A #Lean Look at the #Baseball Jersey Manufacturing Process TAGS: baseball | buttons | error-proofing | inventory | jersey | jerseys | lean | lean blitz consulting | majestic | meredith marakovits | mlb | overprocessing | pants | pockets | production | sports | uniform | waste | yes network | zippers Rob Neyer of SBNation shared this great video from the YES Network on how Majestic manufactures the game jerseys for the New York Yankees. With an eye on the eight …Continue reading →

Lean is Safety TAGS: 5S | accident | acknowledge | address | anomaly | behavior | businessdictionary.com | continuous improvement | danger | environment | ergonomics | excess | harm | identify | inventory | leak | lean | lean blitz consulting | loss | motion | muda | mura | muri | overproduction | personnel | property | risk | safety | set in order | shine | slippery when wet | sort | standardization | standardize | straighten | strain | sustain | threat | transportation | unsafe | wastes | water | work First, let’s understand the concept of safety. Safety is defined as “relative freedom from danger, risk, or threat of harm, injury, or loss to personnel and/or property, whether caused deliberately or by accident” as per BusinessDictionary.com. So being in a safe situation …Continue reading →

Football Fans Falling from Stadium Upper Decks TAGS: alcohol | answers | arrowhead | atlanta falcons | barriers | baseball | blitz | chick-fil-a | chiefs | colorado rockies | consulting | continuous improvement | coors field | death | drinking | escalator | facilitate | fall | field | football | georgia dome | harness | hazards | houston | kansas city | kickoff | lean | nc state | nets | operations | osha | process | reliant stadium | safety | sports | stadium | tennessee | texans | texas rangers | upper deck | walls The 2012 football season was barely a week old when two fatal falls from stadium upper decks took place. First, a fan fell from a fifth-floor escalator at Reliant Stadium …Continue reading →

What Else Can Lean Implementation Save You? TAGS: batching | blitz | burden | coach | constant | continuous flow | cookie | ergonomics | faster | gemba | go | harder | lean | machine | muda | mura | muri | one piece flow | operations | operator | overburden | physical | principle | process | six sigma | sports | standardized | steps | stop | toy | toyota way | waste | work It’s been written extensively in this space that by reducing the lean process wastes through applying the lean tools you can streamline your operations and make better use of your scarce …Continue reading →

Golf Lessons and Being Open to Change TAGS: accept | advice | agent | augusta | blitz | change | chipping | club | country | design of experiments | doe | experimentation | expert | free | golf | lean | lessons | listen | masters | national | pro | process | six sigma | standardized | technique | unsolicited | work Just like last year, I was inspired to play golf more frequently after watching The Masters this April. While I haven’t frequently gotten to the course or the range, I …Continue reading →

Manufacturing Process of Footballs TAGS: ada | blitz | defects | downtime | effort | employee | ergonomics | excessive | football | handling | inventory | issues | knowledge | lacing | lean | leather | measured | motion | new york | nfl | ohio | operations | overprocessing | overproduction | perfect | perfection | players | process | production | sbnation | six sigma | sports | stitching | tenure | transportation | turning | video | waiting | wastes | wilson | wip | work in process To continue the series of posts on how sports equipment is made (see baseballs and bats as well) here’s the video from SBNation on Wilson’s production process for NFL footballs. …Continue reading →

Newfangled Gas Station Tire Air Machine TAGS: accurate | air | blitz | brass | credit card | customize | digital | easy | errors | etch | gas | hose | instructions | lean | machine | operations | options | payment | plastic | pressure | process | simple | six sigma | sports | station | time Behold! This is easily one of my favorite newest discoveries out in the world. It’s a gas station tire air machine…but it’s so much more than that. It’s a gigantic …Continue reading →

Tommy John and Repairing-vs-Prevention TAGS: blitz | cincinnati | collateral | elbow | espn.com | expensive | free agent | lean | ligament | madson | mechanics | nationals | operations | philadelphia | phillies | process | reconstruction | reds | replacement | ryan | six sigma | sports | stephen | strasburg | tommy john | ucl | ulnar | washington Let’s say you just purchased a very expensive machine for your process. On average, these machines have a productive life of about fifteen years but the one you buy has …Continue reading →

How a Pop-Top Can Lid is Lean TAGS: barefoot executive | blitz | can | can opener | carrie wilkerson | electric | excess motion | fruit | lean | lean blitz | manual | operations | pop top lid | processes | safety | simplify | six sigma | soup | spaghetti-os | sports | time savings So as I was perusing Twitter, this tweet came along from Carrie Wilkerson, the Barefoot Executive (author, host, and blogger): I can relate – my semi-typical breakfast is a can of …Continue reading →

Augusta GreenJackets on Good Morning America TAGS: abc | augusta greenjackets | ergonomics | gma | good morning america | health | lean | richard besser | safety | stress ABC’s Good Morning America sent Dr. Richard Besser on a house call to Lake Olmstead Stadium, home of the Augusta GreenJackets, to identify office hazards, time-saving tips, and demonstrate the …Continue reading →