Monthly Archives: October 2005

Bill Hunter and Peter Scholtes

Posted on October 31, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement I have recently updated Peter Scholtes‘ web site (author of the Team Handbook and the Leader’s Handbook) and created a new web site for my father: Bill Hunter – williamghunter.net. They were friends and colleagues. I frequently receive kind words from people who knew my father. A recent note: I just thought I’d let you know how much I enjoyed your dad’s class as a grad student in 1979 at UW-Madison. I’m sure you’ve heard many comments … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged ,

The Power of Why

Posted on October 31, 2005 by John Hunter

NUMMI Tour Tale #3: The Power of Why by Mark Graban: Again, another “wow” moment. For one, NUMMI put the situation in customer terms. Do not use these parts, because there would be a negative impact on the customer. It didn’t say “do not use the parts because I say so (and you wouldn’t understand the reason anyway)”. … Why are we doing lean? Why is it necessary to standardize our workbenches? Why is it important to get these parts … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing

Manufacturing and the Economy

Posted on October 30, 2005 by John Hunter

In Global Market, Iowa Manufacturers Fight for Survival: The conventional wisdom has been that expanded trade would result in the United States losing low-pay, low-skilled manufacturing jobs, said David Swenson, an economic scientist at Iowa State University. But “a lot of the jobs that we have traditionally thought of as high value, high quality, high benefits are in trouble, too.” The conventional wisdom was that the rest of the world would not be able to compete with the United States … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Economics, Management, Manufacturing, Popular, quote | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Toyota Phenomenon

Posted on October 30, 2005 by John Hunter

The Toyota Phenomenon [the broken link was removed] by Ernst Glauser: Toyota’s success starts with its brilliant production engineering, which puts quality control in the hands of the line workers who have the power to stop the line or summon help the moment something goes wrong. Walk into a Toyota factory in Japan or America, Derby in Britain or Valenciennes in France and you will see the same visual displays telling you everything that is going on. You will also … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged ,

Deming Review Postcasts

Posted on October 29, 2005 by John Hunter

Postcast on W. Edwards Deming by Paul C. Palmes. This is the first of three programs dedicated to the teachings of W. Edwards Deming. The Internet has numerous websites devoted to his thoughts and methods. I strongly suggest that you avail yourself of many of these offerings if this and programs that follow stir your interest As I mentioned previous I see potential for podcasts as another tool to improve learning of management ideas: BetterProcess Podcasts and Blog Malcolm Gladwell … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, webcast

Management Training Program

Posted on October 28, 2005 by John Hunter

Fog Creek Software Management Training Program by Joel Spolsky: Finally, when you’re really really good, they let you hang around with Yussef on the ovens. Yussef was about 100 years old and so good at running the ovens it was scary. When Gabbi tried to show me how to solve the problem of bread sticking to the conveyer belts on the way out of the oven, he ran back and forth like a lunatic for ten minutes, turning knobs, pulling … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Popular, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Toyota Manufactures More Itself

Posted on October 27, 2005 by John Hunter

Bucking the trend, Toyota controls quality, cost by making many parts in house [the broken link was removed], AutoWeek via Lean Manufacturing Blog: On one hand, the company sees parts making as a critical piece of its overall quality-control program. Toyota argues that keeping some parts in-house actually makes it more efficient. Outsourcing parts simply to meet the changing industry norm is viewed warily by Toyota executives. “I don’t believe we can outsource our responsibility to the customer,” Seizo Okamoto

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 1 Comment

New Business Ideas Take Time

Posted on October 27, 2005 by John Hunter

New Business Ideas Take Time [the broken link was removed] by Edward DeBono Some types of change carry more immediate benefits, such as problem-solving. The problem is disrupting a system or individuals, so solving that problem is of instant benefit. Even in cases where the benefits are not immediate, they can be predicted easily. Because of this, management thinking is too preoccupied with problem-solving. Good point. This is true for at least too reasons: short term thinking and the desire … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

