#EarthDay 2013 and Conservation of Resources TAGS: 2013 | baseball | conservation | consulting | earth day | hot dogs | inventory | lean | lean blitz | operations | sourcing | sports | strategic | transportation | waiting Today is Earth Day 2013, and the Earth Day mission is to promote actions toward environmental protection and conservation. The focus of Earth Day 2013 is The Face of Climate Change. …Continue reading →

The #2013 Masters: On-Site Logistics and Materials Supply TAGS: 2013 | aesthetics | augusta national golf club | box trucks | customer experience | excess motion | golf carts | inventory | lean | lean blitz consulting | logistics | material handling | operations | process | sports | stockouts | temporary | the masters | transportation | waiting | warehousing | wastes | water spider 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. Augusta National …Continue reading →

A #Lean Look at the #Baseball Jersey Manufacturing Process TAGS: baseball | buttons | error-proofing | inventory | jersey | jerseys | lean | lean blitz consulting | majestic | meredith marakovits | mlb | overprocessing | pants | pockets | production | sports | uniform | waste | yes network | zippers Rob Neyer of SBNation shared this great video from the YES Network on how Majestic manufactures the game jerseys for the New York Yankees. With an eye on the eight …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 →

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 Holiday Season, Post Updates and a Blog Carnival Shout-Out TAGS: adult kickball | arrest | barack obama | baseball winter meetings | beyond lean | blitz | blog | booth | bud selig | cards | carnival | christmas | consulting | continuous improvement | curious cat | dallas | dump | election | elves | festivus | green bay packers | heisman trophy | integrity | inventory | john hunter | johnny football | johnny manziel | kaizen | kansas state | klein | lean | manti te'o | matt wrye | miami marlins | mitt romney | monday night football | nashville | nfl | notre dame | operations | process | referee | replacement | root cause analysis | roundup | salary | santa claus | seattle seahawks | sports | t'eo | texas a&m | toronto blue jays | trade | trade show Ahh, the holiday season is fully enveloping us. Everybody be happy and peaceful to one another during this stressful time of shopping, traveling, seasonal obligations (like choral activities where folks …Continue reading →

Kanban in a Veterinary Office TAGS: animal | blitz | consulting | dog | evans | excess | french bulldog | georgia | hospital | inventory | lean | operations | pill pockets | process | pup | puppy | rescue network | rooster cogburn | six sigma | sports | veterinarian A couple weeks ago I brought my French bulldog to his veterinarian because he was sick. After he was treated and given a prescription, I noticed that the office had …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 →

Lean is Safety TAGS: 5S | accident | acknowledge | address | anomaly | behavior | businessdictionary.com | continuous improvement | danger | environment | ergonomics | excess | harm | identify | inventory | leak | lean | lean blitz consulting | loss | motion | muda | mura | muri | overproduction | personnel | property | risk | safety | set in order | shine | slippery when wet | sort | standardization | standardize | straighten | strain | sustain | threat | transportation | unsafe | wastes | water | work First, let’s understand the concept of safety. Safety is defined as “relative freedom from danger, risk, or threat of harm, injury, or loss to personnel and/or property, whether caused deliberately or by accident” as per BusinessDictionary.com. So being in a safe situation …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 →

What Endurance Running Can Teach Us About Lean TAGS: 5k | 5S | act | audit | bright | check | continuous improvement | control | couch | cycle time | dayton ohio | discipline | distance | do | endurance | excess | flashlight | goals | high school | inventory | lean | lean blitz consulting | lofty | maintaine | motion | motivate | motivation | operations | osha | pdca | plan | process | progress | race | run | running | s.m.a.r.t. goal | safe | safety | soreness | sports | sprint | success | susie stein | system | template | training | troy ohio | up and running | visual indicator | waste reduction | weight loss | win | wins Many moons ago, I was a distance runner. I ran cross country in high school my junior and senior years, each race being a 5K. After starting out as a …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 →

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 →

Restocking Points and Gas Tanks TAGS: blitz | car | cheap | delivery | excess | fuel | gasoline | gauge | inventory | jug | kanban | lean | low | operations | price | process | pull | reorder | restock | six sigma | sports | stockout An excellent example of restocking/reorder points (with pull or kanban systems) is your car’s gas tank. Here’s why. There’s a maximum amount of product you can stock – when the …Continue reading →

Sergio Tacchini, Unmet Demand, and Losing Novak Djokovic TAGS: apparel | baseball | batching | biz | blitz | cnbc | darren | demand | djokovic | domestic | inventory | labor | lean | meetings | novak | ocean | open | operations | process | production | rovell | sergio | shipping | sigma | six | spokesman | sports | states | tacchini | tennis | transportation | united | us | waste | winter As reported by Darren Rovell with CNBC.com, tennis apparel manufacturer Sergio Tacchini and tennis superstar Novak Djokovic have parted ways. The reason there is a split is because Djokovic has …Continue reading →