Category Archives: Management

Boondoggle Rules

Posted on March 12, 2006 by John Hunter

Easy Lean from Got Boondoggle: The lean journey is a long, continuous process of learning, experimentation and improvement. … Most of you are smart enough not to buy into this branding of lean. However, there are some short-sighted executives that … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools | Comments Off on Boondoggle Rules

Toyota in China: Full Speed Ahead

Posted on March 10, 2006 by John Hunter

Toyota in China: Full Speed Ahead [the broken link was removed], Business Week. Yoshimi Inaba, who’s driving the Japanese auto maker’s expansion in the Middle Kingdom, discusses the Chinese market and his goals there. Toyota’s market share is just 3.5% … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Management, Manufacturing, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Consumer Idealized Design

Posted on March 8, 2006 by John Hunter

Consumer Idealized Design: Involving Consumers in The Product Development Process Interactive Design vs. Reactive “Focus” A consumer design session is characterized by at least three features which distinguish it from a focus group. (1) It requires innovation and interaction from … Continue reading →

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Warren Buffett’s 2005 Shareholder Letter

Posted on March 6, 2006 by John Hunter

As usually Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter is packed with good investment thoughts along with some management wisdom. Too often, executive compensation in the U.S. is ridiculously out of line with performance. That won’t change, moreover, because the deck … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Investing, Management | 6 Comments

Cease Mass Inspection for Quality

Posted on March 4, 2006 by John Hunter

Comment in response to, Re-Discovering W. Edwards Deming, a partial quote from that post: Not all of the Deming approach is part of core TPS thinking. In particular, Deming advocated a statistical sampling approach to quality inspection, while Toyota focuses … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The Power of Purpose

Posted on March 3, 2006 by John Hunter

The Power of Purpose by Rebecca A. Morgan: Constancy of purpose means that quality decisions are not situational. End of month quality is the same as beginning of month. It means that the long term benefit of the organization is … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Not Lean Retailing

Posted on March 1, 2006 by John Hunter

Renovating Home Depot [the broken link was removed], Business Week It is always dangerous to make too much of a magazine article, but Home Depot seems to be moving away from lean thinking in the following examples, to me anyway. … Continue reading →

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Executives Participating in Kaizen Events

Posted on March 1, 2006 by John Hunter

The Masco Mapmakers [the broken link was removed] by Bill Waddell Guys from Brasscraft or Morgantown Plastics might go to a Delta faucet plant for the event – and note that these are executives, not factory level folks – that … Continue reading →

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Made in the USA

Posted on February 28, 2006 by John Hunter

Is ‘Made in U.S.A.’ back in vogue? [the broken link was removed] As the need for speed in fashion retailing becomes ever more crucial to merchants, industry observers say “Made in U.S.A” is once again looking more attractive to some … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, Systems thinking | Tagged | 2 Comments

Lean Manufacturing Success

Posted on February 27, 2006 by John Hunter

K&S makes first shipment to China [the broken link was removed] by Buzz Ball The award was given for K&S Wire’s continuous improvement in manufacturing excellence and its implementation of “lean” enterprise principles into its everyday operations. It is because … Continue reading →

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