The Power of Teams

Posted on October 27, 2005 by John Hunter

The Power of Teams, by Lynn Witten (broken link removed): >Train team leaders and members. It is critical to provide training and guidance to people on how to function as effective team members and leaders. In addition, problem-solving training can give teams and team leaders a structured approach to finding solutions. It can help teams overcome members’ natural defensiveness and finger-pointing. Evaluate incentive systems. Many incentive systems have been established to reward individual effort or effort from one functional area. … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged

Lean Principles in Health Care

Posted on October 26, 2005 by John Hunter

“Lean” principles apply to health care [the broken link was removed], by Donna Daniel: Making the shift to a lean enterprise, whether it’s in a hospital, a physician practice or a nursing home, isn’t easy. Like any culture shift, it will require commitment and time. There may be resistance, especially given the complex nature of health care. But stay the course. Lean has a successful track record in many industries so you will need to provide education, communication and reinforcement … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Management | Tagged

OpenOffice 2.0

Posted on October 26, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Software – Open Source – Freeware OpenOffice 2.0, the excellent freeware office suite is now available. It is great free software that imports Microsoft formatted documents and creates the same amazingly well. Open Office runs on Apple, Linux, Microsoft and more operating systems and installs easily. One nice feature is that you can create pdf documents from any file (text, spreadsheet, presentation) with the click of one button. They also added a new database in release 2.0. I’ve used … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | 1 Comment

Go Lean to Remain Competitive

Posted on October 26, 2005 by John Hunter

Go Lean to Remain Competitive [the broken link was removed]: Captains of industry should adopt Lean Production Systems, an idea {conceived} by Toyota for its car-making, to transform their plants to efficient ones, for survival in the globalisation era Sundaram Clayton Limited Brakes Division President C N Prasa. In 1998 the SCL Brakes Division won the Deming Prize and in 2002 they won the Japan Quality Medal. Sundaram-Clayton Limited [the broken link was removed], Mission: We are committed to being … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, India, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , , , ,

Why Fix the Escalator?

Posted on October 25, 2005 by John Hunter

Why Fix the Escalator? from the Lean manufacturing blog on a visit to the NUMMI plant: A very large permanent sign above the escalator said something like: “Sorry for inoperative escalator. It would cost $120k to repair. We feel money could be better spent on other things. Please accept our apologies.” Wow. The frugality and practicality of TPS was illustrated by that sign, our tour group thought. Rather than a knee-jerk reaction of fixing it when broken, somebody asked that … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 1 Comment

Lean Development

Posted on October 25, 2005 by John Hunter

Lean Development, by Freddy Ball and Michael Ball. Great article. According to a National Center for Manufacturing Sciences report, Toyota product development projects can take half the time of US equivalents, with four times their productivity (150 product engineers utilised by Toyota per car programme versus 600 for twice as long at Chrysler). … As with implementing the Toyota production system, a more precise understanding of development practices doesn’t necessarily help to improve the efficiency of engineering projects for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles | Tagged ,

Going Beyond (or away from) Lean Thinking?

Posted on October 25, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Continuous Improvement – Lean Alone No Longer Cutting It [the broken link was removed] by Tonya Vinas [the broken link was removed], IndustryWeek: It’s a dicey time for manufacturers that have spent the past five to 10 years on the lean journey. They and their top-level executives are finding that lean alone is not enough. Well I would agree “lean,” as it is commonly implemented, is not enough. I believe ideas from Deming that are missing from … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged | 2 Comments

Deming’s Ideas at Markey’s Audio Visual

Posted on October 24, 2005 by John Hunter

Last week at the Deming Institute seminar: How to Create Unethical, Ineffective Organizations That Go Out of Business, Mark Miller, General Manager, Markey’s Audio Visual spoke on Markey’s experience adopting Deming’s ideas. It was a great presentation. He did a great job of explaining what it was like to work at a company focused on applying Deming’s management philosophy. I capture some of the points he talked about below. 1986 Markey’s started providing Audio Visual support to all Deming’s seminars. … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Deming, Management | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments