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Author Archives: John Hunter
What Innovation Means to Tesco
What innovation means to Tesco [the broken link was removed] by Sir Terry Leahy (Chief Executive of Tesco): Innovators are all around us; innovation is after all just another word for an idea and we can all have those. Businesses must learn to harness the creativity of their workforce and encourage staff to come forward with ideas. It’s not always easy as some good ideas will fail but companies have to be comfortable with that if they are to avoid … Continue reading
What makes Toyota tick?
Advanced Manufacturing magazine continues the focus on Toyota with a cover article, What Makes Toyota Tick? [the broken link was removed] by Vanessa Chris “Toyota has been coined ‘the most feared automaker in the industry.’” Just a few days ago I posted on: Fear Remains a Toyota Motivator. No matter what Toyota continues to be the focus of attention. Every aspect of the assembly process flows flawlessly into the next – making the plant’s 157 processes seem like one. Parts … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged Toyota
Indian Deming Prize Winner Expanding
Lucas TVS on Global and Local Expansion Mode A delegation of top officials from leading Japanese industries — mostly comprising Toyota group and its suppliers — had also visited the Lucas TVS’ Chennai plant. The delegation is part of the central Japan Quality Control Association, an organisation promoting quality control in cooperation of the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). The purpose of the visit was to introduce the delegation to the best practices amongst the member companies and … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, India, Management Articles, Manufacturing
Good Customer Service Example
No More Lean Excuses [the broken link was removed] by Dan Jones I have recently been getting a striking reaction from many senior management audiences. They all agree that products have got vastly better over recent years, but they equally agree that the process of ordering and buying them and getting them serviced has got worse! This is a theme in Jones and Womack’s recent book: Lean Solutions. Recently I bought a new digital camera, Canon A700. Part of the … Continue reading
Posted in Customer focus, Lean thinking, Management
Tagged Customer focus, customer service, usability
4 Comments
Shenandoah National Park Photos
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, lies in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a few hours from Washington DC. Skyline Drive runs the length of the park as does the Appalachian Trail. I hiked several trails in October, 2004 and took these pictures. More of my photos: Washington DC area travel photos: Library of Congress – United States Botanical Garden – Bull Run Trail (Virginia) – Great Falls Park (Virginia) – C&O Towpath (Maryland) Curious Cat Travelogues and Travel Photos
Posted in curiouscat.com, Travel photos
Secrets of the World’s Best Companies
Best-kept secrets of the world’s best companies by Paul Kaihla. Not even the most successful companies in the world are managed by the book. Great management formulas aren’t handed down on stone tablets, or found in the writings or speeches of gurus and consultants. They emerge from years of experimentation, trial and error, regime change, reorganizations, crises, and employee suggestions. I agree that management is much more complex than books or simple theories claim. I think one of the great … Continue reading
Fear Remains a Toyota Motivator
First, don’t let the title fool you, this is not an indication Toyota is going against Deming’s obligation of management to “Drive out fear and build trust so that everyone can work effectively”. Deming was talking about driving out the fear management creates for employees intentionally (forced ranking…) and un-intentionally (creating a climate where people are more fearful of pointing out problems than just ignoring them…). See: Deming and Toyota. This article is talking about Toyota’s never ending quest to … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Psychology, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged fear, Psychology, Toyota
Lean and Theory of Constraints
David Anderson’s post, Lean vs. TOC – No Conflict [the broken link was removed], is an excellent addition to the previous post here: Lean Thinking and Management. I demonstrated these ideas recently by taking an updated version of my XIT Sustained Engineering paper from the TOCICO in Barcelona [the broken link was removed] to the Lean Design and Development conference and recasting all the exploitation and subordination steps as waste reduction instead. David refers to a post, looking for a … Continue reading
Flow
“Flow” and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi [the broken link was removed] by David Farmer: How does it feel to be in “the flow”? 1. Completely involved, focused, concentrating – with this either due to innate curiosity or as the result of training 2. Sense of ecstasy – of being outside everyday reality 3. Great inner clarity – knowing what needs to be done and how well it is going 4. Knowing the activity is doable – that the skills are adequate, and … Continue reading
Lean Thinking and Management
Several interesting posts have been inspired by the Kaizen Priorities post on Got Boondoggle. While it has been mentioned debating these ideas may not be valuable, I believe it can be valuable to explore the reasons behind the different views. Bill Waddel’s post, Lean Manufacturing [the broken link was removed], points to the importance of cycle time reduction (versus the priorities mentioned in the original post). I think that point is valuable. He also talks about the reasons for Six … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools, quote
Tagged Lean thinking, management, organization as a system
Cells and High Volumes
Cells and High Volumes: Forget What You Think You Know [the broken link was removed] by Gary S. Vasilash: True cellular manufacturing depends on the cooperation and orchestration of all employees. The reason for this is simple: The objective to get rid of waste means that all of the people involved in the process must work in a synchronized manner. One-piece flow doesn’t allow for build-ups of inventory between processes, so people must do each step in the required manner … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles, Quality tools
Tagged management tools
Organizational Learning
Why Your Organization Isn’t Learning All It Should [the broken link was removed, Harvard still doesn’t seem to realize how to manage a web resource] by Anita Tucker, Amy Edmondson, and Steven Spear Our analysis of qualitative data suggests that the problem-solving behavior of front-line workers may reduce an organization’s ability to detect underlying causes of recurring problems and thus take corrective action. While problems must be solved to reduce the impact on the current customer the organization must also … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Management, Process improvement
Deming and Toyota
In response to Deming Electronic Network message, Deming and Toyota (broken link removed): I have read a few of the threads referring to Toyota and their success. I am somewhat familiar with the Toyota Production System (where Lean principles sprouted from), but I have often wondered if Toyota subscribed to all of Deming’s 14 points. I believe Toyota applied Deming’s ideas to create a management system and continued to develop that system to create the Toyota Production System (also known … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged Deming, management system, Toyota, Toyota Production System (TPS)
1 Comment
Using Design of Experiments
How to Institute DOE in Your Company (link broken – removed) by Davis Balestracci: DOE works, but I don’t need to sell that to the readers of this newsletter. But as certain as we all are, no one can deny that design of experiments faces resistance even in environments where it is a proven tool. Every research scientist or engineer who has had a major success from DOE can tell you story after story of how management still wanted problems … Continue reading
VIP?
The images shows: I am 64th in line as a VIP. If I were not a VIP I would be 1st in line. Actually the graphic is mainly just funny. The real broken part is that the system has disconnected me twice and then you have to wait to be readmitted – granted only a minute and a half. CBS is trying live internet video on a scale not attempted before. It is bound to have a level of service … Continue reading
Posted in Fun
Kaizen Priorities
Kaizen Priorities by Mike Wroblewski: Priority 1: Kaizen your bottleneck station first – If you don’t know what is your bottleneck station, find it. There are many ways to find your bottleneck: all the inventory is piled in front of it, people downstream are waiting on it, it has the most overtime, it’s a top maintenance priority, etc. Another excellent post from Got Boondoggle.
Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools
Tagged continual improvement