Fri, 09/07/2012 - 10:18
In many ways, visual controls are a 24/7 mirror of leadership’s competency and credibility. That’s pretty scary if you think about it. It’s like voluntarily living in a fishbowl, not that everyone truly understands the gravity of that.
It reminds…
Wed, 08/29/2012 - 11:07
To borrow a phrase that was borrowed by Pope Benedict XVI for his (in)famous 2006 Regensburg lecture, “There is no compulsion in lean.” OK, the pontiff didn’t really use the word “lean” (rather, it was “religion”), but the underlying sentiment is…
Mon, 07/02/2012 - 12:03
The question, “Why do you ask?” is typically posed in response to an inquiry that is deemed a bit nosey. It’s actually more of a statement... along the lines of, “Mind your own business!”
But for the purpose of this article, it really is a question…
Wed, 04/25/2012 - 13:15
Leonardo da Vinci’s comment, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” could easily serve as a lean tag line.
Surely, lean tools, like standard work, visual controls, and mistake proofing devices, are only truly effective if they are easily…
Tue, 04/10/2012 - 11:59
Problem-solving tools are powerful things. But not so powerful that they are immune to human error. Few things are.
Analogously, this is one reason why our school teachers strongly encouraged proofreading. You know—critically reading what you just…
Mon, 04/02/2012 - 09:42
Lean transformations might be easier if we possessed some measure of the sixth sense—extrasensory perception (ESP).
Sort of like in the 1999 psychological thriller film, The Sixth Sense, we might be inclined to whisper repeatedly that, “We see…
Wed, 03/07/2012 - 10:46
Recently, fellow-blogger David Kasprzak, introduced me to the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) strategy. ROWE, created at Best Buy’s Minneapolis headquarters, espouses a philosophy under which employees can work where they want, when they want,…
Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:01
During a recent trip to the great state of Texas, I heard some down-home wisdom: “Before you season your food, why don’t you taste it first?” The person who uttered that question was not talking about food. Rather, he was challenging someone who was…
Tue, 11/22/2011 - 14:06
During the first winter storm this year in the Northeast, I found myself, along with hundreds of thousands of folks in the area, without power for the better part of a week. It was a long wait before the lights came on… and the heat.
Heck,…
Thu, 11/03/2011 - 10:24
I’m certainly no physicist, but I think there’s a worthy analogy between the decay of radioisotopes and lean behavior within an organization.
According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ webpage on Radiation Emergency Medical…