What Your #Mother Can Teach You About #Lean TAGS: 5S | behavior | chad | clean | consulting | family | lean | lean blitz | management | may | mother's day | organize | quality | reward | safety | time studies | tools | visual | walters Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out in the world – if it wasn’t for your mother, you wouldn’t be here to read this. It’s an understatement that my …Continue reading →

Where I Got My Start In Lean (and Sports) TAGS: automotive industry | autonomous management | consulting | continuous improvement | dannon | dr. robert jacobs | eaton corporation | engineer | georgia | indiana university | kaizen | kelley school of business | l.a.m.e. | lean | lean as misguidedly executed | lean blitz | lean in name only | mark fougerousse | ohio | operations | optimization | plastic engineering technical services | pontiac coil | problem solving | process | root cause analysis | sandy cutler | six sigma | solving efeso | south carolina | sports | thomson plastics | tri-state university | trine | wastes I don’t often get to tell my story of how I got started with Lean, but more frequently I’m asked about how I’ve gotten into and what I’m doing with …Continue reading →

Long Overdue Thank-Yous TAGS: augusta | baseball | blitz | consulting | continuous improvement | dayton | georgia | lean | ohio | operations | process | six sigma | sports | thanks With 2012 winding down, there are a few key posts I’d like to share before we flip the calendar to 2013. This first one is to recognize (just about) everyone …Continue reading →

Happy Thanksgiving! TAGS: blitz | consulting | heartfelt | holiday | lean | military | operations | process | sports | thanksgiving | turkey November 2012 is the one-year anniversary of Lean Blitz. Kicked off in Ohio and relocated to Augusta, Georgia, there is a lot for which to be thankful over the last …Continue reading →

What Endurance Running Can Teach Us About Lean TAGS: 5k | 5S | act | audit | bright | check | continuous improvement | control | couch | cycle time | dayton ohio | discipline | distance | do | endurance | excess | flashlight | goals | high school | inventory | lean | lean blitz consulting | lofty | maintaine | motion | motivate | motivation | operations | osha | pdca | plan | process | progress | race | run | running | s.m.a.r.t. goal | safe | safety | soreness | sports | sprint | success | susie stein | system | template | training | troy ohio | up and running | visual indicator | waste reduction | weight loss | win | wins Many moons ago, I was a distance runner. I ran cross country in high school my junior and senior years, each race being a 5K. After starting out as a …Continue reading →

What P90X and Lean Have in Common TAGS: 90 days | blitz | change | common sense | consulting | continuous improvement | difficult | doctor | efficiency | expert | fix | flip | hard | implement | improvement | infomercial | input | intense | lean | leaner | loss | magic pill | management | operations | optimization | output | p90x | pain | philosophy | problem | process | quick | quick fix | reduction | regimen | results | sigma | six | skeptical | solve | sports | sustain | switch | systems | testimonial | waste | weight We’ve all seen the infomercials. (Or have you? Maybe I need to minimize my late-night television viewing.) P90X is the relatively new home workout philosophy that consists of a training regimen …Continue reading →

Safety, Common Sense, Product Recalls, and Poor Lennox TAGS: agenda | ambiguity | ants | belfast | bison | blitz | blog | bulldog | celebrity | city | cogburn | common | company | consulting | council | diamond | dna | dog | dog warden | domestic | educate | evidence | facebook | facts | feelings | food | foods | foster | french | gaston | gray area | high prairie | honest | huans | humanity | humans | judgment | labrador | lean | legal | lennox | life | lot number | manufacturing | matchbox | minimize | neutral | northern ireland | notice | objectivity | observations | operations | opinions | outbreak | page | pet | peter | petition | philosophy | pink slime | politics | process | processing | production | puppy | recall | relate | rescue | resemble | rob | robinson | rooster | safety | salmonella | save | sense | six sigma | south carolina | spiteful | sports | stillwell | stilwell | subjectivity | supercede | supply | system | taste of the wild | thomas | toyota | tractor | twenty | twitter | venison | victoria | way Through sharing of ideas and content in the Lean Blitz blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter, I do my best to follow some guiding principles and philosophies – present facts …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 →

Visual Management and Strawberry Jam TAGS: auction | blitz | blog | charity | colored | donate | dots | draft | ebay | first | graban | jam | jars | jelly | lean | leanblog | lukas | management | mark | nfl | operations | paul | pectin | post | process | programming | retweet | round | six sigma | sports | stage | strawberry | sugar | thursday | twitter | uni-watch | visual Every couple of years my mother and I get together to make batches of strawberry jam. She’s made freezer jams for as long as I’ve been alive, and since I’ve …Continue reading →

State of the Lean Blitz Blog: April 2012 TAGS: activities | alignment | apparel | atlanta | audience | augusta | baseball | baseball winter meetings | basketball | bat | ben hill | blitz | blue | braun | braves | championship | club | cnbc.com | columbus | comments | communication | concessions | consultants | continuous | customer | darren rovell | david schoenfield | dayton | e-book | elmore | email | espn.com | experience | facebook | five whys | followers | football | georgia | giveaway | golf | google | greenjackets | group | hot dog | improvement | jackets | jersey | knowledge | lean | locker room | manufacturing | mascot | masters | merchandise | minor league | moneyball | movie | national | ncaa | notre dame | ohio | operations | pin flag | plus | principles | process | questions | respond | ryan | satisfaction | season | service | seth godin | silver hawks | six sigma | sneezers | Soccer | south bend | sports | sportsbiz | steroids | subscribers | subscriptions | sweetspot | t-shirt | tools | tournament | toyota way | twitter | waste | wastes I figured that since the blog is between 5-6 months old now that I provide a “state of the blog” address – what has changed since the blog first kicked …Continue reading →

S.M.A.R.T. Goal Update TAGS: 5S | augusta | blitz | books | dayton | deck chair | desk | entertainment center | french bulldog | georgia | goals | goodwill | kitchen | lean | moving | ohio | operations | process | refrigerator | relocation | rooster | s.m.a.r.t. | six sigma | smart | sort | sports | television | u-shaped | weed trimmer | weights Back in January I provided a definition to S.M.A.R.T. goals and also shared a few examples I have for myself. One of those goals is reducing the amount of “stuff” …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 →

The Five Whys Analysis TAGS: doctor | five whys | illness | lean | lean blitz | mice | misdiagnosis | mouse | problem | root cause analysis | solution | treatment | waste | why Root-cause analysis is a fancy and concise way to say “figure out the real reason something happened.” When bad or unexpected events occur, we want to know what caused it …Continue reading →

Goal Setting: Additional Information from Lifehacker TAGS: achievable | lean | lifehacker | measurable | personal | realistic | resolutions | s.m.a.r.t. goals | specific | time-based Part of the reason I felt it best to step away from posting specific “Lean in personal life” content is because Lifehacker does it so dang well. Lots of authors …Continue reading →

S.M.A.R.T. Goal Example #3 – Reducing “Stuff” TAGS: 5S | achievable | cd | christmas cards | dvd | excess inventory | furniture | goodwill | lean | leather couch | measurable | recycling | s.m.a.r.t. goals | shirts | specific | tax deduction | time-based | wardrobe | waste (This is the third in a series of posts on S.M.A.R.T. goals and their benefits.) One “unusual” goal I set for myself is based on ridding myself of items that …Continue reading →