More links to interesting management improvement blog posts.

• Lean IT – what comes first, technology or waste reduction? by Kent Blumberg – “rather than pushing technology on people and processes (the traditional top-down approach), Toyota looks to the people and processes to pull the technology they need to support their decision making.”
• Who Is GM’s Customer? by Dan Markovitz – “The average car buyer can’t calculate the cost of GM’s excess inventory, of course, but they don’t need to. That cost manifests itself in higher prices, or cheaper materials, or fewer features in the actual cars.”
• Top 5 Lean Manufacturing Books for Beginners by Jon Miller – Taiichi Ohno’s Gemba Keiei, The Toyota Way, Toyota Production System, Today and Tomorrow by Henry Ford, The Sayings of Shigeo Shingo
• Rube Goldberg Takes On Supply Chains by Kevin Meyer – “Is manufacturing in Everett really that difficult that flying tons of aluminum around the world makes more sense than to reemploy all those workers?”
• Technology Must Not Rule by Rob Berg – “Technology enables, but even the best technology absent good management leads to failure. As such, genuine Business Process Management expertise must precede BPM technology”
• Getting Started by Lee Fried – “The good news is that we have built a critical mass of supporters that is growing everyday. So start small. Work with solid leaders that are open to new ideas and pick visible, easily scoped projects.”
• Trying to Reduce Hospital Overprocessing by Mark Graban – “Virginia Mason reduced excessive testing, which meant they got paid less, even if the outcome for the patient was the same (and the payer/employer saved money).”
• Value Stream Mappin’ in Engineering by Liz Seyler – “1) It is worth shutting down Engineering for 6hrs in a day to focus and keep focus on the current and future state. 2) Team buy in is key to successful implementation of lean changes. 3) 30/60/90 days actions must be concise and measurable.”
• Happiness by Clarke Ching – “I think she clearly likes her job. Makes me feel happier as a parent and customer too.”
• Lean Manufacturing at Boeing by Mike Wroblewski – “First and foremost, problems need to be seen and not hidden so they can be fixed. The point is to improve the process to fix the problem instead of repeatedly dealing with a problem. It would be way too easy to hide a problem in a 3 day takt time.”
• The Twelve Project Meetings – An Ode to W. Edwards Deming at Holiday Time by Elisabeth Hendrickson – “At the fourth project meeting, my manager gave to me: more vendor trust, free quality, true leadership, and a vision of constancy.”
• Epidemic of Diagnoses by John Hunter – “this tendency to “over-diagnois” leads to Tampering. Lets assign a special cause to some instance and then implement a counter-measure (it seems to be “take this drug” is a common one). And just as tampering in the management world the “solutions” then create all sorts of problems.”

Related: Management Improvement Carnival #1 – Management Improvement Carnival #2