Guest Post: What #Lean Can Learn from Sports TAGS: basketball | boston | boston marathon | catch careers | christina kach | curling | field | golf | guest post | lean | lean blitz consulting | sme lean bronze certified | softball | sports | stephen colbert | track I am again off to the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement in Indianapolis, so today we have a guest blog post from my friend, fellow Lean practitioner, and …Continue reading →

Rutgers Basketball Coach Mike Rice Does Not Show “Respect For People” TAGS: assault | basketball | battery | bob knight | bully | coach | eric murdock | espn | lean | lean blitz consulting | mike rice | outside the lines | pat forde | problem solving | respect for people | rutgers | tim pernetti | video | yahoo Three months after being suspended for “inappropriate behavior and language” ESPN’s Outside The Lines shared a video of Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice abusing his players with inappropriate names …Continue reading →

Additional Notes on Efficiency TAGS: baseball reference | billy beane | boston red sox | continuous improvement | defects | dpmo | efficiency | energy conservation | field goal percentage | hall of fame | hoosiers | hr | indiana university | lean blitz | lean blitz consulting | lebron james | mcdonald's | miami heat | moneyball | obp | on base percentage | operations | paul depodesta | process | productivity | rbi | six sigma | sports | ted williams | victor oladipo On Monday we looked at efficiency with field goal shooting percentages for Indiana’s Victor Oladipo and the Miami Heat’s LeBron James as well as points-per-possession efficiency on offense and defense …Continue reading →

LeBron James, Indiana Hoosiers, and Efficiency TAGS: consulting | efficiency | indiana university | lean blitz | lebron james | miami heat | operations | points per possession | process | six sigma | sports | victor oladipo There’s a new Lean-related blog out on the interwebs about math calculations as they relate to Lean. The blog? LeanMath.com. They’re working on putting easy-to-understand spins on some less-than-obvious definitions …Continue reading →

NBA and NFL Draft Eligibility Restrictions – Why? TAGS: acl | basketball | brandon jennings | college | consulting | continuous improvement | david stern | derrick rose | draft | eligibility | football | greg oden | injury | jadeveon clowney | kentucky | knee | lean blitz | marcus lattimore | nba | ncaa | nerlens noel | nfl | operations | pat forde | process | risk | rules | six sigma | south carolina | sports The NBA and NFL both have eligiblity restrictions on draftable players, and those restrictions are very quickly being called into question. The NBA implemented a rule in 2005 that required …Continue reading →

Modell’s Gets Burned on Tebow Jerseys and Linsanity TAGS: blitz | ceo | consulting | continuous improvement | darren rovell | domestic | espn | excess production | jeremy lin | jersey | lean | mark sanchez | merchandise | modell's | new york jets | new york knicks | operations | overseas | popular | process | production | six sigma | sports | tim tebow ESPN’s Darren Rovell shared an enlightening article today about the gambles taken by the sports merchandise store Modell’s in New York. Between “betting big” on Linsanity by ordering a slew …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 →

College Football and the Lack of PDCA TAGS: act | activity | alabama | ann arbor | appalachian state | check | college baseball | college basketball | college football | continuous improvement | crimson tide | cupcake | defects | do | errors | exhibition | football | inferior | lean blitz consulting | michigan | mlb | nba | nfl | nhl | nick saban | operations | opponents | pdca | plan | preseason | process | production | risk | scheduling | six sigma | south carolina | sports | waste Pretend for a moment you’re a company with a few manufacturing lines. Some are big, some are small, some are complex, and there’s one that gets a lot of attention …Continue reading →

ESPN Outside the Lines: “What’s Lurking In Your Stadium Food?” TAGS: ballpark | blitz | cleaning | concession | consulting | defects | department | droppings | espn | food | health | indianapolis | lavigne | lean | mice | negligence | operations | optimization | organization | paula | principles | process | spoil | spoilage | sports | stadium | stand | standardized | super bowl | twitter | violations | what's lurking in your stadium food A couple years back ESPN’s Paula Lavigne came out with a startling report about some of the health department findings in various concession stands at major ballparks and stadiums across …Continue reading →

The Big Oops with the Barclays Center TAGS: astros | bank | barclays | blitz | brooklyn | center | ceo | consulting | continuous | diamond | embarrassment | england | enron | europe | field | fixing | forfeit | franchise | houston | improvement | introduce | jay-z | lean | lite | maid | manipulating | miller | minute | move | naming | nba | nets | new jersey | new york times | operations | optimization | park | participants | pictures | process | rate | resign | rights | robert | scandal | six sigma | sports | stadium | supervisor | team You know the phrases “too many chefs in the kitchen” and “too many Chiefs, not enough Indians” or “a camel is a horse designed by a committee?” Too many people …Continue reading →

“I Want Some Nasty!” T-Shirts and Speed to Market TAGS: blitz | city | coach | conference | culture | demand | domestic | duncan | durant | facebook | finals | flex | ginobili | gregg | hot | i want some nasty | lean | merchandise | nba | oklahoma | operations | overseas | parker | planning | pop | popovich | press | production | promo-sa | san antonio | shipping | six sigma | sports | spurs | t-shirts | thunder | transportation | twitter | waoi | westbrook | western I have long since railed against overseas production of merchandise and overproduction of inventory well in advance of the known demand. (Need more evidence?) The San Antonio Spurs have (indirectly) …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #3: “Pull” Systems TAGS: baseball | basketball | blitz | concession | continuous flow | excess | floor | footprint | handler | hats | ideal | interval | inventory | jugs | kanban | lean | material | metrics | minimum | multitask | operations | operators | overproduction | perishable | principle | problems | process | pull | quantities | refrigerator | reorder | safety stock | six sigma | space | sports | stands | state | stock | surface | sweet baby ray's | system | toyota way (This is the fourth post looking at the 14 lean principles of The Toyota Way.) The third lean principle of The Toyota Way is a follow-up to the second lean …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 →

Time for a Lean Blitz Update! TAGS: 5S | anthony | augusta | blitz | carmelo | crean | disney | ebook | flop | georgia | golf | graban | hoosiers | indiana | jeremy | john carter | kentucky | knicks | lean | leanblog | lin | linsanity | mark | masters | memes | movement | ncaa | new york | operations | process | six sigma | sixteen | sort | sports | sweet | tom | tournament | tournaments | university There are a few updates on some previous posts that should be shared. Remember Linsanity? Part of the reason Jeremy Lin got the opportunity to start for the New York …Continue reading →

NCAA Tournament, Inconsistent Officiating, and Instant Replay TAGS: asheville | basketball | blitz | consensus | governing body | instant replay | jack cooley | lane | lean | mlb | nba | ncaa | nfl | notre dame | officials | operations | process | scoop jardine | sports | syracuse | tournament | unc | violation | xavier In Thursday night’s NCAA Tournament action, history was nearly made with a 16 seed almost knocking off a 1 seed for the first time ever. With the assistance of some questionable …Continue reading →