Long Lead Times on Johnny Football Texas A&M Jerseys TAGS: 2 | adidas | aggie | aggies | blitz | bulk | college | consulting | continuous improvement | darren | espn | flexibility | football | jersey | johnny | late | lean | lsu | major league baseball | manziel | margins | mlb | national football league | nfl | nickname | operations | optimization | ordering | overseas | process | revenue driver | rovell | shipping | six sigma | sports | texas a&m Texas A&M’s redshirt freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel has certainly earned his nickname “Johnny Football” for both his passing and running abilities in leading his school to a solid season of …Continue reading →

Entries from the Lean Memes Contest TAGS: 5 whys | 5S | aliya mustafina | allie brosh | approach | asian father | bad | batman | but we've always done it this way | catch careers | cheezburger | christina kach | consulting | contest | continuous improvement | cousin | creepy little girl | dating site | detect | eel | employee | execution | first world problems | five whys | fonzie | graban | gymnast | half | happy cat | high expectations | hyperbole | improvement | jidoka | kaizen event | key | koala | lame joke | lame pun raccoon | lean | lean blitz | leanblog | leanmemes | manufacturing lines | mark | meme | memegenerator | memes | moa | moar | murderer | olympics | operations | overly attached girlfriend | pdca | pdsa | phone | plan do check act | plan do study adjust | point of use storage | poka-yoke | priest | priorities | process | quickmeme | root cause analysis | safety | set in order | seven | shine | shotgun approach | signal | six sigma | sort | soviet russia | suggestion box | utility belt | value stream management Lean consultant, author, and notable public speaker Mark Graban of LeanBlog.org has started a web collection of Lean-related memes at Lean Memes. He’s hosting a contest for his readers to …Continue reading →

A Lamborghini & Process vs. System TAGS: activities | adding | blitz | bolster | capabilities | consulting | continuous | difference | driving | fancy | flow | gold | hammer | improvement | information | lamborghini | lean | management | metaphor | operations | optimization | optimize | procedures | process | productivity | scenarios | significant | six sigma | sports | subaru | success | system | tools | value | waste | wheel I have encountered multiple scenarios in my career where upper management was under the impression that putting in fancy new systems and technology would dramatically boost productivity and the quickness …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #8 and Implementing Technology that Helps TAGS: activities | blitz | client | computer | consulting | current | director | expectation | future | identification | lean | manager | manual | map | mapping | money | note | operations | optimize | people | post-it | principle | process | projects | provider | requirement | resource | risk | serve | six sigma | solution | sports | state | technology | time | time study | toyota | waste | way One of my current clients has a two-pronged plan for improving a process that is absorbing a lot of resources (people, time, risk, money). The first prong is to optimize …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #8: Use The Proper Technology TAGS: activity | at&t | automotive | blackberry | blitz | cell | data | droid | enhance | flip | functions | humans | improve | industry | iphone | lean | medical | operations | phone | principle | process | productivity | robots | service | six sigma | sports | sprint | technology | text | toyota way | verizon | voice | waste (This is a continuation of a series of posts on the principles of The Toyota Way.) Technological advancements over the years have been a part of many breakthrough process improvements. …Continue reading →

Rushed Orders at Louisville Slugger TAGS: bats | blitz | deliveries | late | lean | louisville | manufacturing | mapping | neshek | norfolk | on-time | operations | orders | pat | pitcher | process | rush | six sigma | slugger | sports | tides | waste Norfolk Tides pitcher Pat Neshek took a tour of the Louisville Slugger factory while on a road trip and he shared this tweet and photo: Hopefully rushed customer requests happen …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #4: Level Out the Workload TAGS: balanced | blitz | continuous | demand | faster | flexible | flow | fluctuate | harder | hare | haste makes waste | individual | kanban | lean | operations | principle | process | pull | race | resources | six sigma | slow | sports | steady | steps | strategies | tortoise | toyota way | wins | workforce | workload (This is the fifth post in a series about the 14 Principles of The Toyota Way.) As previously stated, the ideal process will have implemented continuous flow featuring time-balanced process …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 →