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 →

Mobile Beer Vendors Cut Customer Wait Times At Sporting Events TAGS: beer | concessions | continuous improvement | customer experience | futbol | lean blitz consulting | leansempai | mobile | operations | process | russell watkins | sempai | six sigma | Soccer | sports | transportation | vendor | waiting | walking | waste Russell Watkins of Sempai Lean Consulting in the UK posted a great photo on Twitter this weekend from a soccer (okay, futbol) game he attended: On the plus side, mobile …Continue reading →

Goodbye, Unwanted TSA Naked Body Airport Scanners! TAGS: administration | airport | body | continuous improvement | eric ries | hassle | implementation | invade | invasive | lean blitz consulting | lean startup | minimum viable product | naked | pilot | privacy | problem | public | scanner | scans | scrap | security | transportation | tsa | tsa.gov | waste Last month the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced they were finally doing away with the awkward naked-body scanning imaging systems. When they were first introduced in 2007 they came under …Continue reading →

Tailgating at the 2013 BCS National Championship in Miami TAGS: 2013 | alabama | bcs | blitz | cell | championship | consulting | continuous improvement | disaster | discover | five whys | florida | football | lean | logistics | lot | miami | notre dame | operations | parking | porta-potty | process | service | six sigma | sports | sun life stadium | tower | trash | verizon | waiting | waste It’s been a week since my beloved Irish were convincingly thwarted in their effort to win their first college football national championship since the Reagan administration, so I feel I …Continue reading →

Voting Booth Machine Defective!! TAGS: 2012 | barack | blitz | broken | consulting | defect | election | error | lean | machine | mitt | obama | operations | poll | president | process | romney | six sigma | sports | touch screen | vote | voting | waste Yesterday a video was posted online of someone trying to use the electronic voting booth machine with some potential unintended consequences.   That could be a big problem. Of course, …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 →

College Football and the Lack of PDCA TAGS: act | activity | alabama | ann arbor | appalachian state | check | college baseball | college basketball | college football | continuous improvement | crimson tide | cupcake | defects | do | errors | exhibition | football | inferior | lean blitz consulting | michigan | mlb | nba | nfl | nhl | nick saban | operations | opponents | pdca | plan | preseason | process | production | risk | scheduling | six sigma | south carolina | sports | waste Pretend for a moment you’re a company with a few manufacturing lines. Some are big, some are small, some are complex, and there’s one that gets a lot of attention …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 →

Enforcing Standardized Process & Major League Baseball Pace-of-Game TAGS: activity | agreement | andre | association | audit | bargaining | baseball | baseball tonight | basketball | batter | beckett | blitz | boston | bud | business | cba | chicago cubs | cincinnati | classic | cobb | collective | collective bargaining agreement | consulting | dawson | eric | espn | fantasy | fines | football | game | graban | hits | hours | insider | jonathan | josh | league | lean | lukas | major | mark | measure | mlb | mlbpa | official | operations | pace | padres | papelbon | paul | pete | pitcher | play | players | procedures | process | record | red sox | reds | rose | rotisserie | rules | ryne | san diego | sandberg | selig | show | six sigma | slow | sports | sportscenter | stephen | strasburg | suspensions | ty | umpire | uni-watch | violation | waiting | waste | wgn I first started watching Major League Baseball on television back in 1988 with the Chicago Cubs on WGN. At the time I was just a cursory fan – loved watching …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 →

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 →

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 →

If You Don’t Have Standardized Processes You’re Wasting Money – Part II TAGS: activities | blitz | burgers | flipping | lean | operations | process | six sigma | sports | standardized work | waste As indicated in the first post about wasting money by not having standardized work, we now provide an example using a situation commonly found in stadium concession stands. First, let’s …Continue reading →