Category Archives: Management

The Toyota Way Fieldbook

Topic: Management Improvement The Toyota Way Fieldbook – a Practical Guide to implementing Toyota’s 4Ps by Jeffrey Liker has just been released. For this book he is joined by David Meier, and they delve into applying the concepts from his … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Lean thinking, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Comments Off on The Toyota Way Fieldbook

Deming Institute Conference

Topic: Management Improvement For those who might be interested in meeting in person, I will be in Indiana for the Deming Institute Conference [the broken link was removed] and the seminar, How to Create Unethical, Ineffective Organizations That Go Out … Continue reading

Posted in Management | Comments Off on Deming Institute Conference

Lean Government

Making Government Work [the broken link was removed] by Tom Vilsack via Panta Rei [the broken link was removed]: We redesigned the child welfare system to place greater focus on the complex and hard cases that people live out every … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Public Sector | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Dramatic Spread of Lean Thinking

Topic: Management Improvement and Economics The Dramatic Spread of Lean Thinking [the broken link was removed] by Jim Womack: Currently we are experiencing an explosion of interest in applying lean thinking to practically every process in every corner of the … Continue reading

Posted in Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Solectron Drives Lean Six Sigma Manufacturing to its Suppliers

Solectron Drives Lean Six Sigma Manufacturing to its Suppliers “Lean has fundamentally changed the manufacturing landscape, led by Toyota,” said Jim Womack. “The future of the EMS industry is found in Kaizen, and Solectron is leading the way. But to … Continue reading

Posted in Management | Comments Off on Solectron Drives Lean Six Sigma Manufacturing to its Suppliers

Ford and Managing the Supplier Relationship

There have a been a number of articles (Ford to slash vendors of key parts [the broken link was removed] – Ford Rethinks Supply Strategy and posts (A “Kinder and Gentler” Lean Supply Base? – Ford Adopts Toyota-style Supplier Strategy … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Manufacturing, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Performance Without Appraisal

In response to the Alternatives to Stack Ranking? post on the popular Mini-Microsoft blog. I’m also taking some time to contemplate on Deming’s points and assess how Microsoft is doing against them. … What I would deeply appreciate is real-world … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Lion of Lean

Great article – The Lion of Lean: An Interview with James Womack [broken link was removed] by Francis J. Quinn, Supply Chain Management Review: Let’s just take one example in the purchasing area. People say, “Yes, we’re going to have … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Deming, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged | Comments Off on The Lion of Lean

How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers

How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers [the broken link was removed], Sarah Jane Johnston interview of Steven Spear. It is our conclusion that Toyota has developed a set of principles, Rules-in-Use we’ve called them, that allow organizations to engage … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Management, Process improvement, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

SPC: History and Understanding

SPC: From Chaos To Wiping the Floor [broken link removed 🙁 it will be nice when sites start to realize breaking links is not acceptable] by Lynne Hare (who also was the 1997 Hunter Award winner) Shewhart based control chart … Continue reading

Posted in Management, Statistics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment