Tue, 07/07/2015 - 12:03
June 11, 2015, marked the fourth anniversary of the passing of someone who, although not typically credited as a “lean” thinker, nevertheless had a profound effect on many lean implementers. Eliyahu Goldratt, or Eli, was an Israeli physicist whose…
Mon, 06/08/2015 - 14:37
The last few weeks for me have been all things Shingo, including a presentation at the Shingo Institute’s International Conference three weeks ago in Provo, Utah, followed by four days of Shingo Institute workshops at Vibco in Richmond, RI.…
Wed, 05/20/2015 - 14:21
I was speaking last week with, Jen, a senior manager at a large manufacturer, and she commented to me, “I know it’s important for me to get to the floor, but the time involved for me and my staff to regularly visit two dozen different departments…
Tue, 04/21/2015 - 11:59
Sometimes we receive unreasonable and confusing directions, and sometimes we give them.
As in the short video clip below, even if the systems behind this confusion are sound and the motivations reasonable, when you put them together they can…
Mon, 03/30/2015 - 17:00
After a one-day observation at a local company, I participated in a wrap-up meeting with the general manager and his team.
“We’ve been at this for five years,” the general manager said to me, proudly referring to his division’s lean implementation…
Wed, 03/04/2015 - 11:39
I sang baritone and sometimes tenor in the St. John’s Lutheran Church choir, according to the key of the hymn we were rehearsing and also depending upon who showed up for rehearsal. There were no tryouts for our choir; willingness to sing on Sunday…
Mon, 02/09/2015 - 12:47
For a few years—back in the early ‘80s—I fell prey to information automation fascination. I managed an IT department transitioning from a basic accounting system managed by an external service bureau to a batch inventory-control system to an order-…
Mon, 12/08/2014 - 00:00
I recently participated in the AME conference in Jacksonville, Florida, a terrific rally for manufacturing excellence with the tongue-twisting theme, “Strategic Success Through People-Powered Excellence.”
I had a small role on a keynote panel that…
Mon, 11/03/2014 - 12:32
There was a time when it was unfashionable for managers to associate with front-line employees. Alluding to an old adage, I used to joke that you could not even lead the horse (i.e., the manager) to water, let alone make him drink. Division of…
Thu, 10/02/2014 - 13:05
A lthough I don’t wish to rub salt in the wounds of my beleaguered Red Sox, their meteoric rise from last place in 2012 to a World Series title in 2013 and subsequent plummet back to the cellar in 2014 underscores the problems with speculative…