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 →

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 →

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 →

Domino’s Pizza Boxes, Standardized Work, and Overproduction TAGS: attention | best practice | box | commercial | continuous improvement | dale | defects | domino's | early | excess | exertion | fold | inventory | lean blitz consulting | lean wastes | motion | operations | overproduction | pizza | process | production | quality | six sigma | sports | stacks | standardized work | store | training Just about every time I walk into a Domino’s Pizza shop I encounter a wall of pre-built pizza boxes. These stacks of boxes are generally on a shelf low to …Continue reading →

A Case for Kanban and Materials Management TAGS: associate | business | car | consulting | consumable | defects | dollar foolish | excess | fuel | gasoline | glut | inventory | kanban | leak | lean | lean blitz | maintenance | material | motion | operations | penny wise | process | product | pull | ruin | sam's club | save money | six sigma | sports | stockout | storage | supplier | tool | transportation | vehicle | visual | wal-mart | walking | wastes A prominent sports organization in the area (that shall remain nameless) normally uses an outside materials supplier to stock about 200 individual consumable items (paper products, food and drink items, …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 →

Lean is Marketing TAGS: business901 | communicate | customer | defects | four | inventory | joe dager | lean | lean blitz consulting | marketing | needs | operations | overproduction | p's | place | price | processing | product | promotion | pull system | scrap | sports | toyota way | waiting The essence of marketing is the identification of needs a customer aims to have satisfied and providing a solution that will satisfy those needs within four specific categories – the …Continue reading →

Imagery of Poka-Yoke TAGS: cable | computer | consulting | continuous improvement | defects | error | feedback | hdmi | imgur | lean | lean blitz | mistake | operations | orientation | plug | poka | poka-yoke | pokayoke | process | proofing | rca | rework | scrap | sports | stereo | technology | time | tools | toy | usb | wastes | yoke A quick little background on “poka-yoke.” Also written by others as “pokayoke” or “poka yoke,” it all refers to error-proofing or mistake-proofing. And what do those terms mean? Why, making …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 →

Toyota Way Principle #13: Decide Slowly Through Consensus, Implement Rapidly TAGS: achieve | analysis | benefits | blitz | cause | change | consensus | consider | consulting | decisions | defects | delay | errors | evaluate | failure | five whys | fix | haste makes waste | implement | lean | management | operations | options | principle | problem | process | quick | rapidly | reap | root | sigma | six | slow | solve | sports | toyota | way One of the risks of implementing changes or new ideas in processes is the failure to consider all options and the potential for an outcome not otherwise projected. A lot …Continue reading →

Standardized Work – Speed vs. Consistency TAGS: blitz | consistent | continuous improvement | defects | delivery | efficiency | goods | improve | lean | mow | operations | process | productivity | results | rising tide lifts boats | root cause | services | six sigma | speed | sports | stable | standardized | step | teach | vital | work It’s safe to say that it’s ideal to have processes move as fast and consistently as possible. Speed and consistency are two big contributing factors toward productivity and efficiency. But …Continue reading →

Worst Case Scenario for All-You-Can-Eat Events TAGS: advance | all you can eat | augusta | AYCE | baseball | batching | blitz | burgers | defects | facebook | feed your face | food | game time | greenjackets | inventory | lean | monday | operations | optimization | performance | postpone | process | rain | rainout | reduction | scrap | six sigma | sports | standardized work | trash | waiting | wasted | wastes | zero I have a more in-depth analysis of this type of event coming later, but a worst-case scenario has come to light today. The Augusta GreenJackets minor league team have introduced …Continue reading →

Defective Product and Making a Wrong Turn TAGS: accurate | blitz | defects | document | garmin | gps | lean | map | mapquest | operations | process | resources | rework | scrap | self-discipline | six sigma | sports | standardized | tomtom | transportation | utilization | work To continue the unintentional theme of cars as metaphors for lean… I equate the creation of defective products and services to making a wrong turn and getting lost while driving. …Continue reading →

Manufacturing Process of Footballs TAGS: ada | blitz | defects | downtime | effort | employee | ergonomics | excessive | football | handling | inventory | issues | knowledge | lacing | lean | leather | measured | motion | new york | nfl | ohio | operations | overprocessing | overproduction | perfect | perfection | players | process | production | sbnation | six sigma | sports | stitching | tenure | transportation | turning | video | waiting | wastes | wilson | wip | work in process To continue the series of posts on how sports equipment is made (see baseballs and bats as well) here’s the video from SBNation on Wilson’s production process for NFL footballs. …Continue reading →

So What Is Lean Anyway? TAGS: activities | blitz | burger | buttons | cash register | cashier | combination | defects | diet | excess | lean | lean enterprise institute | motion | non-renewable | non-value-added | operations | pop | process | resource | scrap | six sigma | soda | sports | time | timeline | transfer | transporation | value | value-added | waiting | wastes | what is lean We should step back and start from the beginning. Lean Blitz has already looked at the lean wastes, started to review some of the lean tools, and touched on the …Continue reading →