The 2013 #Masters: Use of Temporary Labor TAGS: augusta | birth of a new workforce | club | concessions | core | critical | golf | golf shop | labor | lean | lean blitz consulting | masters | mau | national | noncore | randy hatcher | securitas | security | staffing | temporary Masters Week has finally come and gone! All of the golf world descended upon Augusta, Georgia for April 8-14 for the 2013 Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Now …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 →

Minnesota Twins Shorten Communication Gaps AND Minimize Beer Keg Transportation TAGS: baseball | beer | columbus blue jackets | concessions | don't stop believing | english | hockey | inventory | journey | karaoke | kegs | language | lean | lean blitz consulting | lines | marc aune | minnesota twins | motion | overpurchasing | singing | spanish | spring training | stockouts | transportation | uni-watch | waiting | waste Here are two quick stories about the Minnesota Twins finding ways to increase efficiency (or productivity, which is probably a better depiction). First, the Twins have enrolled some of their …Continue reading →

Mobile Beer Vendors Cut Customer Wait Times At Sporting Events TAGS: beer | concessions | continuous improvement | customer experience | futbol | lean blitz consulting | leansempai | mobile | operations | process | russell watkins | sempai | six sigma | Soccer | sports | transportation | vendor | waiting | walking | waste Russell Watkins of Sempai Lean Consulting in the UK posted a great photo on Twitter this weekend from a soccer (okay, futbol) game he attended: On the plus side, mobile …Continue reading →

San Francisco Giants Bobbleheads and Benefits of Supply Meeting Demand TAGS: andrew baggarly | bobblehead | concessions | continuous improvement | csn bay area | demand | goodwill | lean | lean blitz consulting | lines | operations | optimization | process | rob neyer | san francisco giants | sbnation | six sigma | sponsor | sports | supply | tim lincecum | waiting | wastes CSN Bay Area columnist Andrew Baggarly reports some pretty good news for fans of bobbleheads, the San Francisco Giants, and both bobbleheads and the San Francisco Giants: the team is …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 →

Melky Cabrera and Why Continuous Improvement Principles Matter TAGS: 2012 | 50 games | 5S | audit | banned substance | baseball | blitz | buster olney | concessions | consulting | continuous improvement | equipment | espn | games | lean | level playing field | london | melky cabrera | mlb | notre dame football | olympics | operations | outfielder | ped | process | ryan braun | safety | san francisco giants | sports | stadium | steroids | testing | ticket sales | toyota way When I first started to write about lean and continuous improvement applications in sports, I was more focused on the business operations – ticket sales, concessions, stadium upkeep, equipment manufacturers, …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 →

The Masters: Concession Stands TAGS: 2012 | abundant | augusta | band | beer | blitz | booster | bubba | cargo | cart | cashier | cheap | checkout | chips | club | concessions | consume | continuous flow | domestic | flow | food | football | golf | green | import | inventory | jacket | kanban | lean | masters | national | operations | patrons | people | pre-packaged | prices | process | pull | quantities | resource | speed | sports | supply | sweets | tournament | waste | watson (This is the final post on the observed business operations of the 2012 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.) I am absolutely infatuated with the speed at which customers are …Continue reading →

Opening Day at Turner Field TAGS: atlanta | blitz | bourn | braun | braves | brewers | brian | concessions | day | dress | extra | field | gates | glitches | jumbotron | lean | lines | martin | mccann | michael | milwaukee | opening | operations | out of town | patrons | prado | process | rehearsal | ryan | scoreboard | seat | six sigma | sponsorships | sports | turner | waiting | waste I had the opportunity to roll over to Atlanta for Opening Day for the Braves against the Milwaukee Brewers. While I did a lot more game watching than operations observing, …Continue reading →

Overproduction Example: Too Many Boxes! TAGS: beer | blitz | boxes | cleaning | concessions | customers | cycle time | forklift | hot dogs | inventory | lean | material handler | nachos | operations | operator | overprocessing | processes | productivity | safety | six sigma | sports | standardized work | supplier | thomson plastics | training As a refresher, the definition of the lean waste overproduction is the manufacture/assembly/production of more than what is needed at the time. An example of where overproduction can be a) …Continue reading →

Lean Tools: 5S, Sort, and Make the Clutter Stop! TAGS: 5S | blitz | cabinets | clubhouse | clutter | concessions | countertops | doors | freezer | hardware | lean | leanblitz | locker rooms | maintenance | operations | processes | refrigerator | shed | shelves | six sigma | sort | sports | stairwells | tools | workspace So we covered Sort in yesterday’s post but because it’s the first step in 5S we need to make sure we do it right and leave no stone unturned. We must …Continue reading →

S.M.A.R.T. Goal Example #2: Save Teams Over $1M in 2012 TAGS: 50/50 raffle | baseball | concessions | cost savings | customer satisfaction | customer service | lean | maintenance | out of order | revenue streams | s.m.a.r.t. goals | smart goals | sports | stadium | tickets | total productive maintenance | utility costs | vendor | waste (This is the second in a series about setting S.M.A.R.T. goals and the benefits they provide.) So this S.M.A.R.T. goal is less an example and more about the actual mission …Continue reading →

Target Audience – Part One TAGS: big budgets | big companies | concessions | finances | lean | lean initiatives | sales | small business | sponsorships | sports manufacturers | sports service providers | sports teams | target audience | tickets | underdog Who are you and why are you here? A better question – thank you for coming, but who else SHOULD be here? There is no shortage of resources and methodologies …Continue reading →