Miami Marlins Suing Season Ticket Holders Over Complaints About Seating TAGS: challenge extended network | continuous improvement | craig calcaterra | customer service | jeffrey loria | lawsuit | lean blitz consulting | leon | miami marlins | miami new times | operations | principle #11 | process | root cause analysis | season tickets | sports | toyota way While hosting tiny crowds in a tax-financed new stadium with a team that now features no notable superstars, the Miami Marlins have found a new way to ruffle the feathers …Continue reading →

Notre Dame Football and the 14 Principles of The Toyota Way – Part 1 TAGS: bcs | blitz | brian kelly | championship | college football | consulting | gsr | lean | manti te'o | miami | notre dame football | operations | principles | process | six sigma | sports | sun life stadium | toyota way | tyler eifert | zeke motta Tonight, for the first time since the 1989 Sunkist Fiesta Bowl, the University of Notre Dame will vie for college football’s national title, the 2013 BCS National Championship in Miami. …Continue reading →

What is Lean vs. Six Sigma vs. Kaizen? TAGS: blitz | condiments | consulting | continuous improvement | control chart | difference | kaizen | lean | operations | process | project | six sigma | sports | toyota way | wastes Questions I’m asked often – by potential clients and colleagues and friends alike – center around Lean versus Six Sigma, and versus Kaizen. What are the differences between them? When …Continue reading →

Long-Term Philosophies and the Miami Marlins Blockbuster Trade TAGS: anibal sanchez | baseball winter meetings | blitz | blockbuster | bonifacio | buehrle | consulting | continuous improvement | dallas | detroit tigers | dump | emilio | giancarlo stanton | hanley | heath bell | john buck | johnson | jose | josh | lean | long-term | los angeles dodgers | manager | mark | marlins | miami | new york mets | omar infante | operations | ozzie guillen | philosophy | pitcher | principle | process | ramirez | reyes | salary | san diego padres | shortsop | six sigma | sports | toronto blue jays | toyota way | trade Back at the 2011 Baseball Winter Meetings, the Miami Marlins were truly the stars of the show. With a new taxpayer-funded stadium ready to open and a roster already featuring …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 →

Lean Tools: Standardized Work and Best Practices TAGS: 14 principles | activities | best practices | consulting | continuous improvement | cycle | excess | house of lean | lean | lean blitz | maximize | motion | operations | process | production | quality | repeatability | safety | six sigma | sports | standardized work | takt time | toyota way | waiting | walking | waste It’s been a long time since I’ve jumped into describing the Lean tools – I broke away to focus on the 14 principles of The Toyota Way, because they were …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 →

Melky Cabrera and Why Continuous Improvement Principles Matter TAGS: 2012 | 50 games | 5S | audit | banned substance | baseball | blitz | buster olney | concessions | consulting | continuous improvement | equipment | espn | games | lean | level playing field | london | melky cabrera | mlb | notre dame football | olympics | operations | outfielder | ped | process | ryan braun | safety | san francisco giants | sports | stadium | steroids | testing | ticket sales | toyota way When I first started to write about lean and continuous improvement applications in sports, I was more focused on the business operations – ticket sales, concessions, stadium upkeep, equipment manufacturers, …Continue reading →

Penn State University and Violation of Mission Statements TAGS: accreditation | allegations | blitz | consulting | culture | fbi | fixing | football | freeh | health | integrity | jerry sandusky | joe paterno | leadership | lean | louis | mid-atlantic | middle states commission on higher education | mission | ncaa | operations | penn | philosophy | principle | problems | process | scandal | sports | state | toyota way | university | vision | website | well being Penn State University continues to suffer the consequences of misplaced priorities. Not only have severe sanctions been applied to the university by the NCAA but now the accreditation status of …Continue reading →

Stuff I’m Reading – August 8, 2012 TAGS: 2012 | advertisers | anibal sanchez | attendance | attention | ballpark | belly putter | blitz | blog | consulting | david samson | golf | golf digest | hanley ramirez | heath bell | improve | jeff gordon | jeffrey loria | jose reyes | lean | lean wastes | leanblog | lightning strike | london | love | mark buehrle | mark graban | marketing | miami marlins | nascar | nbc | olympics | omar infante | operations | optimization | organization | pocono | policy | process | product | revenue | safety | sailboat | sailfish | seth godin | small business | sponsors | sports | sprint cup | thad greiner | toyota way | weather There are ample opportunities for performance improvement in sports business and small business operations that I simply can’t get to it all as issues occur day after day. In addition, …Continue reading →

2012 Summer Olympics: 100M Heckler and Doing the Right Thing TAGS: 100m | 2012 | behavior | blake | blitz | bolt | bosch | bottle | bronze medal | consulting | culture | dutch | edith | final | games | gatlin | gold | heckler | jamaica | judoka | justin | lean | london | olympics | operations | poetic justice | principle | process | sebastian coe | security | silver | sports | stop to fix problems | tackle | toyota way | uk telegraph | united states | usain | yohan Yesterday at the Olympics a heckler in the crowd at the track and field stadium threw a plastic bottle at the runners just before the Men’s 100M final. It didn’t …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #14: Become a Learning Organization TAGS: balboa | blitz | classroom | consulting | continuous | improvement | lean | learning | operations | organization | perfect | philadelphia | principle | process | reflect | reflection | relentless | rocky | six sigma | sports | stairs | steps | teach | toyota way (This is part of a series looking at the 14 Principles of The Toyota Way.) This is the final principle, the one that ties the previous thirteen together. No organization …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #12: Go and See For Yourself TAGS: blitz | chihuahua | consulting | data | disruptive | eyeglasses | gemba | genbutsu | genchi | go | inputs | lean | machines | numbers | objective | operations | outputs | people | principle | process | see | situation | six sigma | sports | spreadsheet | subjective | toyota way | yourself It’s extremely commonplace in today’s data-driven world to make big decisions based on information provided by databases and reports. It’s simply the nature of progress and technology. Data-based decision making …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #8: Use The Proper Technology TAGS: activity | at&t | automotive | blackberry | blitz | cell | data | droid | enhance | flip | functions | humans | improve | industry | iphone | lean | medical | operations | phone | principle | process | productivity | robots | service | six sigma | sports | sprint | technology | text | toyota way | verizon | voice | waste (This is a continuation of a series of posts on the principles of The Toyota Way.) Technological advancements over the years have been a part of many breakthrough process improvements. …Continue reading →

What Else Can Lean Implementation Save You? TAGS: batching | blitz | burden | coach | constant | continuous flow | cookie | ergonomics | faster | gemba | go | harder | lean | machine | muda | mura | muri | one piece flow | operations | operator | overburden | physical | principle | process | six sigma | sports | standardized | steps | stop | toy | toyota way | waste | work It’s been written extensively in this space that by reducing the lean process wastes through applying the lean tools you can streamline your operations and make better use of your scarce …Continue reading →