Lucas TVS on Global and Local Expansion Mode

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No More Lean Excuses by Dan Jones

This is a theme in Jones and Womack’s recent book: Lean Solutions.
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Topic: travel photos, Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, lies in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a few hours from Washington DC. Skyline Drive runs the length of the park as does the Appalachian Trail. I hiked several trails in October, 2004 and took these pictures.
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Best-kept secrets of the world’s best companies by Paul Kaihla.

I agree that management is much more complex than books or simple theories claim. I think one of the great difficulties people have in evaluating management concepts is that the complexity (and interaction) makes it very difficult to evaluate (especially using accurate data).

Still, I think great management ideas are found in the thoughts of leading management thinkers (now it is true most I think most “writings or speeches of gurus and consultants” don’t provide much use but the right thinkers do offer great value).
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Fear Remains a Toyota Motivator by Harry Stoffer, Automotive News.

First the don’t let the title fool you, this is not an indication Toyota is going against Deming’s obligation of management to “Drive out fear and build trust so that everyone can work effectively”. Deming was talking about driving out the fear management creates for employees intentionally (forced ranking…) and un-intentionally (creating a climate where people are more fearful of pointing out problems than just ignoring them…). See: Deming and Toyota.

This article is talking about Toyota’s never ending quest to do better. At least in North America we seem biased toward putting that quest for doing better negatively. Rather than being drawn to improve it is most often stated as being scared that if we don’t we will have to pay for failing to improve. Thus the reference to fear.
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David Anderson’s post, Lean vs. TOC - No Conflict, is an excellent addition to the previous post here: Lean Thinking and Management.

David refers to a post, looking for a conflict, that is definitely worth reading:

I like the way the post looks at this question. I must admit, my personally view is that the conflict is not as stark as it may appear. (more…)

“Flow” and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi by David Farmer:

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Several interesting posts have been inspired by the Kaizen Priorities post on Got Boondoggle. While it has been mentioned debating these ideas may not be valuable, I believe it can be valuable to explore the reasons behind the different views.

Bill Waddel’s post, Lean Manufacturing, points to the importance of cycle time reduction (versus the priorities mentioned in the original post). I think that point is valuable. He also talks about the reasons for Six Sigma’s failures and the difficulty finding lean manufacturing success stories (outside Toyota).

I agree that we should acknowledge the paucity of success stories. The failures of management are not minor. The problems are large and the successes seem limited. The biggest thing I think we need to learn from this is that improving management is not easy. The concepts may seem simple but most of us can look around and see much more Dilbert Boss behavior than lean thinking behavior. And the gap between those two types of behavior seems to rise as you go “up” the organization chart.
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Cells and High Volumes: Forget What You Think You Know by Gary S. Vasilash:

Why Your Organization Isn’t Learning All It Should by Anita Tucker, Amy Edmondson, and Steven Spear

While problems must be solved to reduce the impact on the current customer the organization must also prevent future customers from the poor result.
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In response to Deming Electronic Network message, Deming and Toyota:
“I have read a few of the threads referring to Toyota and their success. I am somewhat familiar with the Toyota Production System (where Lean principles sprouted from), but I have often wondered if Toyota subscribed to all of Deming’s 14 points.

I believe Toyota applied Deming’s ideas to create a management system and continued to develop that system to create the Toyota Production System (also known as lean manufacturing). I believe a convincing argument can be made for Toyota following all 14 points.

An interesting article on Toyota’s web site illustrates their commitment to several of the points, Toyota Special Report: Thinking Production System.
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How to Institute DOE in Your Company by Davis Balestracci:

Design of Experiments (DoE) was developed by R.A. Fisher in the 1920s (related terms: factorial design, multivariate expertness). Six Sigma was the first general management approach that specifically highlighted the use of Designed Experiments for improvement. Still the use of factorial designed experiments is much less than it could be.
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The images shows: I am 64th in line as a VIP. If I were not a VIP I would be 1st in line.

Actually the graphic is mainly just funny. The real broken part is that the system has disconnected me twice and then you have to wait to be readmitted - granted only a minute and a half. CBS is trying live internet video on a scale not attempted before. It is bound to have a level of service less than tried and true methods.

By signing up early (still for free) you could be treated as a VIP. The first time I tried to sign in my VIP status helped. The image for the video is of pretty low quality but still I am satisfied. I would hope in future years the quality will improve. But for now I am happy with this opportunity at all. The biggest failure with the current setup is the do not allow viewing of the game that “is being broadcast” in your area. However right now my station stopped showing the Marquette game and the internet site still doesn’t let me view it. They really should fix this problem.

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Kaizen Priorities by Mike Wroblewski:

Another excellent post from Got Boondoggle.

Re: Six Sigma won’t cure bad management

I believe Six Sigma can be an effective management improvement strategy. It is not the most effective, in my opinion, but still effective. In my opinion, if Six Sigma isn’t making a significant impact on fixing bad management then it isn’t a very effective six sigma effort.

Like most management concepts how it is applied varies tremendously. If one just uses some tools that are part of the “Six Sigma tool kit” (mostly tools from TQM and the like) then you might improve bad management only marginally.
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Winning With Service by John Teresko:

Service can be a great differentiator, if you can do it well. Since, so often, service is poor in so many areas those that provide good service can set themselves apart. It is usually difficult for competitors to copy exceptional service.

Related posts:

• Customer Service is Important
• Innovation and Customer Focus
• Deming’s Ideas at Markey’s Audio Visual
• Superior Customer Experiences