Deming Seminar and Conference

Posted on January 30, 2006  Comments (4)

Audio CDs of the 2005 W. Edwards Deming Deming Institute Conference presentations ($100).

I attended the conference and posted: “Mike Beck gave an excellent presentation at the Deming Institute conference about the United Technology Corporation management improvement system. I plan on posting more about the session.” I have not posted an update :-0 but now you can hear it yourself. I also thought the “Back to the Future” presentation by Larry Smith was excellent. You can also read this article, on the same topic (manufacturing at Ford in the 1970s to today) by him.
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ThedaCare: Lean Healthcare

Posted on January 30, 2006  Comments (1)

Area health systems put customer service first by MaryBeth Matzek

In 2005, ThedaCare was able to save $10 million thanks to its lean programs and officials hope to save another $12 million this year, Toussaint said.

ThedaCare’s march toward lean began when Toussaint started looking for a way to improve quality and service while cutting costs. He found what he was looking for in an unlikely place – a factory that produces lawnmowers and snow blowers.

The model Ariens used was adapted from a system put in place by Toyota, the Japanese automotive manufacturer. As part of the system, teams are formed to look at processes and find ways to improve them – whether it’s cutting out an unnecessary step or finding a better way to serve the customer.

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Change is not Improvement

Posted on January 25, 2006  Comments (5)

In response to: Why executives order reorgs

“We trained hard… but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion; inefficiency, and demoralization.”

These lines, from the Satyricon of Petronius written 2,000 years ago…

Unfortunately it seems this quote is not actually his. Instead apparently someone attributed the quote to him to give it the weight of time. I think that the sentiment expressed rings true speaks to the experience of many.
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TPS – Take 2

Posted on January 25, 2006  Comments (0)

The cover story in latest issue of Industry Week focuses on what people have missed when applying ideas from the Toyota Production System.

Learning From Toyota — Again by John Teresko:

“Why is it that the TPS tools of lean, agile, TQM, TPM, re-engineering, just-in-time, cellular/continuous workflow and so on — never seem to really pay off big [aside from Toyota]?” asks Michael Paris, president of Hinsdale, Ill.-based Paris:Consulting. His response: “Unless TPS is everywhere in an organization, it is nowhere. Too often managers pushing for performance improvements have a limited vision and scope. They fail to approach the executive team that has responsibility for the entire enterprise and authority over it.”

Continuous Improvement In The Executive Suite by Patricia Panchak:
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China now the 5th Largest Economy

Posted on January 24, 2006  Comments (0)

China’s Economy Grew 9.9% in 2005, Overtaking France

China’s economy grew 9.9 percent in 2005, overtaking France as the world’s fifth largest, powered by exports and investment in factories, roads and power plants.

Gross domestic product rose to 18.2 trillion yuan ($2.3 trillion) after expanding 10.1 percent in 2004, statistics bureau commissioner Li Deshui said today in Beijing. Investment in urban areas jumped 27.2 percent last year, he said.

2003 data, from Geohive (their source the World Bank):

United States: $10.9 trillion
Japan: $4.3 trillion
Germany: $2.4 trillion
United Kingdom: $1.8 trillion
France: $1.7 trillion
Italy: $1.5 trillion
China: $1.4 trillion
Spain: $.8 trillion
Canada: $.8 trillion
Mexico: $.6 trillion
South Korea: $.6 trillion
India: $.6 trillion

Related posts:

Management Excellence

Posted on January 23, 2006  Comments (2)

My comments on, Take off the Blinders:

I think the question of what other companies have management practices worth studying is interesting. The answer could be very helpful as others could learn from what those companies do. There are at least two difficulties in identifying the: 1) defining what set of criteria would indicate successful organizations 2) most often even companies that are doing many things well leave much to be desired (so picking organizations worth studying can be difficult and even once that is done deciding which practices to credit for the success is often mostly a matter of opinion).

Many organizations do some things very well: Google, Dell, Amazon, Ritz-Carlton, Grameen Bank, MIT, Gates Foundation global health, Ameritrade, SAS, the Container Store, Home Depot, Apple, Snap-on tools, Wikipedia, McDonald’s. Southwest Airlines does some things very well (shouldn’t they get extra credit for actually being profitable when all around them go bankrupt). Solectron does some things very well, but they have been doing poorly financially for quite some time.
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Lean Software Development

Posted on January 22, 2006  Comments (3)

Lean Software Development: A Field Guide – the first 3 chapters of this new book are available online. Excellent, recommended for anyone interested in lean thinking ideas.

Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck, 2003.

