Monthly Archives: August 2006

Making Changes and Taking Risks

Posted on August 24, 2006 by John Hunter

Sales Force by Curtis Hartman, 1996 explores Ron Rodin’s use of Deming’s ideas at Marshall Industries. Ron Rodin’s book, Free Perfect and Now, is excellent. The system had to change. “We eliminated commissions, incentives, promotions, contests, P&Ls, forecasts, budgets, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Management Articles | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Internet Access at Work

Posted on August 23, 2006 by John Hunter

Providing internet access at work can create some management issues. However, the correct solution to those problems is not to be overly restrictive on access to the internet. Obviously, the most important thing is doing the work of the organization: … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Respect | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Toyota Land

Posted on August 22, 2006 by John Hunter

A visit to Toyota City: In Toyota land [the broken link was removed] by Vinod Jacob: When I was a little boy it was fascinating to read about Toyota’s vision for non-polluting vehicles to replace existing versions. I used to … Continue reading →

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Danaher Practicing Lean Thinking

Posted on August 22, 2006 by John Hunter

Manufacturer’s Acquisition Strategy Sets It Apart From The Pack [the broken link was removed], Investors Business Daily: “It’s adapted from the Japanese Kaizen system,” Holmstead said. “Kaizen is a way of removing waste and standardizing processes and bringing underperforming or … Continue reading →

Posted in Investing, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Gladwell (and Drucker) on Pensions

Posted on August 21, 2006 by John Hunter

The Risk Poolhttps://management.curiouscatblog.net/2006/08/21/gladwell-and-drucker-on-pensions/ by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point and Blink): The most influential management theorist of the twentieth century was Peter Drucker, who, in 1950, wrote an extraordinarily prescient article for Harper’s entitled “The Mirage of Pensions.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Economics, Health care, Investing, Management, Popular, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Toyota’s New Texas Plant

Posted on August 20, 2006 by John Hunter

Toyota exec stands up to Texas heat [the broken link was removed] by Cheryl Hall: Toyota’s new Texas plant is coming on line and will further increase Toyota’s contribution to the US economy, by buying from local suppliers and most … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Manufacturing, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Comments Off on Toyota’s New Texas Plant

Appalachian Trail Photos

Posted on August 20, 2006 by John Hunter

I just posted some photos from a couple short hikes on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania during September 2003. More Curious Cat Travels hiking photos: Grand Canyon National Park – Olympic National Park – Bull Run, Virginia – Yellowstone National … Continue reading →

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Ackoff, Idealized Design and Bell Labs

Posted on August 20, 2006 by John Hunter

Excerpt from Idealized Design: How to Dissolve Tomorrow’s Crisis…Today by Russell L. Ackoff, Jason Magidson and Herbert J. Addison: How Bell Labs Imagined — and Created — the Telephone System of the Future in the 1950s. Great stuff and another … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Creativity, Deming, Innovation, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Distort the System

Posted on August 19, 2006 by John Hunter

From our post: Targets Distorting the System, Dr. Brian Joiner: spoke of 3 ways to improve the figures: distort the data, distort the system and improve the system. Improving the system is the most difficult. Another example of this in … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Improving the 401(k) System

Posted on August 18, 2006 by John Hunter

401(k)s are a great retirement investment vehicle (for those in the USA). Since the introduction of 401(k)s they have proved very advantageous to those saving for their retirement. See our previous post on: Saving for Retirement. However, the experience thusfar … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Investing, Management | 1 Comment