Lean and the Law of Cosmic Laziness TAGS: flexible | indiana | kaizen | knox high school | law of cosmic laziness | lean | lean blitz consulting | matt aukerman | money | operations | process | save | sports | strain | time | waste activities My seventh grade math teacher at my little school in Indiana was a fellow named Matt Aukerman. In addition to being a great teacher and funny guy, he introduced us …Continue reading →

Panera Bread Coffee, Visual Management, and Reduced Motion TAGS: annoyance | bagel | blitz | bottle | bottles | coffee | consulting | consumers | continuous | creamer | customers | fridge | half and half | improvement | lean | metal | milk | operations | optimization | panera bread | process | skim | sports | storage | sugar | sweetener | time | workers Here’s an opportunity for Panera Bread to implement a slight change to their “equipment” in order to better serve the customers and the operators. The typical Panera Bread coffee customization …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 →

Toyota Way Principle #8 and Implementing Technology that Helps TAGS: activities | blitz | client | computer | consulting | current | director | expectation | future | identification | lean | manager | manual | map | mapping | money | note | operations | optimize | people | post-it | principle | process | projects | provider | requirement | resource | risk | serve | six sigma | solution | sports | state | technology | time | time study | toyota | waste | way One of my current clients has a two-pronged plan for improving a process that is absorbing a lot of resources (people, time, risk, money). The first prong is to optimize …Continue reading →

Roger Clemens and System Failure TAGS: answers | asleep | baseball | blitz | braun | bud | buster | career | culture | dollars | drugs | enhancing | espn | first | fix | juror | league | lean | litigate | major | mistrial | money | olney | operations | ped | performance | play | principle | problems | process | public | quality | roger clemens | ryan | selig | six sigma | sports | steroids | stop | tax | time | toyota way | trial | widespread Yesterday former major league pitcher Roger Clemens was found not guilty on all counts of perjury with respect to the accusation that he lied to and obstructed Congress about his …Continue reading →

Know Why You’re Being Paid TAGS: accounting | baits | barista | blitz | brand | burger | burgers | bushes | coffee | concession | contract | customer | defect | delicious | demand | expectation | exterminator | flip | follow | guarantee | hunger | infestation | investment | landscape | lawns | lean | machine | memories | money | mow | operations | paid | pictures | process | rats | refund | repair | research | resources | roof | satisfaction | save | six sigma | sports | stand | starbucks | status | symbol | taxes | time | tools | traps | trim | wedding | why This past weekend I visited some friends in Columbia, South Carolina and they shared horror stories of a trio of rats that have invaded their house’s walls. One of those …Continue reading →

If You Don’t Have Standardized Processes You’re Wasting Money TAGS: best | blitz | concession stand | conditions | difference | labor | lean | manufacturing | margin | operations | practices | principle | process | processes | savings | six sigma | sports | standard | standardized | studies | time | toy | toyota | waste | wasteful | way | work That’s a very bold proclamation, but it’s true. It applies to every type of process – manufacturing toys, cooking burgers, coding medical charts, delivering mail, checking a customer out at …Continue reading →

GolfNow and Service Process Breakdown TAGS: analysis | annoying | blitz | cause | cell phone | convenience | customer | fees | florida | golf | golf channel | golfnow | greens | lean | navigation | now | operations | orlando | phone | process | representative | root | round | savings | service | sports | telephone | time | twosome | waiting | waste One of the benefits of using Orlando, Florida-based GolfNow is online booking of rounds of golf at many courses around the world at discounted fares. For the convenience of online …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #1 TAGS: athlete | authors | baseball | basketball | blitz | business | coach | continuous | crean | david | games | goals | hoosiers | improvement | indiana | jeffrey | kelvin | kentucky | lean | liker | long-term | meier | ncaa | operations | organization | patrons | philosophy | principles | process | sampson | savings | short-term | six sigma | sixteen | sponsors | sports | student | sweet | tickets | time | tom | tournament | toyota | university | value | visual | way Yesterday we brought forth a bit of a visual depiction of what lean is and how it can impact a small business or sports organization. Hopefully we demonstrated the level …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 →

Newfangled Gas Station Tire Air Machine TAGS: accurate | air | blitz | brass | credit card | customize | digital | easy | errors | etch | gas | hose | instructions | lean | machine | operations | options | payment | plastic | pressure | process | simple | six sigma | sports | station | time Behold! This is easily one of my favorite newest discoveries out in the world. It’s a gas station tire air machine…but it’s so much more than that. It’s a gigantic …Continue reading →

Lean and the Profit Equation TAGS: assets | blitz | business | equation | expenses | footprint | inventories | lean | liquid | maintenance | money | operations | overdeliver | processes | profit | revenues | save | seth godin | six sigma | time | time studies | underpromise | waste To examine the impact lean implementation can have on a business, let’s look at the high-level super-simplified equation for profit. PROFIT = REVENUES – EXPENSES Components of the revenue term …Continue reading →

Wait, There Are More Wastes? TAGS: available space | blitz | electricity | fuel | fuel efficient vehicles | lean | lean blitz | natural gas | operations | other wastes | processes | resources | six sigma | sports | time | waste | water Well, yes, there are more wastes but they don’t fall under the category of “process wastes.” These wastes have their own way of being eliminated or minimized. Waste of utility …Continue reading →

8 Wastes – Excess Motion TAGS: effort | ergonomic | excess motion | finished product | frequency | keyboard | lean | point of use storage | pous | raw materials | time | transport | transportation | value | wastes (This is the seventh in a series of deeper dives into the 8 lean wastes.) The lean waste known as excess motion is exactly that – having to move more …Continue reading →

8 Wastes – Inventory TAGS: concession stand | enterprise resource planning | erp | excess inventory | fifo | first in first out | forecasting | inventory | jit | just in case | just in time | lean | obsolete | pull system | push system | spoilage | time | warehouse | wastes (This is the sixth in a series of deeper dives into the 8 lean wastes.) Excess inventory is a significant problem in that is affects business operations in many ways …Continue reading →