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 →

Was Elvis Dumervil a Victim of Bad Process, Bad Technology, or Both? TAGS: agent | broncos | contract | defensive end | demaurice smith | denver | denver post | dumervil | elvis | espn | fax machine | lean blitz consulting | magid | mike klis | national letter of intent | nfl | nflpa | operations | overprocessing | photo | process | scholarship | sports | technology | video | waiting In one of the quirkiest NFL contract-related events, we present to you new accidental free agent defensive end Elvis Dumervil, formerly of the Denver Broncos. Dumervil, under contract with the …Continue reading →

Punxsutawney Phil and Measuring the Wrong Things TAGS: 5S | causation | combine | consulting | continuous improvement | correlation | day | draft | groundhog | indicators | lean blitz | manti te'o | measure | nfl | operations | overprocessing | pennsylvania | process | punxsutawney phil | react | scouting | six sigma | sports | standardized work | tom brady | visual   Every February 2nd Americans gear up for the grand indicator of how much longer winter will be with us – by checking in with a groundhog in Pennsylvania about …Continue reading →

2013 BCS National Championship and Silly Rules About Parking TAGS: 2013 | alabama | bcs | blitz | championship | college | consulting | continuous improvement | crimson tide | discover | florida | football | game | irish | lean | miami | national | notre dame | operations | overprocessing | parking | pass | process | radio | rules | six sigma | sports | sun life stadium | tailgate | traffic | will call As a lifelong lover of all things Notre Dame (for example, using them as examples in previous articles), I cannot put into words my level of excitement for the 2013 …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 →

If You Don’t Have Standardized Processes You’re Wasting Money TAGS: best | blitz | concession stand | conditions | difference | labor | lean | manufacturing | margin | operations | practices | principle | process | processes | savings | six sigma | sports | standard | standardized | studies | time | toy | toyota | waste | wasteful | way | work That’s a very bold proclamation, but it’s true. It applies to every type of process – manufacturing toys, cooking burgers, coding medical charts, delivering mail, checking a customer out at …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 →

Questionable Sign Usage & Moving Trucks TAGS: accommodate | area | blitz | cargo | fix | handle | help | lean | moving | operations | process | service | sign | six sigma | sports | sticker | stupid | truck A couple of weeks ago I posted about the process of moving south and sorting through belongings during packing and loading. I came across something that really stuck out to …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 →

Production of Baseball Bats – From Forest to Field TAGS: bat | blitz | business | chainsaw | cut | effort | felled | finish | florida | hanley | human | inconsistency | inventory | kentucky | lathe | lean | louisville | manufacture | miami | motion | operations | pennsylvania | plant | process | quality | queue | ramirez | six sigma | slugger | sports | sticks | transportation | tree | trim | trucks | warren | waste As a follow-up to the video about the production process for baseballs, Mark Graban of LeanBlog.org passed along this ESPN video about how baseball bats are made. Forest to Field …Continue reading →

Manufacturing Process of Baseballs TAGS: adhesive | baseball | blitz | center | core | cork | errors | lean | leather | lifting | machine | manufacturing | motion | neyer | operations | overseas | pill | poka-yoke | poly | process | rawlings | rob | rubber | sbnation | sew | six sigma | stamping | standardized | stitching | video | waste | weight | wool | yarn This is a great video on how baseballs are manufactured. So how many wasteful activities did you spot in the process? Here are some things I saw (obviously not comprehensive): …Continue reading →

Overprocessing Example: Protective Bags TAGS: bags | blitz | customer | end customer | flash | injection molding | knots | lean | muda | operations | overprocessing | plastic | processes | scrapes | scuffs | shipment | six sigma | sports | steps | thomson plastics | tickets | undo | wastes As a quick refresher, the lean waste overprocessing is the application of extra work, process steps, or effort than is required by the end customer. Sometimes “going the extra mile” …Continue reading →

Spotting Waste at the Stadium: Concessions TAGS: concession stand | defects | excess motion | hot dogs | inventory | lean | lean blitz | operations | overprocessing | overproduction | pop | popcorn | processes | production | scrap | six sigma | soda | sports | transportation | trash | waiting | waste So now we’ve identified the eight lean wastes and dug deeper into what kinds of havoc they can wreak on resources. Let’s go see if we can find these wastes …Continue reading →

Finding Waste at the Stadium: Guest Blog Post for LeanBlog.org TAGS: eight lean wastes | guest | healthcare | lean | lean blitz | leanblog.org | mark graban | stadium | waste I provided a guest blog post on finding the eight lean wastes at stadiums for Mark Graban at LeanBlog.org. Give it a read here! Mark is a well-respected author, speaker, …Continue reading →

8 Wastes – Overprocessing TAGS: bathroom | buff | candy bar | custodian | envelope | food | fortify | groundskeeper | hair | hot dogs | lean | manipulate | mickey mouse | natural | overprocessing | overzealous | packaging | paint | painting | security software | shine | spam | stadium | standardized work | t-shirt | ticket | ticket sales | walt disney world (This is the second in a series of deeper dives into the 8 lean wastes.) “Overprocessing” in the food world refers to the continual changing/adding/fortifying/manipulating of materials that takes it …Continue reading →