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Author Archives: John Hunter
The Art of Customer Service
The Art of Customer Service [the broken link was removed] by Guy Kawasaki: 4. Don’t point the finger. This is the flip side of taking responsibility. As computer owners we all know that when a program doesn’t work, vendors often resort to finger pointing: “It’s Apple’s system software.” “It’s Microsoft’s ‘special’ way of doing things.” “It’s the way Adobe created PDF.” A great customer service company doesn’t point the finger–it figures out what the solution is regardless of whose fault … Continue reading
PBS Documentary: Improving Hospitals
Clare Crawford-Mason and Llyod Dobyns have teamed up on a new documentary. Previously they created If Japan Can-Why Can’t We? and the Deming Library Tapes. Good News – How Hospitals Heal Themselves (broken link was removed) A One-Hour Documentary Airing on Public Television Spring/Summer 2006 Reported by Former NBC Anchor Lloyd Dobyns This rare good news documentary reports on a surprising solution to escalating costs, unnecessary deaths and waste in America’s hospitals. Doctors and nurses tell how they did their … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Health care, Lean thinking, Management, Systems thinking
Tagged deadly diseases, Health care
9 Comments
Manufacturing Jobs Data: USA and China
Manufacturing Productivity and the Shifting US, China, and Global Job Scenes-1990 to 2005 (working paper – July 2005) by William Ward, Clemson University: Manufacturing productivity growth from 1990 to 2004 should have taken away 7.5 million of the 17.7 million manufacturing jobs that existed in the US in 1990, while GDP growth should have added back (at the new productivity levels of 2004) 5.7 million manufacturing jobs-for a net loss of 1.8 million. In fact, the US economy lost 3.3 … Continue reading
Posted in China, Economics, Manufacturing, Popular, quote
6 Comments
How Whirlpool Defines Innovation
How Whirlpool Defines Innovation [the broken link was removed] now we say if we’re going to put any money in an innovation project, it has to sit on a migration path, it has to be something that the customer really wants, and it’s got to return an above-average profit. I’m not sure I really agree with this description. However, perhaps within Whirlpool this is a helpful definition, as George Box says: “all models are wrong, some are useful.” Perhaps viewing … Continue reading
Posted in Innovation
Tagged Innovation
Toyota Again Get Positive Press
Toyota Eyes Chance to Pass by Anthony Faiola, Washington Post: The mainstream press continues to note the success of Toyota. Toyota has been toying with hybrid engines for the past 20 years. But the company began to seriously pursue a mass-producible hybrid in 1993. Ogiso, 45 years old and now the chief engineer on the third-generation Prius still under development, said the edict came from Eiji Toyoda, the patriarch of the Toyota family who headed the company until 1994. Ogiso … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged Toyota
Seduce Them With Six Sigma Success
Seduce Them With Success [the broken link was removed – sadly ASQ continues to increase their impeding of the access to material on quality management, in direct conflict with their professed mission] by Jay Arthur: Instead the change agents are going around talking to operational managers, learning their problems and offering to help solve them. Then, using the tools of Six Sigma, they find remarkable, unexpected solutions that reduce costs and increase speed and profitability. Oddly enough, the people on … Continue reading
Posted in Management, Management Articles, Six sigma
Tagged Six sigma
Lean Thinking Needed
Bank Wire Transfers vs. FedEx Delivery My goal was to give them all the paperwork, ensure I had sufficient funds, and schedule the transfer such that the money arrives in the sellers’ account on a particular date next week. But they can’t do that. They cannot hold the paperwork for any amount of time. They’ll process it the same day I turn it in. I guess I can understand that. They’re a bank, not a scheduling service. However, they can’t … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles
Lean Enterprise Institute Expands
Lean Enterprise Institute Expands Services to Growing Lean Community [the broken link was removed] “LEI is introducing new programs, led by new people, at a new location to improve the practice of lean, the search for lean knowledge, and how we share the knowledge across the world,” said James P. Womack, LEI founder and chairman. Based on customer research, LEI has formed into four units — Lean Learning Materials, Lean Education, Lean Enterprise Partners, and Lean Events — to align … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Management
Womack Podcast on GM
Topic: Management Improvement, Toyota Production System Womack Audio on Bloomberg.com [the broken link was removed] (14 minutes) via the Lean Blog, where they quote from the audio: “What do they worry about? They worry about the fact the system is still driven out of Japan and they’re everywhere now in terms of factories, in terms of R&D, but the fact is, to put the discipline in the system, that force, that energy is still coming out of Toyota City. How … Continue reading
Posted in Management, Manufacturing, Toyota Production System (TPS), webcast
Tagged lean manufacturing
Lean Manufacturing Success
Oshkosh Truck Driven to Succeed [the broken link was removed] by Arlen Boardman: Wuest said this reduced the order-to-delivery time from 12 to 16 weeks to seven days. It made better use of manufacturing space and reduced inventory-holding costs. He said it does many more things, like create an orderly work area, so tools are where they’re supposed to be, and parts are made when needed, one at a time. “The goal is to turn an order into cash as … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing
Tagged lean manufacturing
Problems with Bonuses
What sort of bonuses should we pay? by Seth Godin: Money, it’s been shown time and time again, is a demotivator. I’m not talking about a fair or even generous salary. Being a cheapskate is no way to find a great employee. But once people have joined your team, incremental money–bonuses and the like–usually demotivate people. He is right. Why salary bonus and other incentives fail to meet their objectives by Dale Asberry. Lean Manufacturing Visionary Jim Womack On Frontiers … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Systems thinking
Tagged bonus, Deming, demotivate, extrinsic motivation, incentives, Psychology
5 Comments
A Company’s Purpose is to be Useful to Society
Toyota powers to the front [the broken link was removed] (Toyota President, Katsuaki Watanabe) eschews the normal management mantra of shareholder value above all. A company’s purpose, Watanabe insists, is to be useful to society. 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. More from our previous … Continue reading
US Manufacturing Plant Construction
Breaking Ground [the broken link was removed] by Jeff Moad: Last year, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce, investment in new manufacturing plant construction increased 25%. That compares to a decline of 6.5% in 2003 and an increase in 2004 of 9.7% As we have noted earlier, the United States is by far the leading manufacturer in the world: Global Manufacturing Data by Country and Manufacturing and the Economy (Japan is second and China third and growing … Continue reading
People: Team Members or Costs
Inside TPS at Toyota, Georgetown, Kentucky [the broken link was removed] by Ralph Rio: Toyota believes people need to be intimately involved with the process to understand how to improve it. The team member writes the standardized work they use because the person performing the work is the true expert. People are trusted to understand the process and improve it. Automation is used but is seen as a tool for helping people manage the process. This can be contrasted with … Continue reading
Lean Aerospace Initiative
The Lean Aerospace Initiative [the broken link was removed] at MIT has a large number of reports, case studies and articles available online. The Initiative was formally launched as the Lean Aircraft Initiative in 1993 when leaders from the U.S. Air Force, MIT, labor unions, and defense aerospace businesses forged a trail-blazing partnership to transform the industry, reinvigorate the workplace, and reinvest in America using a philosophy called “lean.” The Initiative’s stated mission is to research, develop, and promulgate practices, … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking
Lean, Mean Business Machine
Lean, mean business machine [the broken link was removed], from New Zealand: But it is wasted effort that is the main focus, Mr Shook says. The lean philosophy is about first making waste visible, then acting on every level in a company, from large to small, to eliminate it. This point is often overlooked – making waste visible is critical.
Posted in Lean thinking
Tagged Lean thinking, visual management