Guest Post: A Clown Post About Bryce Harper and Warnings TAGS: alamodome | bryce harper | chavez ravine | consulting | lean | lean blitz | leanblog | mark graban | operations | outfield | process | sports | stitches | wall | warning track | washington nationals Today we have another guest post, this time from fellow blogger Mark Graban of LeanBlog.org, one of the top-read blogs about Lean today. Mark is a Lean consultant in healthcare …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 →

The #2013 Masters: On-Site Logistics and Materials Supply TAGS: 2013 | aesthetics | augusta national golf club | box trucks | customer experience | excess motion | golf carts | inventory | lean | lean blitz consulting | logistics | material handling | operations | process | sports | stockouts | temporary | the masters | transportation | waiting | warehousing | wastes | water spider 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. Augusta National …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 →

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 →

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 →

Brazil Nightclub Fire and Disaster Prevention TAGS: brazil | cbs news | courtney | courtney khondabi | disaster | emergency exits | fire | fire extinguisher | khondabi | kiss | lean blitz consulting | night club | pyrotechnics | smoke   Wow. A horrendous nightclub fire in Brazil has left 230+ patrons dead. This is a complete disaster and horrible situation. My thoughts go out to the victims and their …Continue reading →

Ray Chapman, Carl Mays, and Baseball Safety TAGS: babe ruth | baseball | blitz | carl mays | cleveland indians | consulting | continuous improvement | fatality | lean | new york yankees | operations | process | ray chapman | six sigma | sports On August 16, 1920, Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch from New York Yankees pitcher Carl Mays. Bleeding profusely, he walked off the …Continue reading →

Tailgating at the 2013 BCS National Championship in Miami TAGS: 2013 | alabama | bcs | blitz | cell | championship | consulting | continuous improvement | disaster | discover | five whys | florida | football | lean | logistics | lot | miami | notre dame | operations | parking | porta-potty | process | service | six sigma | sports | sun life stadium | tower | trash | verizon | waiting | waste It’s been a week since my beloved Irish were convincingly thwarted in their effort to win their first college football national championship since the Reagan administration, so I feel I …Continue reading →

FMEA and College Basketball Games on Aircraft Carriers TAGS: aircraft | ambient | analysis | barack | basketball | blitz | california | carrier | charleston | consulting | continuous improvement | court | design | detection | dfmea | effects | espn | failure | fema | florida | fmea | georgetown | jacksonville | lean | marquette | michigan state | mode | moisture | myron medcalf | ncaa | noise | north carolina | notre dame | number | obama | occurrence | ohio state | operations | pfmea | president | priority | process | product | rain | risk | rpn | safety | san diego | san diego state | severity | six sigma | south carolina | sports | syracuse | temperature | university of florida | uss yorktown | winds A really novel concept – a regular season college basketball game played between high-profile teams outdoors on an aircraft carrier – was introduced last season. It really couldn’t have gone …Continue reading →

The High Cost of Penny Production TAGS: 26 | augusta | blitz | cent | chemistry | consulting | continuous | copper | costs | currency | georgia | improvement | lean | liz hill | mint | molten | nbc | nickel | operations | penny | process | processes | production | reduce | six sigma | sports | treasury | united states | value | zinc In recent years I’ve heard rumors that the production costs and materials of a penny are greater than the value of the penny itself. In high school chemistry I recall …Continue reading →

The Filth and Disgusting Health Behaviors at Wrigley Field TAGS: 5S | baseball | big league stew | blitz | blog | chicago cubs | cleaning | concessions | consulting | disdain | disgusting | documentation | espn | everywhere | facilities | fan | feces | field | filth | filthy | five whys | gross | hands | health | indiana | inspector | issues | lean | maintenance | major league baseball | management | opening day | operating | operations | playbook | procedures | process | root cause analysis | set in order | shine | sort | sports | stadium | standardize | standards | strategy | sun-times | sustain | tpm | training | ufe | ufe.com | upkeep | urine | visual | wash | with leather | wrigley | yahoo sports I came across this little op-ed piece on ESPN.com’s Playbook about Wrigley Field being the grossest sports stadium in the four major North American sports leagues, sharing a little bit …Continue reading →

What Is Standardized Work (And What Is It Not)? TAGS: a lean journey | beyond lean | blitz | christian paulsen | consulting | kaizen | lean | lean enterprise institute | leanblog | management | mark graban | matt wrye | operations | process | six sigma | small business | sports | standardized process | standardized work | stopwatch | teamwork | tim mcmahon | training | training within industry | velaction | work instruction As this House of Lean diagram shows, the foundation is built on 5S, visual controls, and plant or facility layout. (I tend to lump 5S and layout together because setting …Continue reading →

Lean is Safety TAGS: 5S | accident | acknowledge | address | anomaly | behavior | businessdictionary.com | continuous improvement | danger | environment | ergonomics | excess | harm | identify | inventory | leak | lean | lean blitz consulting | loss | motion | muda | mura | muri | overproduction | personnel | property | risk | safety | set in order | shine | slippery when wet | sort | standardization | standardize | straighten | strain | sustain | threat | transportation | unsafe | wastes | water | work First, let’s understand the concept of safety. Safety is defined as “relative freedom from danger, risk, or threat of harm, injury, or loss to personnel and/or property, whether caused deliberately or by accident” as per BusinessDictionary.com. So being in a safe situation …Continue reading →