Pittsburgh Pirates and Poor Security Planning and Deployment TAGS: baseball | consulting | debut | edward | gerrit cole | lean | lean blitz | major league | mediocrity | nsa | operations | pirates | pittsburgh | pnc park | process | rob neyer | security | snowden | sports | time studies | understaffed | value stream mapping | wanding Last week the Pirates’ #1 pitching prospect Gerrit Cole made his MLB debut, and for a franchise that has been mired in mediocrity longer than this year’s crop of incoming …Continue reading →

Use of #Lean in Home Theater Installations TAGS: 5S | big screen | cabinet | clutter | coax | components | consulting | continuous improvement | defects | directv | dish | home | installation | installer | internet | inventory | kanban | lean | lean blitz | network | rack | satellite | scheduling | six sigma | stereo | system | television | theater | theatre | transportation | van | variation | wires During a summer in my younger years I was a tag-along for a company that would install home theater systems. We would install big screen televisions on walls, stereos and …Continue reading →

Gold’s Gym and a Failure in Quality TAGS: arms | asq | bad | cardio | consulting | core | customer | equipment | exercise | expectations | gold's gym | influential voices | lean | lean blitz | legs | machines | north augusta | plan | quality | south carolina | trainer | workout I’m essentially clueless about physical training. There’s a lot I need to change about my overall physical fitness. I’m a semi-healthy eater when I’m at home, but when it comes …Continue reading →

What is Quality? TAGS: asq | availability | consulting | defects | fitness for use | juran | lean | lean blitz | logo | philip crosby | quality | quality digest | rolex | sam houston state | timepiece | value | watch Because there are quite a few new readers of the Lean Blitz Blog (after the Masters pin flag giveaway and ASQ Influential Voices program participation both boosted viewership and subscribers) …Continue reading →

Lean Blitz Joins the ASQ Influential Voices TAGS: a lean journey | american society for quality | asq | blog | consulting | influential | john priebe | lean | lean blitz | lean blog | mark graban | memorial day | nicole radziwill | paul borawski | quality | sports | tim mcmahon | voices I first started blogging about Lean and quality in late 2011. As I dug into multiple topics – values, activities, tools, applications – I began referencing content and insights from …Continue reading →

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 →

The @ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement #WCQI13 TAGS: american | asq | audi | center | conference | consulting | convention | dallas | giveaways | improvement | indiana | indianapolis | innovation | international team excellence award | itea | karen martin | lean | lean blitz | malcolm baldrige | mark graban | podcast | quality | quality of life | sally hogshead | shingo | society | sports | swag | the outstanding organization | trade show | world | young quality professionals | yqp The ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement closed last Wednesday and now that I’m finally back I’m going to cover some of the things I saw and experienced. ~~~~~~~ …Continue reading →

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 →

2013 @ASQ World Conference on #Quality and Improvement in Indianapolis – #WCQI13 TAGS: american society for quality | asq | chad walters | indiana convention center | indianapolis | international team excellence awards | itea | lean | lean blitz consulting | sports | wcqi | wcqi13 Greetings from Indianapolis! The American Society for Quality (ASQ) is holding the 2013 World Conference on Quality and Improvement at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, and I am in …Continue reading →

Customer Value is the Primary Goal of #Lean – Never Forget It TAGS: cleanliness | consulting | continuous | cost savings | customer | improvement | lean | lean blitz | mia | national league of families | pow | pow-mia | processes | six sigma | start | value The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia was initiated by an uprising of servicemen’s families during the Vietnam War who demanded that action be taken …Continue reading →

The 2013 #Masters: Use of Temporary Labor TAGS: augusta | birth of a new workforce | club | concessions | core | critical | golf | golf shop | labor | lean | lean blitz consulting | masters | mau | national | noncore | randy hatcher | securitas | security | staffing | temporary Masters Week has finally come and gone! All of the golf world descended upon Augusta, Georgia for April 8-14 for the 2013 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Now …Continue reading →

The 2013 #Masters: Low Scores and Standardized Work TAGS: albatross | augusta national | clubs | continuous improvement | golf | golf club | history | kaizen | lean | lean blitz consulting | louis oosthuizen | masters | operations | par | process | sports | standardized work | streamline | takt time | tiger woods Masters Week is finally here! All of the golf world has descended upon Augusta, Georgia for April 8-14 for the 2013 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Last year …Continue reading →

The 2013 #Masters: Coaching Is Auditing AND Facilitating Improvement TAGS: audit | auditing | augusta national golf club | benefit | coach | coaching | continuous improvement | georgia | improvement | lean blitz consulting | masters | operations | process | project | punitive | quality | sports | standards | zach johnson | zack johnson Masters Week is finally here! All of the golf world has descended upon Augusta, Georgia for April 8-14 for the 2013 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. The Masters …Continue reading →

The 2013 #Masters: Visual Indicators TAGS: 2013 | augusta | closest to the pin | concessions | consulting | controls | golf | hole in one | honey bees | indicators | information | leaderboard | lean blitz | masters | national | nick watney | operations | par 3 contest | process | scoreboards | sports | timers | visual Masters Week is finally here! All of the golf world has descended upon Augusta, Georgia for April 8-14 for the 2013 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Visual …Continue reading →

Will MLB Show Little “Respect For People” By Eliminating Non-Uniformed Personnel Pension Plans? TAGS: ballpark | baseball | continuous improvement | craig calcaterra | customer experience | cut | dollar foolish | employees | enterprise | espnnewyork | executives | hardball talk | industry | lean | lean blitz consulting | major league baseball | minor league baseball | mlb | nbcsports | non-uniformed | operations | pennywise | pension | pension plans | process | respect for people | six sigma | sponsorships | sports | ticketing | waste reduction The two pillars of Lean are 1) reduction of waste activities and 2) respect for people. Some of the ways organizations respect their constituents are with fairness, sharing of best …Continue reading →