Articles on lean programming by the Poppendieck’s

Toyota’s Early History

Posted on January 22, 2006  Comments (4)

via Got Boondogle:

A book that I recently finished is “Quest for the Dawn” by Shoji Kimoto. “Quest for the Dawn” is a fascinating true story set from about 1930 to the mid 1950s of a bold business quest to build an automobile from the ground up. The relentless inventors were Sakichi and Kiichiro Toyoda and, of course, the car manufacturer was the Toyota Motor Company.

Look interesting, so I went on amazon.com and Quest for the Dawn by Shoji Kimoto was available for $1, through a 3rd party, plus $3.49 shipping. I really like many of the things the internet makes easy.

And relating to the zero defects post earlier today. I never thought of it as a defect when I couldn’t order an obscure book, in a minute or two, from home and have it delivered to me. Deming was right that: “Absence of defects does not necessarily build business… Something more is required.”

Related: Shigeo Shingo’s Influence on TPS

Zero Defects

Posted on January 22, 2006  Comments (2)

Zero Defects by Norman Bodek:

Do you believe it is possible to have Zero Defects? I am not talking about six sigma at all.

I believe it is possible to have zero defects (in a sense). But I do not believe it is a good management strategy to practice what those I have heard in the past preaching zero defects.

A Dichotomy by Norman Bodek. Wow, you really have to look to find this article after you follow the link. I think the site could really benefit from improving the usability of the site (similar to lean ideas on making things visible and easy to find):

In truth, you should be making lots of mistakes. We do want you to learn, but for the sake of your customers you should not allow mistakes to become defects. That is the dichotomy! Make mistakes but don’t allow them to become defects.

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Great Charts

Posted on January 22, 2006  Comments (5)

Karl Hartig displays some excellent charts that he created (for the Wall Street Journal) on his web site. The charts seem very similar to what would result from applying Edward Tufte’s ideas. Rarely do I see charts that do such a good job of visually displaying data. The lack of such effective visual display of information is another example of how much improvement could be made just by applying ideas that are already published.

The Energy production consumption chart is especially well done I think – pdf version of the energy chart.

Via, The best charts I’ve ever seen.

Edward Tufte’s books are great:

An Interview with Edward R. Tufte by Mark Zachry and Charlotte Thralls
Edward Tufte’s web site

Engines of Democracy

Posted on January 21, 2006  Comments (0)

Engines of Democracy by Charles Fishman, Fast Company:

The 170-plus people who work at this plant try to make perfect jet engines. And they come close. On average, one-quarter of the engines that GE/Durham sends to Boeing have just a single defect — something cosmetic, such as a cable not lined up right, or a scratch on a fan case. The other three-quarters are, in fact, perfect.
…
GE/Durham’s continuous-feedback culture — “We call this the feedback capital of the world,” says Paula Sims — means that while in one sense it’s true that no one here has a boss, the opposite is also true: “I have 15 bosses,” says Keith McKee. “All of my teammates are my bosses.” No one is exempt. “Not long after I started here,” says Sims, “an employee came to me and said, ‘Paula, you realize that you don’t need to follow up with us to make sure we’re doing what we agreed to do. If we say we’ll do something, we’ll do it. You don’t need to micromanage us.’ I sat back and thought, ‘Wow. That’s so simple. I’m sending the message that I don’t trust people, because I always follow up.’ I took that to heart. This was a technician, and I had been at the plant less than 30 days. I appreciated that he felt comfortable enough to tell me this. And I thought, ‘This really is a different place.’”

Ackoff Podcast

Posted on January 19, 2006  Comments (0)

I found this great podcast via the post – School Architecture: Doing the Wrong Thing Right.

As usually Ackoff provides great ideas, in an interesting and entertaining manner. This talk focuses on learning (and education and teaching) and doing the right things (effectiveness). In talking to educators Ackoff criticizes the educational system. Throughout the speech he does his normal excellent job of explaining system thinking. Enjoy.

Russell Ackoff Talk at Great Schools By Design Summit (mp3 podcast)

Improving Communication

Posted on January 18, 2006  Comments (0)

How to Communicate with Me by David Anderson. A nice post, with practical advice on improving communication.

