Yearly Archives: 2006

South Carolina Photos

Posted on September 24, 2006 by John Hunter

South Carolina photos from my visit last September to Huntington Beach State Park (photo above), Charleston and Cypress Gardens. More travel photos – travel photo posts.

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Manufacturing Jobs

Posted on September 23, 2006 by John Hunter

The article, Manufacturing Lost 3.4 Million Jobs Since 1998 [the broken link was removed], indicates “The increased output should lead to job recovery.” I doubt it. While it is true there is a correlation between output and jobs by far … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Systemic Thinking

Posted on September 23, 2006 by John Hunter

Systemic Thinking by Gary Bartlett provides a nice introduction to systemic thinking compared to analysis. Analysis is very useful however, the strong tendency to focus on only breaking apart systems to analyze components does result in missing insight into improvement … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Innovation, Systems thinking | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Incentive Programs are Ineffective

Posted on September 19, 2006 by John Hunter

Reward and Incentive Programs are Ineffective — Even Harmful by Peter Scholtes The greatest management conceit is that we can “motivate” people. We can’t. Motivation is there, inside people. Our people were motivated when we hired them and everyday, when … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Management Improvement History and Health Care

Posted on September 17, 2006 by John Hunter

Squeezing the fat from health care [the broken link was removed] by Hanah Cho is another article on lean healthcare. This one provides a better view of the overall picture – especially compared to all those claiming to be one … Continue reading →

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Lean Thinking at United

Posted on September 17, 2006 by John Hunter

Mark Graban gives a nice review of some material on web site of a United labor union in: An Encouraging Lean Example at United Airlines. From the union web site, he quotes: “Once fully implemented, the 5S+1 process can increase … Continue reading →

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Flexibility in Lean Manufacturing

Posted on September 16, 2006 by John Hunter

What is Flexibility for Lean Manufacturing? [the broken link was removed] by Jon Miller: True flexibility should be a measure not of a machining system or an assembly department but of an entire value stream from the end customer through … Continue reading →

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Deming in the New Economy

Posted on September 15, 2006 by John Hunter

I just read an interesting paper (found via – Stating the Obvious [the broken link was removed]): New Economy Concepts and the Application of Deming’s Theories on Management [the broken link was removed] by Christian Buckley and Arthur Close All … Continue reading →

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Recalls at Toyota and Sony

Posted on September 15, 2006 by John Hunter

Recalls by Toyota and Sony shock Japan’s pride [the broken link was removed]: another article discussing the recent recalls at Toyota and Sony. Some have also begun to blame the decline on recent American-style management changes, like performance-based pay, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged | 2 Comments

Six Sigma in Sales

Posted on September 14, 2006 by John Hunter

Can Six Sigma Work in a Sales and Marketing Environment? [the broken link was removed] by Paul Selden: The more systematic view demystifies sales…. As such, that system can be subjected to objective analysis using tools common to Six Sigma … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles, Six sigma | Tagged | 1 Comment