Author Archives: John Hunter

New Toyota CEO’s Views

Posted on July 22, 2005 by John Hunter

The Man Driving Toyota from Business Week: Toyota has grown in the past few years, but [there’s a risk] that a belief that the current status is satisfactory creeps into the minds of employees. That’s what I’m worried about. We should never be satisfied with the current status. In each division, function, or region, we still have numerous problems to cope with. We need to identify each one of those tasks or problems and fully recognize them and pursue the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Agile Management

Posted on July 19, 2005 by John Hunter

David Anderson publishes the Agile Management Blog, wrote the Agile Management for Software Engineering: Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results, and works for Microsoft. Robert Scoble, technical evangelist [the broken link was removed], also with Microsoft, has posted an online video interview with David Anderson [the broken link was removed] on Microsoft’s Chanel 9 online. Quote by David Anderson, from the video: “My work focuses on applying the teachings of two management science gurus, one is Eli Goldratt … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Software Development, webcast | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Managing for Creativity

Posted on July 17, 2005 by John Hunter

Managing for Creativity [broken link removed] by Richard Florida and Jim Goodnight, July-August 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review. Over many years, the leaders of SAS Institute have distilled a set of principles for getting peak performance from creative people. Among them: Value the work over the tools, reward excellence with challenges, and minimize hassles. … Based in Cary, North Carolina, SAS has been in the top 20 of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list every year it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Scobleizer on David Anderson

Posted on July 17, 2005 by John Hunter

Scobleizer, one of the most popular blogs (say in the top 50 most read), posted recently about David Anderson [the broken link was removed]. Robert Scoble is a Microsoft employee with the title, technical evangelist. David Anderson is also a Microsoft employee working on Agile Management for software development. David incorporates a good deal of Deming’s ideas, lean thinking, theory of constraints, etc. in posts to his Agile Management Blog [the broken link was removed]: I interviewed David Anderson this … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Saving Lives: US Health Care Improvement

Posted on July 16, 2005 by John Hunter

8 part special report by US News and Word Report on improving the US Health Care system. Join IHI in an ambitious initiative called the 100K Lives Campaign. Its goal is to save 100,000 hospital patients’ lives by 9 a.m. on June 14, 2006, exactly 18 months from Berwick’s call to arms, by introducing six changes in hospital procedures. Each change addresses a problem, such as deaths from infections following surgery, and presents an arsenal of weapons to fight it, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care, Management Articles, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged | 10 Comments

Deming and Six Sigma

Posted on July 15, 2005 by John Hunter

The first Curious Cat Management Improvement blog post was on the Six Sigma and Deming Philosophies Recently the Deming Electronic Network has returned to this topic (broken link removed). The Quality Advisor web site has an article on this topic: Deming and Six Sigma (broken link so removed): The Six Sigma process can be seen to offer a parallel to Deming’s Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle, although Six Sigma brings experimental design and regression analysis to the forefront in the “plan” phase. Six … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Six sigma | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Fashion-Incubator on Deming’s Ideas

Posted on July 15, 2005 by John Hunter

Be corrigible [the broken link was removed]: For example, I was sold on Deming years ago but people still aren’t talking about his ideas. If there were a Nobel prize for manufacturing, Deming should have won it It is true Deming’s ideas do not get the attention they deserve, in my opinion. However, it is interesting to note the recent BBC radio program on Deming (available online) and Business Week including him in their list of the Top 25: Influential … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged

The Quality of Lean

Posted on July 15, 2005 by John Hunter

The Quality of Lean [the broken link was removed] post on Evolving Excellence. Lean has become so popular that companies (especially General Motors) have been snatching up lean experts, especially those with true TPS experience. Toyota itself is having difficulty finding and training appropriate people for their new plants, and in many cases are having to rely on the Lean experts at their component suppliers. This has even led to Toyota outsourcing Lean management for some plants

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles

Management is Prediction

Posted on July 14, 2005 by John Hunter

re: post on prediction [link broken, so removed] on the Deming Electronic Network, Petter Ogland wrote: …that intelligence more or less boils down to updating a predictive model of the world. As far as I can see, this is the C.I. Lewis epistemology that Shewhart and Deming based their philosophy upon. …but is there any kind of operational definition for ‘prediction’ that would explain what Deming means when he uses this word in various contexts? I think your first point … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Fast Company Interview: Jeff Immelt

Posted on July 14, 2005 by John Hunter

Fast Company Interview: Jeff Immelt, CEO, GE. What makes a growth leader today, and how does that differ from the sort of leader who was effective at GE in the past? GE has always been a believer in leadership development. When the economy was growing 5% a year, when oil was $14 a barrel, and when the world was at peace, the science of management was all about the how-to. That was the how-to generation. You didn’t have to think … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management, Process improvement, quote, Six sigma, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Managing Fear

Posted on July 12, 2005 by John Hunter

The post, Root Causes of Crunch Mode [the broken link was removed] from the Game Manager blog makes the good point that Fear and anxiety are known to reduce comprehension and learning ability. W. Edwards Deming made “drive out fear” one of his 14 management changes America needed to make in order to compete with Japan. Fear is a valuable physiological reaction in some situations, but fear make(s) it difficult to think, and thinking is generally superior to fighting in … Continue reading →

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

Could Toyota Fix GM

Posted on July 10, 2005 by John Hunter

re: Thomas L. Friedman: Save us, O Toyota based on Thomas L. Friedman article in the Herald Tribune Save us, O Toyota [the broken link was removed] where he states: I have a question: If I am rooting for General Motors to go bankrupt and be bought out by Toyota, does that make me a bad person? It’s not that I want any autoworker to lose his or her job, but I think the only hope for GM’s workers, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles | 1 Comment

The Art of Lean

Posted on July 10, 2005 by John Hunter

The Art of Lean [the broken link was removed], by Michael Rovito, The Sunday Challenger, Kentucky The lean style is the process of eliminating all waste in a manufacturing company by streamlining and simplifying shipping. Three key tools, according to Martichenko, make for a successful lean style: increased frequency of deliveries, reduction of lot size for those deliveries and leveling the flow of material in a plant throughout the week.

Posted in Management Articles

Millennium Development Goals

Posted on July 9, 2005 by John Hunter

re: Six Sigma Training for the G-8? Interestingly Prime minstrel Blair recently showed an understanding of systems thinking (specifically how targets can result in worse performance, when targets result in distortion of the system rather than improvement). In the targets in health care case the easy “politics of the warm fuzzy feeling” would be to declare victory in setting targets. In that case PM Blair realized that while the data might look better the actual results might not necessarily be … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care, Management, Six sigma, Systems thinking | Tagged

Toyota as Homebuilder

Posted on July 8, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Toyota Home – Applying the Toyota Production System to Home Building (broken link removed) from Evolving Excellence Toyota is all about cars and trucks, right? Not quite. I was just pointed to the Toyota Home [the broken link was removed] page on Toyota’s website, which briefly describes Toyota’s activities in the home building industry. From Toyota’s web site: Toyota Home – building 21st century comfort and luxury into houses in Japan. Come inside and see for yourself. … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Top 25: Influential Business Leaders

Posted on July 4, 2005 by John Hunter

Top 25: Influential Business Leaders [the broken link was removed] Leaders like Warren Buffett (No. 4), CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan (No. 9) and business consultant W. Edwards Deming (No. 22) changed the ways we do business. … Deming, using his theories of management and quality control, helped turn Japan into a manufacturing powerhouse. Lists such as this don’t have much value. However, I do think they have a little value in getting … Continue reading →

Posted in Management