What Your #Mother Can Teach You About #Lean TAGS: 5S | behavior | chad | clean | consulting | family | lean | lean blitz | management | may | mother's day | organize | quality | reward | safety | time studies | tools | visual | walters Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out in the world – if it wasn’t for your mother, you wouldn’t be here to read this. It’s an understatement that my …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 →

What Is Standardized Work (And What Is It Not)? TAGS: a lean journey | beyond lean | blitz | christian paulsen | consulting | kaizen | lean | lean enterprise institute | leanblog | management | mark graban | matt wrye | operations | process | six sigma | small business | sports | standardized process | standardized work | stopwatch | teamwork | tim mcmahon | training | training within industry | velaction | work instruction As this House of Lean diagram shows, the foundation is built on 5S, visual controls, and plant or facility layout. (I tend to lump 5S and layout together because setting …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 →

What P90X and Lean Have in Common TAGS: 90 days | blitz | change | common sense | consulting | continuous improvement | difficult | doctor | efficiency | expert | fix | flip | hard | implement | improvement | infomercial | input | intense | lean | leaner | loss | magic pill | management | operations | optimization | output | p90x | pain | philosophy | problem | process | quick | quick fix | reduction | regimen | results | sigma | six | skeptical | solve | sports | sustain | switch | systems | testimonial | waste | weight We’ve all seen the infomercials. (Or have you? Maybe I need to minimize my late-night television viewing.) P90X is the relatively new home workout philosophy that consists of a training regimen …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #10 and the Importance of People TAGS: 2002 | art | athletics | baseball | beane | billy | blitz | brand | constraint | consulting | cultivate | depodesta | develop | efficiency | front line | fuson | grady | howe | implement | knicks | lean | lewis | management | maximize | michael | mission statement | moneyball | new york | oakland | operations | operators | paul | people | peter | philadelphia | phillies | philosophy | principle | process | produce | six sigma | sports | teams | toyota | undervalued | value | victory | way | yankees (This is a continuation of the examination of the 14 principles of The Toyota Way.) It’s one thing to have a company philosophy and mission statement, as well as a …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #9 and Notre Dame Football TAGS: 2012 | alford | bcs | bearcats | blitz | bob | brian | central | championship | charlie | chippewas | chuck | churn | cincinnati | coach | consulting | cooks | coordinator | dame | davie | defensive | denbrock | diaco | expectations | exposure | fan | football | george | grand | jack | kelly | kerry | lean | management | martin | michigan | mike | nation | notre | o'leary | offensive | operations | optimization | personnel | philosophy | process | program | retain | six sigma | sports | state | success | swarbrick | tony | toyota | tradition | turnover | tyrone | university | valley | way | weis | willingham | winning The 2012 college football season will be the third for Brian Kelly as the head coach of the University of Notre Dame football team. Prior to his hire at Notre …Continue reading →

Penn State Football and Toyota Way Principle #1 TAGS: allegations | blitz | child | consulting | cover | critical | decision | demonstrate | director | espn | example | financial | flagbearer | football | freeh | function | gains | heavy lifting | jay | jerry | joe | lean | long-term | management | molestation | operations | organization | paterno | penn | philosophy | principle | priority | process | report | sandusky | short-term | six sigma | sports | staff | state | sustainability | toyota | university | up | usurp | way I’m not going to rehash all of the details behind Penn State University’s cover-up of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse allegations and convictions – other outlets are doing a fine …Continue reading →

A Lamborghini & Process vs. System TAGS: activities | adding | blitz | bolster | capabilities | consulting | continuous | difference | driving | fancy | flow | gold | hammer | improvement | information | lamborghini | lean | management | metaphor | operations | optimization | optimize | procedures | process | productivity | scenarios | significant | six sigma | sports | subaru | success | system | tools | value | waste | wheel I have encountered multiple scenarios in my career where upper management was under the impression that putting in fancy new systems and technology would dramatically boost productivity and the quickness …Continue reading →

Vision and Value TAGS: ability | action | annie | associate | blitz | brand | cat food | cereal | consultant | consulting | detergent | difference | director | electronics | engineer | eradicate | expert | field | fish | fix | function | guru | improvement | indiana | irreplaceable | kelley | laundry | leader | lean | leibovitz | management | manager | marketing | mba | mentor | operations | opportunity | partner | photographer | pipe | plan | plumber | process | profession | retail | school | service | six sigma | sports | teach | university | value | vision | visualize Everybody has the opportunity to create value, in one fashion or another. A person can merely be a “warm body” that stands in as part of a process creating a …Continue reading →

Continuous Improvement and Our Founding Fathers TAGS: 1776 | american | blitz | brats | britain | burgers | change | consulting | continuous | declaration | destination | england | fathers | founding | freedom | george | hancock | history | improvement | independence | jefferson | john | journey | july | lean | management | nation | operations | process | revolutionary | six sigma | sports | states | tax | taxation | thomas | united | war | washington Happy Independence Day 2012 everybody! In between bites of our burgers or brats and swigs of beer, let’s also take the time to thank all of those who have made …Continue reading →

“Because I Said So” is Destructive TAGS: answer | ask | associates | because i said so | blitz | child | communication | continuous | curiosity | curious | embarrassment | enlighten | five whys | follow | golden | grow | handbook | honest | ideas | improvement | interest | lean | learn | management | new | operations | parents | process | punishment | question | questions | rulebook | rules | scapegoat | shame | silence | six sigma | sports | teamwork | toddler | trust | why I had a conversation with a friend this weekend who was telling me about his little boy. He’s enlightened by his son’s curiosity and ability to ask questions and interest …Continue reading →

Visual Management and Strawberry Jam TAGS: auction | blitz | blog | charity | colored | donate | dots | draft | ebay | first | graban | jam | jars | jelly | lean | leanblog | lukas | management | mark | nfl | operations | paul | pectin | post | process | programming | retweet | round | six sigma | sports | stage | strawberry | sugar | thursday | twitter | uni-watch | visual Every couple of years my mother and I get together to make batches of strawberry jam. She’s made freezer jams for as long as I’ve been alive, and since I’ve …Continue reading →

Lean and Corporate Strategy TAGS: asheville | autonomous | blitz | block | budget | business | class | construction | continuous | destination | georgia | implementation | improvement | journey | leaders | lean | management | managers | manufacturing | modification | obstacles | operations | organization | pillars | planning | process | production | programs | road | roadmap | rock | six sigma | slide | small | south carolina | speed bump | sports | strategic | system | toyota | translation | world I’ve had the chance to talk to with a few companies during my current trip to Georgia and South Carolina about lean programs, implementation, and strategies. Each one was in …Continue reading →

The NBA, the Sports Guy, and Aversion to Change TAGS: 162 game season | bill simmons | blitz | change | derrick rose | designated hitter | draft | finals | grantland | jason terry | lean | lockout | major league baseball | management | nba | nfl | olympics | opening day | operations | playoffs | processes | richard kruger | schedule | sports | sports guy | summer | tri-state university | work stoppage Bill Simmons, editor-in-chief of Grantland.com and ESPN’s The Sports Guy, analyzed the 2011-2012 NBA season thus far and concluded that the league should strongly consider starting the regular season on …Continue reading →