The Toyota Way Principles and Small Business TAGS: blitz | coffee | consulting | continuous flow | continuous improvement | defects | do it right the first time | kanban | lean | level load | operations | optimization | principles | process | pull | scheduling | six sigma | small business | sports | standardized | total productive maintenance | toyota way | tpm | visual control | waiting | work | workload We’ve finally gotten through all 14 principles from The Toyota Way and what each of them can mean for business operations. But putting them all together can be a challenge, …Continue reading →

Articles After a Long Layoff TAGS: batteries | beach | blitz | blog | blogging | catch careers | christina kach | coffee | consulting | continuous improvement | control | creamer | easier | hack | hammock | healthcare | lean | leanblog | leanmemess | life | lifehacker | mark graban | meme | networking | non-traditional | operations | process | remote | six sigma | sports | starbucks | vacation | velcro | vessel I concede that my lack of sharing new information over the last couple of weeks has allowed for a slight mental decompression – there have been a lot of new …Continue reading →

Panera Bread Coffee, Visual Management, and Reduced Motion TAGS: annoyance | bagel | blitz | bottle | bottles | coffee | consulting | consumers | continuous | creamer | customers | fridge | half and half | improvement | lean | metal | milk | operations | optimization | panera bread | process | skim | sports | storage | sugar | sweetener | time | workers Here’s an opportunity for Panera Bread to implement a slight change to their “equipment” in order to better serve the customers and the operators. The typical Panera Bread coffee customization …Continue reading →

Know Why You’re Being Paid TAGS: accounting | baits | barista | blitz | brand | burger | burgers | bushes | coffee | concession | contract | customer | defect | delicious | demand | expectation | exterminator | flip | follow | guarantee | hunger | infestation | investment | landscape | lawns | lean | machine | memories | money | mow | operations | paid | pictures | process | rats | refund | repair | research | resources | roof | satisfaction | save | six sigma | sports | stand | starbucks | status | symbol | taxes | time | tools | traps | trim | wedding | why This past weekend I visited some friends in Columbia, South Carolina and they shared horror stories of a trio of rats that have invaded their house’s walls. One of those …Continue reading →