rational business reason to do so, a lot of public companies purposefully “drain out” inventory (raw material, WIP, and finished…
It’s a Value Problem, not a Cost Problem
WSJ.com – Can Mr. Fix-It Find Time for GM? Part of the discussion about a GM-Nisssan/Renault alliance has been the old “purchasing efficiencies” driven by the idea of economies of scale. This means, if you’re bigger, you get a better…
"The problem is management"
WSJ.com – Kerkorian Motors Interesting quote in today’s WSJ regarding Kirk Kerkorian and the proposed GM/Nissan/Renault deal: He and Mr. York, his 67-year-old sidekick, have decided — it is clear from their actions, from Mr. York’s public statements and from…
The Need for Lean Laboratories
Hospitals move to cut dangerous lab errors Here is a free version of a WSJ article from last week. I know I’ve been posting about “lean healthcare” a lot this week, I hope that is of interest to the manufacturing…