He understood that service goes downward in management and he encouraged us to communicate to him, how he could be of service to us. I’ve used the template I developed for communicating with John as a way to train my staff to better up-manage. It’s important not to expect people to do this intuitively. Generally, their only up-management training came when as a child they learned how to manipulate parents to get what they wanted. Manipulation isn’t the result we’re after. Understanding the correct level to make decisions and how to ask for senior intervention, is what we are looking for. Here is the template…

Effective Innovation

Posted on January 17, 2006  Comments (0)

Overcoming the barriers to effective innovation (pdf format) by Pierre Loewe and Jennifer Dominiquini

The top six obstacles to innovation identified by respondents were consistent across industries:

  1. Short-term focus.
  2. Lack of time, resources or staff.
  3. Leadership expects payoff sooner than is realistic.
  4. Management incentives are not structured to reward innovation.
  5. Lack of a systematic innovation process.
  6. Belief that innovation is inherently risky.

Related posts:

Management Improvement Leaders

Posted on January 17, 2006  Comments (6)

Who’s Driving Quality Today by Laura Smith, Quality Digest.

Ten years ago, in our March 1995 issue, we profiled 45 “New Quality Gurus.” Although it was one of our more popular articles, some of the “gurus” and their causes have faded into obscurity. Other gurus chased the latest fads into oblivion. A few have shown remarkable staying power.

When we decided to revisit the quality gurus issue, one thing was immediately apparent: There isn’t any one guru who stands out above the rest. In fact, the quality profession is remarkably free of fads at the moment. Six Sigma has settled into the mainstream, and ISO 9001 has become firmly entrenched in Corporate America. So while we wait for the “Next Big Thing,” we’re also waiting for the next big guru.

Who does Quality Digest select this time? Dennis Arter, Paul Borawski, Joe Bransky, Michael Carmody, Subir Chowdhury, Joe De Feo, Ellen Domb, H. James Harrington, Mikel Harry, Harry Hertz, Robert H. King, Denise Robitaille, Ola Rollen, Shin Taguchi, Jack West and Donald J. Wheeler.

Who would I select, as the leaders of management improvement (lean thinking, six sigma, systems thinking, continual improvement, customer focus, innovation, leadership, quality management, theory of constraints…) thought and practice today? Read more

Books: Blink, Freakonomics and more

Posted on January 16, 2006  Comments (1)

I finished reading two very popular books this weekend: Freakonomics and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. While both books were enjoyable and interesting, they really seemed to offer a few good or interesting ideas stretched to fill a book. That is the same thought I had after reading The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman. I found all of them fine. I found them to be worth reading, but I don’t know they warrant as much attention as they have received.
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What Should GM Do?

Posted on January 16, 2006  Comments (0)

GM must take back concepts that Toyota has capitalized on by W. Harrison Goodenow:

It still doesn’t have to be this way. The solution lies in better manufacturing engineering and not in Machiavellian marketing. Concurrent engineering, hard prototyping, management by planning, real process control and Deming’s analytic-studies approach to design of experiments are proven approaches to designing and building a quality car competitively. Just ask Toyota.

Lean Accounting

Posted on January 15, 2006  Comments (0)

Lean Accounting (Lean Beans) by Sue Sondergelt

We must get rid of Standard Cost and Absorption Accounting for managing the business. This is 1930′s thinking, when business was all labor, little material, and very little overhead. Today business is all material, very little labor, and moderate overhead.

A nice short article introducing accounting issues which influence organizational behavior in the counter-productive ways.
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Improved Web Search

Posted on January 14, 2006  Comments (0)

In my recent post on improving Google one suggestion I made was:

>Let me remove web sites from my default searches.

Today while using Yahoo they provided this option (named “block” by Yahoo). Good. Using Yahoo Search I can now block site that hide content behind pay, or registration, walls and spam sites. Obviously it would be better if they blocked the spam sites themselves but this is a useful feature for those that sneak through.

I would also prefer if Yahoo would let me block all pages that don’t display the content (that content that prompted Yahoo to suggest the link for the terms entered) without going through some paid or registration wall. But this block feature is useful in the case that they don’t do so. They seem to be starting down that path (looking on the preference page but I still get many sites that are returned as matches that don’t go directly to the content that was matched against).

Public Management II

Posted on January 12, 2006  Comments (6)

Public Management-The Bush Administration II by Paul Soglin:

>Since that time, John Hunter posted a comment in reference to W. Edwards Deming:

Newt Gingrich is also a supporter of Deming’s ideas: “I’m a disciple of Edwards Deming. I really believe in a culture and system of quality.”

Any time I find myself in the company of Newt Gingrich, I become a little concerned, especially since he tends to bounce around and not ‘drill down’ to learn how things work. In addition, I don’t accept all of Deming’s teachings as universal truth. If anything I am more a student of Peter Scholtes, a Deming student who wrote the invaluable The Leader’s Handbook: Making Things Happen, Getting Things Done

Paul Soglin also stated: Read more

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