Monthly Archives: September 2006

Lean is Harmony

Posted on September 30, 2006 by John Hunter

In Mike Wroblewski’s capstone, to his posts on his tour of lean manufacturing in Japan, he states: My lean manufacturing epiphany is quite simple, LEAN IS HARMONY. … The lean principles are helping us develop and promote harmony by removing barriers, rocks, and conflicts that disrupt flow in our business. Yes, lean is about eliminating waste and using great lean tools to improve our business but that is all we seem to focus on in the US. Lean principles are … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Six sigma, Systems thinking

Meeting Like Google

Posted on September 29, 2006 by John Hunter

How to Run a Meeting Like Google [the broken link was removed], offers good advice like agendas distributed ahead of time, having a note taker… Instead, she encourages such comments as “The experimentation on the site shows that his design performed 10% better.” This works for Google, because it builds a culture driven by customer feedback data, not the internal politics that pervade so many of today’s corporations. Also definitely read: Most Meetings are Muda and meeting advice from 37 … Continue reading →

Posted in Google, Management, Quality tools | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Leaving Quality Behind – Again No

Posted on September 28, 2006 by John Hunter

Is PAT Leaving Quality Behind? [the broken link was removed] The intent of PAT was to advocate a more scientific and methodical approach to product development, scale-up and production. The impact of PAT will be felt in all sectors of the organization, and if applied correctly, will increase granularity in the quality and quantity of data being created throughout the product development lifecycle. Ok, so in what way is that leaving quality behind? Does this add something to design of … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Management, Process improvement | Tagged , ,

Excessive CEO Pay

Posted on September 28, 2006 by John Hunter

Overpaid CEOs and Underpaid Managers: Fairness and Executive Compensation by James B. Wade, Charles A. O’Reilly, III and Timothy G. Pollock: We also find evidence suggesting that CEOs serve as a key referent for employees in determining whether their own situation is “fair,” and this influences their reactions to their own compensation. More specifically, we find that when lower-level managers are underpaid relative to the CEO, that is, underpaid more than the CEO or overpaid less, they are more likely … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , ,

Health Insurance Premiums Soar Again

Posted on September 26, 2006 by John Hunter

Health insurance premiums continue to soar (Lame Mercury news removed the page so I removed the link): For the seventh straight year, premiums for employer-based health insurance rose more than twice as fast as overall inflation and wages, an annual survey of employers shows. This health care crisis continues to dramatically harm the economy yet attempts to deal with the issue remain much too small. Good news is available, for example: Lean Health Care Works and Going Lean in Health … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care | 1 Comment

Chaos Management (by design) at Google

Posted on September 25, 2006 by John Hunter

Chaos by design by Adam Lashinsky: Sandberg recently committed an error that cost Google several million dollars — “Bad decision, moved too quickly, no controls in place, wasted some money,” is all she’ll say about it — and when she realized the magnitude of her mistake, she walked across the street to inform Larry Page, Google’s co-founder and unofficial thought leader. “God, I feel really bad about this,” Sandberg told Page, who accepted her apology. But as she turned to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Google, Innovation, Management | 4 Comments

Lean Outsourcing

Posted on September 25, 2006 by John Hunter

Unfortunately many people think of outsourcing when they think of lean, because they don’t understand lean manufacturing. Lean Manufacturing and Outsourcing by Eric O. Olsen and Mark Zetter (via Lean Outsourcing) looks at outsourcing with an understanding of lean manufacturing. Related: Toyota Manufactures More Itself – Communication Failures Impact Quality – Excessive Executive Pay – outsource the CEO – IT Outsourcing Slowing

Posted in Lean thinking, Management

South Carolina Photos

Posted on September 24, 2006 by John Hunter

South Carolina photos from my visit last September to Huntington Beach State Park (photo above), Charleston and Cypress Gardens. More travel photos – travel photo posts.

Posted in curiouscat.com, Travel photos | Tagged ,

Manufacturing Jobs

Posted on September 23, 2006 by John Hunter

The article, Manufacturing Lost 3.4 Million Jobs Since 1998 [the broken link was removed], indicates “The increased output should lead to job recovery.” I doubt it. While it is true there is a correlation between output and jobs by far the most significant trend is more manufacturing output and fewer manufacturing jobs everywhere in the world. Like so many articles talking about manufacturing job losses in the USA this one could leave many readers thinking that the USA needs to … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Systemic Thinking

Posted on September 23, 2006 by John Hunter

Systemic Thinking by Gary Bartlett provides a nice introduction to systemic thinking compared to analysis. Analysis is very useful however, the strong tendency to focus on only breaking apart systems to analyze components does result in missing insight into improvement opportunities (that can be gained by looking at the system as a whole). Conventional thinking techniques are fundamentally analytical. Systemic thinking is different – it combines analytical thinking with synthetical thinking. … That tool is synthesis – seeing how things … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Innovation, Systems thinking | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Incentive Programs are Ineffective

Posted on September 19, 2006 by John Hunter

Reward and Incentive Programs are Ineffective — Even Harmful by Peter Scholtes The greatest management conceit is that we can “motivate” people. We can’t. Motivation is there, inside people. Our people were motivated when we hired them and everyday, when they come to work, they arrive with the intention of doing a good job. Managers cannot motivate. They can, however, de-motivate. Herzberg established this over 30 years ago (Herzberg, Frederick “One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?” Harvard Business … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Management Improvement History and Health Care

Posted on September 17, 2006 by John Hunter

Squeezing the fat from health care [the broken link was removed] by Hanah Cho is another article on lean healthcare. This one provides a better view of the overall picture – especially compared to all those claiming to be one of the first lean thinking effort in healthcare. A good sign was that the author referenced, Going Lean in Health Care, a great report by IHI (James Womack and others). It is nice to see a recognition of management history … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Management, Six sigma | Tagged ,

Lean Thinking at United

Posted on September 17, 2006 by John Hunter

Mark Graban gives a nice review of some material on web site of a United labor union in: An Encouraging Lean Example at United Airlines. From the union web site, he quotes: “Once fully implemented, the 5S+1 process can increase morale, create positive impressions on customers, and increase efficiency and organization. Not only will team members feel better about where they work, the effect on continuous improvement can lead to less waste, better quality and faster lead times.” It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Psychology

Flexibility in Lean Manufacturing

Posted on September 16, 2006 by John Hunter

What is Flexibility for Lean Manufacturing? [the broken link was removed] by Jon Miller: True flexibility should be a measure not of a machining system or an assembly department but of an entire value stream from the end customer through the supply chain and back to the end customer (from request to fulfillment) and this system’s (value stream’s) ability to deliver Every Product Every X with X being months, weeks, days, hours, etc. Planning and building capacity based on forecasts … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Manufacturing

Deming in the New Economy

Posted on September 15, 2006 by John Hunter

I just read an interesting paper (found via – Stating the Obvious [the broken link was removed]): New Economy Concepts and the Application of Deming’s Theories on Management [the broken link was removed] by Christian Buckley and Arthur Close All measures should supply accurate information usable for making good decisions. To paraphrase Dr. Deming – if you don’t know how to use the answer to improve you process, the calculation(s) were a waste of time. Great point, see: Measurement and … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management Articles, Software Development | Tagged , ,

Recalls at Toyota and Sony

Posted on September 15, 2006 by John Hunter

Recalls by Toyota and Sony shock Japan’s pride [the broken link was removed]: another article discussing the recent recalls at Toyota and Sony. Some have also begun to blame the decline on recent American-style management changes, like performance-based pay, the end of traditional lifetime job guarantees and increased use of temporary workers in order to cut costs. I don’t actually think this is right in Toyota’s case anyway; Toyota seems to have resisted adopting poor management practices form the west … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged | 2 Comments