The Augusta Riverhawks and the Case for Quality TAGS: augusta | bob kerzner | breakdown | cease | cost of poor quality | cost of quality | hockey | ice | james brown arena | league | lean | lean blitz consulting | minor | operations | riverhawks | sports | system | total productive maintenance | tpm As reported in March, the ice maintenance system at James Brown Arena in Augusta broke down and forced the Augusta RiverHawks minor league hockey team to relocate their games to …Continue reading →

Costly Ice System Problems Could Mean Augusta Riverhawks Hockey Team Flies Away TAGS: augusta riverhawks | autonomous management | consulting | critical equipment | hockey | ice | james brown arena | lean blitz | maintenance | melting | operations | program | southern professional hockey league | system | total productive maintenance The Augusta Riverhawks, an independent minor league hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League, were forced to vacate its final home games of the season because of a breakdown of …Continue reading →

The Chicken Wing Shortage and Super Bowl Week TAGS: changeover | chicken wing | consulting | continuous improvement | darren rovell | demand | espn | lean | lean blitz | operations | optimization | peak season | process | rumor | shortage | smed | sports | super bowl | temporary staffing | wings There is a rumor, as seems to be every year for Super Bowl week, that we are suffering from a shortage of chicken wings. While it’s apparently true that the …Continue reading →

The Toyota Way Principles and Small Business TAGS: blitz | coffee | consulting | continuous flow | continuous improvement | defects | do it right the first time | kanban | lean | level load | operations | optimization | principles | process | pull | scheduling | six sigma | small business | sports | standardized | total productive maintenance | toyota way | tpm | visual control | waiting | work | workload We’ve finally gotten through all 14 principles from The Toyota Way and what each of them can mean for business operations. But putting them all together can be a challenge, …Continue reading →

The Filth and Disgusting Health Behaviors at Wrigley Field TAGS: 5S | baseball | big league stew | blitz | blog | chicago cubs | cleaning | concessions | consulting | disdain | disgusting | documentation | espn | everywhere | facilities | fan | feces | field | filth | filthy | five whys | gross | hands | health | indiana | inspector | issues | lean | maintenance | major league baseball | management | opening day | operating | operations | playbook | procedures | process | root cause analysis | set in order | shine | sort | sports | stadium | standardize | standards | strategy | sun-times | sustain | tpm | training | ufe | ufe.com | upkeep | urine | visual | wash | with leather | wrigley | yahoo sports I came across this little op-ed piece on ESPN.com’s Playbook about Wrigley Field being the grossest sports stadium in the four major North American sports leagues, sharing a little bit …Continue reading →

The Hassle of Rolling Loose Change TAGS: accuracy | augusta | bank of america | banking | branch | break | change | coins | coinstar | columbia | count | dime | efficiency | error-proofing | fee | georgia | lean blitz | lean blitz consulting | loose | machines | maintenance | nickel | operations | penny | poka-yoke | process | quarter | sleeves | south carolina | sports | teller | time savings Rolling loose change is a pretty annoying practice. It’s extremely time consuming, to the point that I simply collect coins in a large tin (or large plastic Coke bottle bank) …Continue reading →

Using Toyota Way Principle #8 on Everyday Technology TAGS: a6 | audi | blackberry | blitz | box | capability | capacity | car | cell | consulting | cost of ownership | curve | droid | economy | fuel | glass | htc | iphone | lean | lg | logo | maintenance | motorola | nokia | operations | otter | palm | people | phone | principle | prioritize | priority | process | purchase | purpose | quattro | reliability | repair | six sigma | specialized | sports | technology | test | tested | toyota | treo | upkeep | vehicle | way (This is a continuation of a series of posts reviewing the principles of The Toyota Way.) As previously mentioned, the eighth principle from The Toyota Way states: “Use only reliable, …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #5: Stopping to Fix Problems TAGS: better | blitz | broken | car | cheaper | culture | easier | five | fix | lean | light | operations | principle | problems | process | repair | six sigma | sports | tail | tape | temporary | toyota | way It really pains me to see cars tape up body fixtures like broken tail lights. It looks so tacky AND fails to provide suitable coverage and protection. Sure, it’s a …Continue reading →

Lean Tools: TPM and Computer Maintenance Tips from Lifehacker TAGS: adapter | blitz | computer | critical | defrag | defragment | dell | graduate school | hardware | lean | lifehacker | microsoft | office | operations | outlet | process | replacement | slow | slowdown | software | sports | tools | total productive maintenance | virus scan | wireless How often do you get frustrated by a seemingly-young computer that becomes inflicted with chronic slowness? Do you own a computer that you anticipate replacing after three or less years …Continue reading →

Lean Oops! – Broken Truck Window TAGS: blitz | broken | cost | elements | eradicate | fix | lean | oops | operations | patchwork | plate | processes | safety | savings | sports | steel | there i fixed it | tim horton's | truck | window I was greeted by this “There, I Fixed It” in a Tim Horton’s parking lot in late 2011, most definitely a modified steel plate cover for a broken window. This …Continue reading →

Oh No! Wastes! Now What Do I Do?: The Lean Tools Primer TAGS: anomalies | batching | beer can | beer cart | blitz | changeover | disk defragmenter | error-proofing | fire extinguisher | gatorade | golf | lean | operations | point of use storage | poka-yoke | process map | processes | real-time | sandwiches | set in order | setup reduction | shadowboard | shine | sidekick | signs | smed | sort | sports | standardize | straighten | superhero | supermarket | sustain | tpm | value stream management | virus scan | visual factory | waste | work instruction All this time we’ve talked about the lean wastes. The problems. The money we’re throwing away. The time we’ve spent poorly. And now we’ve gone out and identified them. Excess motion. …Continue reading →

Case Study: University of Notre Dame Football Locker Room “Deep Clean” TAGS: 5S | autonomous management | basic conditions | bcs championship | boston college | bowl game | brian kelly | captain | cleaning | continuous improvement | deep clean | espn | flu | football | harrison smith | head coach | infected | irish | kitchen | lean | locker room | notre dame stadium | processes | standards | stephon tuitt | tpm | university of notre dame | wastes | weight room While this is slightly old news now that the college football season comes to a close tonight with the BCS Championship Game, the University of Notre Dame football team experienced …Continue reading →

8 Wastes – Waiting TAGS: cleaning | concession stand | efficiency | kanban | labor balancing | lean | lean wastes | machine downtime | preventative maintenance | sales associates | standardized work | time studies | waiting (This is the third in a series of deeper dives into the 8 lean wastes.) We’ve all seen operators of a concession stand or sales associates on the floor of …Continue reading →