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 →

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 →

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 →

Toyota Way Principle #10: Develop Exceptional People and Teams TAGS: amare | anthony | basketball | blitz | blueprint | carmelo | consulting | d'antoni | donnie walsh | february | houston | james dolan | jazz | jeremy | knicks | leaders | lean | lin | linsanity | mike | new york | operations | people | philosophy | plan | process | rockets | salary | sports | stoudemire | streak | teams | toyota | utah | way | woodson Remember Linsanity? That movement that took New York by storm for the length of 13 Knicks games back in February? Please let the aftermath be a shining example of how not …Continue reading →

Enforcing Standardized Process & Major League Baseball Pace-of-Game TAGS: activity | agreement | andre | association | audit | bargaining | baseball | baseball tonight | basketball | batter | beckett | blitz | boston | bud | business | cba | chicago cubs | cincinnati | classic | cobb | collective | collective bargaining agreement | consulting | dawson | eric | espn | fantasy | fines | football | game | graban | hits | hours | insider | jonathan | josh | league | lean | lukas | major | mark | measure | mlb | mlbpa | official | operations | pace | padres | papelbon | paul | pete | pitcher | play | players | procedures | process | record | red sox | reds | rose | rotisserie | rules | ryne | san diego | sandberg | selig | show | six sigma | slow | sports | sportscenter | stephen | strasburg | suspensions | ty | umpire | uni-watch | violation | waiting | waste | wgn I first started watching Major League Baseball on television back in 1988 with the Chicago Cubs on WGN. At the time I was just a cursory fan – loved watching …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 →

Toyota Way Principle #1 TAGS: athlete | authors | baseball | basketball | blitz | business | coach | continuous | crean | david | games | goals | hoosiers | improvement | indiana | jeffrey | kelvin | kentucky | lean | liker | long-term | meier | ncaa | operations | organization | patrons | philosophy | principles | process | sampson | savings | short-term | six sigma | sixteen | sponsors | sports | student | sweet | tickets | time | tom | tournament | toyota | university | value | visual | way Yesterday we brought forth a bit of a visual depiction of what lean is and how it can impact a small business or sports organization. Hopefully we demonstrated the level …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 →

NCAA Tournament: Is Adding More Teams Better? TAGS: 2012 | basketball | blitz | champion | college | dayton | division I | expansion | first | lean | ncaa | ohio | operations | organization | priority | process | sagarin | six sigma | sports | tournament | usa today In my NCAA Tournament-viewing life, I’ve seen the bracket expand from 48 teams to 64 (with a couple choppy play-in iterations thrown in between), where it remained for many years …Continue reading →

Jeremy Lin and Utilizing New Ideas from All Employees TAGS: basketball | blitz | chinese | golden state | harvard | houston | jeremy | knicks | lean | lin | linsanity | nba | nbdl | new york | operations | palo alto | processes | promotions | rockets | sports | stanford | taiwanese | ucla | warriors  Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks is the newest rags-to-riches story in sports. A twice-waived undrafted young kid of Chinese-Taiwanese descent playing his best basketball in the biggest United …Continue reading →

Evansville’s Ford Center: 3 Events in 24 Hours TAGS: basketball | basketball floor | blitz | concert | don muret | evansville | ford center | hockey | iavm | icemen | international association of venue managers | lady aces | lean | lean blitz | monster jam | monster truck | operations | plywood | processes | rink | sbj | six sigma | south bend silver hawks | sports | sports business journal | time-lapse | waste The Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana held three different sporting events in a 24-hour period: monster truck rally, University of Evansville Lady Aces basketball game, and Evansville IceMen hockey game …Continue reading →