Monthly Archives: April 2006

Quality and Costs

Posted on April 16, 2006 by John Hunter

Finding the balance between quality and cost [the broken link was removed] by Thomas Nolan Maureen Bisognano One of the steps toward a system for improving value is recognizing that waste removal is an essential component of that system, not … Continue reading →

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China’s Manufacturing Economy

Posted on April 15, 2006 by John Hunter

Brad Setser posts on manufacturing comparisons: Have China’s manufacturing powers been exaggerated? [the broken link was removed] I am all for pushing against over-generalizations that get repeated so often that they become conventional wisdom. The oft-stated argument that France isn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Economics, Manufacturing, Popular | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The World’s Most Innovative Companies

Posted on April 14, 2006 by John Hunter

The World’s Most Innovative Companies [the broken link was removed] : Today, innovation is about much more than new products. It is about reinventing business processes and building entirely new markets that meet untapped customer needs. Most important, as the … Continue reading →

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Dell, Reddit and Customer Focus

Posted on April 13, 2006 by John Hunter

Reddit is a site for what’s new and popular on the web (votes by the user community rate web links). That user community is highly skewed toward software engineers who are a bit irreverent (as some of the language in … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, IT, Management | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Lean Education Academic Network Spring Meeting

Posted on April 12, 2006 by John Hunter

The Lean Education Academic Network (LEAN) is having their Spring meeting [the broken link was removed] at the University of Kentucky in Lexington May 10th – May 12th. This is targeted at educators and students (a fairly small slice of … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Lean thinking, Management | 1 Comment

Why You Need a Roth IRA

Posted on April 12, 2006 by John Hunter

Why You Need a Roth IRA [the broken link was removed] by Erin Burt: If a 25-year-old contributes $4,000 each year until she retires and makes an average annual return of 8% on her investment, she’ll have more than $1.1 … Continue reading →

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Lean Material Handling

Posted on April 11, 2006 by John Hunter

Don’t Ignore your Water Spider a great post by Mike Wroblewski: The second night was little better and I quickly evaluated the improvements from the night before. Later that second night, I made more improvements. Each day, I continued the … Continue reading →

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Leading Lean: Missed Opportunity

Posted on April 10, 2006 by John Hunter

Leading Lean: Missed Opportunity [the broken link was removed] by Jamie Flinchbaugh: Three elements are needed to gain the benefits from using pull production to drive problems out into the open. First, you need strong problem-solving skills. Bringing a problem … Continue reading →

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The Art of Customer Service

Posted on April 10, 2006 by John Hunter

The Art of Customer Service [the broken link was removed] by Guy Kawasaki: 4. Don’t point the finger. This is the flip side of taking responsibility. As computer owners we all know that when a program doesn’t work, vendors often … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management Articles | Tagged | 1 Comment

PBS Documentary: Improving Hospitals

Posted on April 9, 2006 by John Hunter

Clare Crawford-Mason and Llyod Dobyns have teamed up on a new documentary. Previously they created If Japan Can-Why Can’t We? and the Deming Library Tapes. Good News – How Hospitals Heal Themselves (broken link was removed) A One-Hour Documentary Airing … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Health care, Lean thinking, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , | 9 Comments