Lean or Sushi?? TAGS: 5S | ankimo | error-proofing | gemba | genchi cenbutsu | hanedashi | heijunka | hoisin | hokkigai | hoshin kanri | japan | kaikaku | kaizen | kanban | kani kamaboko | kazunoko | kim chee | koi | lean | lean blitz consulting | lean or sushi | mekajiki | mizusumashi | muda | muri | nagara | nama tako | nigiri | octopus | poka-yoke | quiz | saltwater carp | seiketsu | sumitomo | sushi | suzuki | tempura | unagi | yokoten Lean terms regularly applied in Japan don’t always get translated into English when the concepts are used in the United States. Reasons for this include lacking a concise literal translation …Continue reading →

Sprinklers Spring Up During NFL Game TAGS: blitz | breakdown | consulting | continuous improvement | error-proofing | game | input | lean | miami dolphins | nfl | november | operations | poka-yoke | process | seattle seahawks | six sigma | sports | sprinklers | sun life stadium | technology A couple weekends ago at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, the Seattle Seahawks were battling the Miami Dolphins in a hard-fought one-score game…when this happened. Whoops. Many stadiums (if not …Continue reading →

Entries from the Lean Memes Contest TAGS: 5 whys | 5S | aliya mustafina | allie brosh | approach | asian father | bad | batman | but we've always done it this way | catch careers | cheezburger | christina kach | consulting | contest | continuous improvement | cousin | creepy little girl | dating site | detect | eel | employee | execution | first world problems | five whys | fonzie | graban | gymnast | half | happy cat | high expectations | hyperbole | improvement | jidoka | kaizen event | key | koala | lame joke | lame pun raccoon | lean | lean blitz | leanblog | leanmemes | manufacturing lines | mark | meme | memegenerator | memes | moa | moar | murderer | olympics | operations | overly attached girlfriend | pdca | pdsa | phone | plan do check act | plan do study adjust | point of use storage | poka-yoke | priest | priorities | process | quickmeme | root cause analysis | safety | set in order | seven | shine | shotgun approach | signal | six sigma | sort | soviet russia | suggestion box | utility belt | value stream management Lean consultant, author, and notable public speaker Mark Graban of LeanBlog.org has started a web collection of Lean-related memes at Lean Memes. He’s hosting a contest for his readers to …Continue reading →

The Hassle of Rolling Loose Change TAGS: accuracy | augusta | bank of america | banking | branch | break | change | coins | coinstar | columbia | count | dime | efficiency | error-proofing | fee | georgia | lean blitz | lean blitz consulting | loose | machines | maintenance | nickel | operations | penny | poka-yoke | process | quarter | sleeves | south carolina | sports | teller | time savings Rolling loose change is a pretty annoying practice. It’s extremely time consuming, to the point that I simply collect coins in a large tin (or large plastic Coke bottle bank) …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 →

2012 Summer Olympics: Women’s Gymnastics Vault Problems in Sydney Olympics TAGS: 2000 | 2012 | all-around | allana slater | annika reeder | audit | australia | bad | blitz | consulting | david haviland | defect | elise ray | error | error-proofing | five whys | fulltwist.net | gymbits | gymnastics | height | horse | ignored | judges | khorkina | lean | london | mckayla maroney | medal | officials | olympics | operations | poka-yoke | process | root cause analysis | russian | setting | specifications | sports | svetlana | sydney | table | unsafe | vault | women's gymnastics Many of you watched women’s gymnastics at the Olympics this year, so you got the chance to see the gymnasts perform the vault event using a vaulting table. However, twelve …Continue reading →

Manufacturing Process of Baseballs TAGS: adhesive | baseball | blitz | center | core | cork | errors | lean | leather | lifting | machine | manufacturing | motion | neyer | operations | overseas | pill | poka-yoke | poly | process | rawlings | rob | rubber | sbnation | sew | six sigma | stamping | standardized | stitching | video | waste | weight | wool | yarn This is a great video on how baseballs are manufactured. So how many wasteful activities did you spot in the process? Here are some things I saw (obviously not comprehensive): …Continue reading →

Oh No! Wastes! Now What Do I Do?: The Lean Tools Primer TAGS: anomalies | batching | beer can | beer cart | blitz | changeover | disk defragmenter | error-proofing | fire extinguisher | gatorade | golf | lean | operations | point of use storage | poka-yoke | process map | processes | real-time | sandwiches | set in order | setup reduction | shadowboard | shine | sidekick | signs | smed | sort | sports | standardize | straighten | superhero | supermarket | sustain | tpm | value stream management | virus scan | visual factory | waste | work instruction All this time we’ve talked about the lean wastes. The problems. The money we’re throwing away. The time we’ve spent poorly. And now we’ve gone out and identified them. Excess motion. …Continue reading →

What Moneyball Can Teach Us About Lean TAGS: art howe | baseball | billy beane | blu-ray | boston red sox | brad pitt | carlos pena | change management | cleveland indians | continuous improvement | dvd | five whys | general manager | grady fuson | inefficiency | jeremy giambi | jonah hill | lean | lean blitz | major league baseball | mark shapiro | michael lewis | mlb | moneyball | movie | new york yankees | oakland athletics | paul depodesta | peter brand | philip seymour hoffman | poka-yoke | scott hatteberg | scouting | theo epstein | world series The book Moneyball by Michael Lewis was a paradigm-shifting revelation to the way baseball front offices evaluated and valued players – greater focus on specific statistics (on-base percentage) and valuing the …Continue reading →

8 Wastes – Defects/Scrap/Rework TAGS: chain | coke | customer | defects | diet coke | errors | poka-yoke | rework | scrap | vendor | wasted time (This is the first in a series of deeper dives into the eight Lean wastes.) Defective products can sap resources multiple times in one occurrence. Not only is there potentially …Continue reading →