Category Archives: Management

Deming’s 14 Obligations of Management

Deming and his 14 Points [the broken link was removed] with comments from the Random Thoughts from a CTO blog. Curious Cat’s Deming on Management Deming’s 14 Points on the Curious Cat site 2 minute webcast of Deming (and Robert … Continue reading

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La-Z-Boy Lean

La-Z-Boy changing production lines to compete with China [the broken link was removed]: But in an attempt to better compete with the overseas market, the Neosho plant, along with six others in its division, is transitioning to the Lean Cellular … Continue reading

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Innovation at Toyota

The Birth of the Prius by Alex Taylor III: By the end of 1993 the development team had determined that higher oil prices and a growing middle class around the world would require the new car to be both roomy … Continue reading

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Quality Customer Focus

Delivering Two Kinds of Quality [the broken link was removed] by Keith McFarland, Business Week: What do the Japanese take for granted when it comes to quality? They take for granted that things should work as they are supposed to, … Continue reading

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Visible Data

Effective visual signals are important for effective management improvement: lean thinking emphasizes such ideas. Top 5 Rules of Effective Measurement Boards is an excellent post on how to make measurement effective. Take the time to find the important measures and … Continue reading

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Performance Appraisal Problems

The Struggle To Measure Performance [the broken link was removed], Business Week: One company that recently decided to dump forced rankings altogether is Chemtura (CEM), a $3 billion specialty chemicals company formed by the July merger of Crompton in Middlebury, … Continue reading

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Toyota Special Report: Thinking Production System

Toyota Special Report: Thinking Production System [the broken link was removed]. A very interesting article on Toyota’s web site (www.toyota.co.jp). At the 2003 Automotive Parts System Solution Fair, held in Tokyo, June 18, 2003, Teruyuki Minoura, then-managing director of global … Continue reading

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Learning, Systems and Improvement

A Major Mistake That Managers Make by Russell L. Ackoff Once again Ackoff provides great ideas: Page 4 and 5 explore the method to effectively learn from decisions the organization makes. The idea seem simple but they are powerful. Preparing … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | 4 Comments

Change is not Improvement

In response to: Why executives order reorgs [the broken link was removed] 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 … Continue reading

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TPS – Take 2

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 [the broken link was removed] by John Teresko: “Why is it that … Continue reading

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