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 →

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 →

#Kaizen & The Leaky Rowboat TAGS: address | boat | consulting | continuous improvement | eradicate | event | far side | ignore | kaizen | leaky | lean blitz | mindset | operations | problems | row | sports | stopgap You’re in a rowboat that has sprung a leak and is taking in water. You’re rowing to shore but a couple miles away. What are your options? – You can …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 →

Where I Got My Start In Lean (And Sports) – Part 2 TAGS: album | atlanta braves | colorado springs sky sox | concert | concession stand | consulting | continuous | derek schiller | detroit | eaton corporation | elmore sports group | engineer | improvement | indiana university | kelley mba | lean blitz | mascot | mike plant | operations | process | san antonio missions | silver hawks | south bend | sports | sports & entertainment academy | swoop | time study | web (To see Part 1 of Where I Got My Start In Lean click here. This is Part 2.) As I indicated in the prior post, I ended up in both …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 →

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 →

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 →

Tyrannosaurus Rex = Problem Solver TAGS: continuous improvement | dinosaur | gary larson | grabber | illustration | kaizen | lean blitz consulting | problem solving | simple | the far side | trick | tyrannosaurus rex | unstoppable It was the biggest joke pulled on one of the fiercest dinosaurs. Obviously the Tyrannosaurus Rex species did just fine without the assistance of long arms, but it certainly made …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 →

A Visit to TEDxColumbiaSC TAGS: blitz | columbia | consulting | continuous improvement | global | grumpy cat | ideas | lean | non-profit | operations | process | sharing | six sigma | south carolina | speakers | sports | spreading | technology | ted | ted conference | ted talks | tedx | tedxcolumbiasc | worth I had the great thrill of attending the TEDx event TEDxColumbiaSC on Monday. For those of you unfamiliar, TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design) is a non-profit organization …Continue reading →

Kicking Off 2013 with S.M.A.R.T. Goals TAGS: achievable | blitz | blog | consulting | continuous improvement | goal | lean | measurable | operations | process | relevant | s.m.a.r.t. | six sigma | smart | smart goals | specific | sports | time-bound | weight loss It’s January 1, 2013!! (Well, okay, when this is posted it will be January 2.) That means everyone is going nuts with resolutions for the new year. And in about …Continue reading →

Additions to the 2012 Recap TAGS: blitz | consulting | continuous improvement | happy | lean | meme | new year | operations | process | quickmeme | recap | six sigma | sports | uss yorktown As per my usual, there were some pretty cool things from 2012 that I inadvertently left out! First, I wrote an early year post about SMART goals. One of those …Continue reading →

A Recap of 2012 (and a little bit of 2011) TAGS: blitz | consulting | continuous improvement | lean | miller high life | operations | process | six sigma | sports | windell middlebrooks It’s December 31st. The very last day of the calendar year of 2012. Seeing how it’s the very last 1/366th of the year’s existence, and just like every other thing …Continue reading →