Team Websites Facilitate the Sales Process TAGS: augusta | baseball | broken | consulting | continuous improvement | funnel | greenjackets | lean | lean blitz | minor league | phone number | process | sales | sports | website | yellow pages Lean is the operational management philosophy about providing exactly what the client wants, when they want it, and in the condition/location where they want it, all while doing it as …Continue reading →

#EarthDay 2013 and Conservation of Resources TAGS: 2013 | baseball | conservation | consulting | earth day | hot dogs | inventory | lean | lean blitz | operations | sourcing | sports | strategic | transportation | waiting Today is Earth Day 2013, and the Earth Day mission is to promote actions toward environmental protection and conservation. The focus of Earth Day 2013 is The Face of Climate Change. …Continue reading →

Baseball Opening Day 2013! What Are Our Business Processes? TAGS: atv | augusta greenjackets | business | concessions | facility | houston astros | lean blitz consulting | maintenance | major league baseball | mascot | opening day | processes | promotions | texas rangers | tickets Baseball Opening Day has arrived! Tonight the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers will throw out the first pitch of the 2013 MLB season. Banners will be unfurled, famous dignitaries will …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 →

Additional Notes on Efficiency TAGS: baseball reference | billy beane | boston red sox | continuous improvement | defects | dpmo | efficiency | energy conservation | field goal percentage | hall of fame | hoosiers | hr | indiana university | lean blitz | lean blitz consulting | lebron james | mcdonald's | miami heat | moneyball | obp | on base percentage | operations | paul depodesta | process | productivity | rbi | six sigma | sports | ted williams | victor oladipo On Monday we looked at efficiency with field goal shooting percentages for Indiana’s Victor Oladipo and the Miami Heat’s LeBron James as well as points-per-possession efficiency on offense and defense …Continue reading →

LeBron James, Indiana Hoosiers, and Efficiency TAGS: consulting | efficiency | indiana university | lean blitz | lebron james | miami heat | operations | points per possession | process | six sigma | sports | victor oladipo There’s a new Lean-related blog out on the interwebs about math calculations as they relate to Lean. The blog? LeanMath.com. They’re working on putting easy-to-understand spins on some less-than-obvious definitions …Continue reading →

LASIK, Eyeglasses, and Eradication vs. Containment TAGS: autonomous management | baseball | bouncy pit | concession | contact lenses | contain | eradicate | eyes | fun zone | glasses | injection molding | kaizen | lasik | lean blitz | oil dry | operations | pa system | problem | process | root cause analysis | six sigma | solving | sports | stand | standardized work The most common types of vision correction solutions are eyeglasses and contact lenses. They compensate for the inability to properly focus our eye’s internal tissues comfortably by providing additional focal …Continue reading →

Why Overpurchasing Is Wasteful TAGS: baseball winter meetings | batch | bulk | china | concession | consulting | continuous improvement | dayton | defects | discounts | excess | hats | inventory | lean | lean blitz | liquid assets | merchandise | motion | operations | overpurchasing | process | production | promotions | purchasing | safety | shipping | six sigma | sports | stand | transportation | up and running | wastes It’s very easy to get caught up in volume discounts – buy more at one time or buy earlier, and we’ll give you a price break on each piece. It …Continue reading →

Daytona International Speedway and “Our Safety Protocols Worked” TAGS: car | consulting | crash | daytona | emergency | error-proof | fence | incident | joie chitwood | kyle larson | lean blitz | nascar | nationwide | officials | operations | preventive | process | protocols | race | racing | reactive | safety | sports Yesterday’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway was marred by a final lap pileup of cars sprinting to the finish line. One of those cars, driven by #34 Kyle …Continue reading →

Could the Super Bowl Power Outage Have Been Prevented? TAGS: asq | baltimore | beyonce | blackout | continuous improvement | failure modes effects analysis | fmea | football | game | grid | halftime | john priebe | lean blitz consulting | national football league | nfl | operations | outage | power | prevention | problem solving | process | ravens | root cause analysis | san francisco 49ers | six sigma | sports | super bowl | superdome We’ve all been watching the stories fly in over the last 24-36 hours about the power outage at the Superdome during the Super Bowl, so that won’t get rehashed here. …Continue reading →

Defects and the 404 Page TAGS: 404 | 404'd | blitz | broken bat | consulting | continuous improvement | feedback | five whys | lean | operations | process | renny gleeson | root cause analysis | six sigma | sports | talk | ted Last week at the TEDxColumbiaSC event we got to watch the TED Talk video from Renny Gleeson on web sites’ 404 pages. This video got me thinking, as both a …Continue reading →

Want Your Colleagues To Do A Good Job? Show Them What A Good Job Looks Like. TAGS: american society for quality | assembly | blitz | borat | communication | consulting | continuous improvement | control | customer | customer requirements | design for six sigma | do it right the first time | good job | if you don't have time to do it right | instruction | lean | manager | operations | picture | process | quality | quality function deployment | reports | six sigma | visual | work instruction It’s a situation I’ve encountered many, many times in my career – a manager or colleague requesting a project be completed or task finished without me knowing enough about how …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 →

Voting Booth Machine Defective!! TAGS: 2012 | barack | blitz | broken | consulting | defect | election | error | lean | machine | mitt | obama | operations | poll | president | process | romney | six sigma | sports | touch screen | vote | voting | waste Yesterday a video was posted online of someone trying to use the electronic voting booth machine with some potential unintended consequences.   That could be a big problem. Of course, …Continue reading →

NFL Replacement Officials and Quality Defects TAGS: aaron rodgers | blitz | consulting | errors | football | golden tate | green bay packers | hail mary | judgment | lean | lockout | monday night football | national football league | nfl | principle | replacement | roger goodell | russell wilson | seattle seahawks | stop to fix problems | strike | the toyota way Principle #5 from The Toyota Way states “Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.” Through three weeks of the NFL football season …Continue reading →