Monthly Archives: June 2006

Toyota IT for Kaizen

Posted on June 22, 2006 by John Hunter

How Toyota Uses Information Technology (IT) for Kaizen [the broken link was removed] by Jon Miller. He quotes Toyota’s CIO from the Japanese article: Part of my job as CIO is to take on these company-wide issues and use this … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Hospitals, Heal Thyselves

Posted on June 22, 2006 by John Hunter

Hospitals, Heal Thyselves by Cal Thomas: This proven system does not require more staff or expensive consultants and it certainly does not need another bureaucratic, costly and inefficient government agency, which can only make things worse. Improvements can be made, … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Health care, Lean thinking, Management, Systems thinking | Comments Off on Hospitals, Heal Thyselves

More on Obscene CEO Pay

Posted on June 22, 2006 by John Hunter

Study site: CEO-worker pay imbalance grows [the broken link has been removed] includes the graph above. Unfortunately this reverse robin hood (steal from the workers, stock holder, customers…) and give to the CEO tale continues. Hopefully someday soon we can … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Edward Tufte’s new book: Beautiful Evidence

Posted on June 21, 2006 by John Hunter

Beautiful Evidence by Edward Tufte is now available. Beautiful is the right word. Tufte’s books are an example of what can be created when someone truly loves what they do and takes pride in every detail of their work. His books are excellent. Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Data, Management | 3 Comments

Dr. Shigeo Shingo

Posted on June 20, 2006 by John Hunter

Norman Bodek responds to, Shigeo Shingo’s Influence on TPS by Art Smalley, with: Dr. Shigeo Shingo – The Greatest Manufacturing Consultant. As the title shows this article focuses on the contributions of Dr. Shingo. I still find the original article … Continue reading →

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

Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog

Posted on June 17, 2006 by John Hunter

We have updated the design of the Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog. Please share your comments on the design: we plan on moving this blog to a similar design.

Posted in curiouscat.com, Science | Comments Off on Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog

Health Care Crisis

Posted on June 16, 2006 by John Hunter

Probe finds nation’s emergency care system at ‘breaking point’ (the San Jose Mercury News broke the link so I removed it – poor usabilty on their part) by Lauran Neegaard: It’s a sobering symptom of how the nation’s emergency-care system … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Lean thinking, Management, Public Sector, Systems thinking | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Thinking About the Future

Posted on June 15, 2006 by John Hunter

In Thinking About the Future Russ Ackoff does his usual great job of providing insightful ideas while not being afraid to be controversial. In this speech Dr. Ackoff discusses his thoughts on the issue of global development at the occasion … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Management, Systems thinking | Comments Off on Thinking About the Future

Lean National Health System

Posted on June 14, 2006 by John Hunter

A presentation today, Lean Thinking For the NHS, by Dan Jones is getting press coverage in England.NHS should embrace lean times: The improvements came through examining the patient’s whole experience, and removing the sometimes-fatal delays in getting them into the … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Systems thinking, UK | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Brainstorming Under Attack

Posted on June 14, 2006 by John Hunter

Brainstorming under attack: 8 errors in the WSJ [the broken link was removed]. The WSJ has their content behind a wall [the broken link was removed] so their content is not part of the web and so I have not … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Brainstorming Under Attack