Author Archives: John Hunter

Collaboration Rules

Posted on August 17, 2005 by John Hunter

Collaboration Rules [broken link was removed] by Philip Evans and Bob Wolf: We have found that Toyota’s managerial methods resemble, in a number of their fundamentals, the workings of the Linux community; the Toyota Production System (TPS) owes some of its vaunted responsiveness to open-source traits. In fact, Toyota itself is evolving into a hybrid between a conventional hierarchy and a Linux-like self-organizing network. … Both emphasize granularity: They pay attention to small details, eliminate problems at the source, and … Continue reading →

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

Purpose of an Organization

Posted on August 16, 2005 by John Hunter

W. Edwards Deming described the purpose of an organization in New Economics, on page 51, as: The aim proposed here for any organization is for everybody to gain – stockholders, employees, suppliers, customers, community, the environment – over the long term. Like so much of what Deming said that makes sense to me. It is my sense the “conventional wisdom” would state something more along the lines of the purpose of a company is to make money. I do not … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

Indian Firms Learning From Toyota

Posted on August 15, 2005 by John Hunter

Taking A Page From Toyota’s Playbook [the broken link has been removed], Business Week: The goal for Wipro is to become the Toyota of business services. Toyota preaches continuous improvement, respect for employees, learning, and embracing change. “It’s the soft stuff that makes a big impact on the hard numbers,” says Kurien, a cheerful 45-year-old. There is plenty of hard-edged analysis, as well. To embrace Toyota’s methods, Kurien last year assigned teams to examine business processes, break them into discrete … Continue reading →

Posted in India, IT, Management, Process improvement, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 2 Comments

Science and Engineering Macroeconomic Investment

Posted on August 10, 2005 by John Hunter

I posted to the Curious Cat Science Blog on the Science and Engineering Doctoral Degrees being granted around the world. Why do I post this here as a Economic post? I believe, as do some countries that have made significant commitments to investing in science and technology education that such investments can have a large impact on long term economic success. A couple points from that post: From The Brain Drain [the broken link has been removed] by Debra W. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, quote, Science | Tagged , ,

Design of Experiments in Advertising

Posted on August 9, 2005 by John Hunter

How Two Guys From the Gold Country Are Changing Advertising Forever [the broken link has been removed] by Robert X. Cringely James Kowalick and Mario Fantoni, two guys who say they can show you how to use science to design ads that cost less while being 10 or more times as effective as doing it the old way. Their secret is the Taguchi Method, which is a technique for designing experiments that converge on an ideal product solution. … “I … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What Business Can Learn from Open Source

Posted on August 9, 2005 by John Hunter

What Business Can Learn from Open Source by Paul Graham As usual Paul Graham’s new article is a great read. I think the most important of the new principles business has to learn is that people work a lot harder on stuff they like. Well, that’s news to no one. So how can I claim business has to learn it? When I say business doesn’t know this, I mean the structure of business doesn’t reflect it. … When I’m writing … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Software Development | 5 Comments

Deming’s Seven Deadly Diseases

Posted on August 7, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Dr. Deming noted seven deadly diseases in chapter 3 of Out of the Crisis, 1986. Below his words from pages 97-98 are bolded. As with Deming’s other thoughts, his list of deadly diseases was continually modified as he learned more (to adjust the focus, the basic concept of the diseases were not changed). It is amazing how true all of these points still are. Seven Deadly Diseases Lack of constancy of purpose Emphasis on short term profits … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Management | 2 Comments

Six Sigma at Jaguar

Posted on August 3, 2005 by John Hunter

Six Sigma at Jaguar interview with David Brunson, Powertrain Quality & Reliability, Jaguar Cars Limited by onesixsigma.com. Are there particular tools you want to focus on using more in the future? Yes, it’s very important to focus on the tools you are getting the most value from, and try to apply them to as many areas as possible. There are tools that we want to be using more in the future: Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility (R&R) Modeling using design of … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Curious Cat Travels: Olympic and Mt. St. Helens

Posted on July 31, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Travel I have posted pictures from my recent trip to the Pacific Northwest: Olympic National Park photos and Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument photos. Previous travelogues include: Rocky Mountain National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Paris and Egypt.

Posted in Management

Bezos on Lean Thinking

Posted on July 29, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement and Investing 10 Questions for Jeff Bezos, time.com via Lean Manufacturing Blog Time: Here’s a question you probably hear all the time: read any good books lately? Bezos: [Laughs.] I read a book recently about Toyota’s lean production methodology, which is very interesting Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon.com. He really understand many quality management ideas: customer focus, long term thinking, process improvement, innovation. He also understands finance much better than most. I believe … Continue reading →

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

Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation

Posted on July 28, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation: ““The purpose of the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation is to find the innovators, whether small or large, to recognize and celebrate their example, and to inspire others.”” Peter F. Drucker In the years ahead, America’s nonprofits will become even more important. As government retrenches, Americans will look increasingly to the nonprofits to tackle the problems of a fast-changing society. These challenges will demand innovation — in services, … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Estate Tax Repeal

Posted on July 28, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Economics – Estate Tax The estate tax is the most capitalist tax that exists. Capitalism, which some seem to think is based on people inheriting assets from their relatives, is not. Capitalism is based on the concept that each person gets to receive rewards for their work. Long before Adam Smith, noble rich passed on their wealth to their heirs. It was not Capitalist then and it is not Capitalist now. Unfortunately many seem to have skipped economics in … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Tagged | 2 Comments

Stretching Agile to fit CMMI Level 3

Posted on July 27, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Stretching Agile to fit CMMI Level 3 by David J. Anderson. I highly recommend reading this article. My work happens to straddle both the management improvement and software development areas that this article covers. But, if you are interested in either area, this article offers some great material. And if you are interested in both, you are in for a treat. At Microsoft, we’ve adopted the teachings of W. Edwards Deming and stretched our MSF for Agile … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Online Lean Manufacturing Tutorials

Posted on July 27, 2005 by John Hunter

Tutorials on Lean Production / Lean Manufacturing [the broken link was removed] from the Defense Acquisition University. The site includes five short online videos by James Womack [the broken link was removed]. The site provides a nice introduction to lean ideas. Mr. John Shook… “Lean Manufacturing is a manufacturing philosophy which shortens the time between the customer order and the product build/shipment by eliminating sources of waste.” … Key lean principles are: … – Waste minimization by removing all non-value … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking

Design of Experiments Articles

Posted on July 25, 2005 by John Hunter

We have added several Design of Experiments articles to the Curious Cat Management Improvement Library recently, including: Teaching Engineers Experimental Design With a Paper Helicopter by George Box Rethinking the Paper Helicopter [the broken link was removed] by David H. Annis DOE It Yourself by Mark J. Anderson, A list of Design of Experiments exercises that can be done in a classroom setting or as home by students with short explanations and links to documents online wtih more details. A … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management, Statistics | Tagged

Vice President Presents Baldrige Awards

Posted on July 23, 2005 by John Hunter

Vice President Presents Baldrige Awards (sadly NIST broke the link so it was removed), press release from NIST (July 20, 2005). The 2004 Baldrige Award for Quality recipients (links to case studies, NIST also broke all these links, so removed – when are they going to hire people that understand the web?): The Bama Companies, Tulsa, Oklahoma (manufacturing category) In its endless quest for improvement, Bama uses a battery of advanced strategies and tools, including the Bama Quality Management System, … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged | 1 Comment