Monthly Archives: April 2007

Standardized Work Instructions

Posted on April 29, 2007 by John Hunter

Standardized work instructions are in important part of Deming and lean manufacturing management systems. Processes need to be standardized and continually improved (kaizen). Without a documented standard process variation normally increases over time as processes drift away from the desired … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Womack: Toyota Now and the Risks They Face

Posted on April 27, 2007 by John Hunter

Why Toyota Won and How Toyota Can Lose by James Womack Toyota’s great risk, the way it can lose, is that its new managers and the managers in its new suppliers will revert to the old, mass-production mentality of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Lean thinking, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 2 Comments

Learning Lean: A Survey of Industry Lean Needs

Posted on April 18, 2007 by John Hunter

A draft version of Learning Lean: A Survey of Industry Lean Needs [the broken link was removed] by Gene Fliedner and Kieran Mathieson is now available. This voice of the customer report is product of some of those involved in … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools | Tagged ,

K-12 Educational Reform

Posted on April 17, 2007 by John Hunter

Educational Reform Failing K-12 Students, Educator Says [the broken link was removed] by Victor M. Inzunza: Educational reform has failed to substantially increase K-12 student achievement despite a “massive expenditure of resources,” but the system can be improved if some … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Education | Tagged | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #9

Posted on April 16, 2007 by John Hunter

Listening, Responding, Refining by Matt Cutts – “But you don’t need blogs or digg-like sites in this picture to respond to feedback; those are just tools. The important thing is the process. It’s a process that many groups at Google … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management

Lean is Not Mean

Posted on April 13, 2007 by John Hunter

Lean and Not Mean: Simple Management Most Effective [the broken link was removed]: The “pull” rather than “push” point of view first pioneered by the Japanese car manufacturers means that, in lean, everything is seen from the customer’s point of … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles | Tagged

Google Software Engineering

Posted on April 11, 2007 by John Hunter

An interesting series of posts on Google NYC, Top Google engineer talks to NYC software industry [the broken link was removed]: Google NYC is not a specialized engineering operation, its 300 engineers work in teams of three on the full … Continue reading →

Posted in Google, Management, Software Development | Tagged | 2 Comments

Toyota to Name Press as a Director

Posted on April 11, 2007 by John Hunter

Toyota to name first foreign director [the broken link was removed]: Toyota Motor Corp., seeking to add an international flavor to its management, will appoint a foreign national to its board of directors for the first time, sources said Tuesday. … Continue reading →

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

The Triumph of Lean Production

Posted on April 10, 2007 by John Hunter

The triumph of lean production by Steve Schifferes Laura pulls a cord, stopping the production line – and prompting her five fellow workers on trim line three to crowd round. They soon see why it is not screwed in properly … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing, Toyota Production System (TPS)

Western Trailers – Lean Manufacturing

Posted on April 9, 2007 by John Hunter

Western Trailers improves efficiency – with some help [the broken link was removed]: Western Trailers President Jerry Whitehead and a couple of other senior managers went through TechHelp’s lean-manufacturing course a few years ago. Now, the company is paying for … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing