Author Archives: John Hunter

Six Sigma Won’t Fix Bad Management?

Posted on March 15, 2006 by John Hunter

Re: Six Sigma won’t cure bad management [the broken link was removed 🙁 ] I believe Six Sigma can be an effective management improvement strategy. It is not the most effective, in my opinion, but still effective. In my opinion, if Six Sigma isn’t making a significant impact on fixing bad management then it isn’t a very effective six sigma effort. Like most management concepts how it is applied varies tremendously. If one just uses some tools that are part … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Six sigma | Tagged | 5 Comments

Customer Focus

Posted on March 15, 2006 by John Hunter

Winning With Service [the broken link was removed] by John Teresko: “From our viewpoint, machines are increasingly more difficult to differentiate for most applications,” admits Harry C. Moser, president, Agie Charmilles Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill. “There are many good competitors, and while we think our products are the best, for a lot of applications it is getting increasingly hard to prove, and therefore we have chosen to [also] differentiate via service. Service can be a great differentiator, if you can do … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management Articles | Tagged ,

NCAA Basketball Tournament Challenge

Posted on March 13, 2006 by John Hunter

Once again I have created a group on the ESPN NCAA Basketball Tournament Challenge for curiouscat basketball fans. To play, sign in to ESPN [I removed the link] and register, if you need to, or sign into your account (using the link at the very top of the page). Once you create your entry, you will see a link to “create or join groups.” Click that link. Then enter curiouscat in the find group box. Select the curiouscat group and … Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Fun

Getting Lean Right

Posted on March 13, 2006 by John Hunter

Getting Lean “Right”: 10 Factors to Understand Before Embarking on Your Lean Transformation by Jamie Flinchbaugh: So how is it that such a low percentage of companies that know about lean can turn it into a success? It’s not because they haven’t heard about continuous flow, or they don’t know how to do the 5S’s, or they’ve never seen a kaizen workshop. It is because the leadership, cultural, organizational and implementation challenges are bigger than most people anticipate.

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles, Quality tools

Boondoggle Rules

Posted on March 12, 2006 by John Hunter

Easy Lean from Got Boondoggle: The lean journey is a long, continuous process of learning, experimentation and improvement. … Most of you are smart enough not to buy into this branding of lean. However, there are some short-sighted executives that might fall for this slick shortcut to “Easy Lean.” That would be a shame. For those with limited lean enlightenment, I will provide a few short rules to get past the branding of “Easy Lean.” Lean is not easy There … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools

Mount Rainier National Park Photos

Posted on March 11, 2006 by John Hunter

I have posted, the final destination of my trip last summer to the Pacific Northwest National Parks: Mount Rainier National Park. Curious Cat Travelogues and Travel Photos

Posted in Travel photos | Tagged

Toyota in China: Full Speed Ahead

Posted on March 10, 2006 by John Hunter

Toyota in China: Full Speed Ahead [the broken link was removed], Business Week. Yoshimi Inaba, who’s driving the Japanese auto maker’s expansion in the Middle Kingdom, discusses the Chinese market and his goals there. Toyota’s market share is just 3.5% in China, compared to 13% in the U.S. and more than 40% at home in Japan. We’re a minor player in the China market, with a 3.5% share, but we’re one of the few manufacturers where demand exceeds supply. Even … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Management, Manufacturing, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Lean Management Idea for Health Care

Posted on March 9, 2006 by John Hunter

The Health Factory by Stpehen Spear [the broken link was removed, I wish people would publish useful thoughts on more reliably designed web sites that care about information for the long term], New York Times opinion piece: Today, going to an American hospital seems about as safe as parachuting off a bridge. An estimated 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical error, and a nearly equal number succumb to infections they acquire in hospitals. Those rates are … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Lean thinking

Consumer Idealized Design

Posted on March 8, 2006 by John Hunter

Consumer Idealized Design: Involving Consumers in The Product Development Process Interactive Design vs. Reactive “Focus” A consumer design session is characterized by at least three features which distinguish it from a focus group. (1) It requires innovation and interaction from participants. (2) It is task-oriented, competitive and consensus-generating. (3) It requires the articulation and design of the group’s notion of the ideal in a designated product or service category. This concept is based on the idea of Russell Ackoff – … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Innovation, Management, Quality tools, Systems thinking | Tagged , ,

NUMMI Plant Model

Posted on March 8, 2006 by John Hunter

NUMMI plant a model for ailing car industry (site broke the link so I removed it) by Tim Simmers: The historic NUMMI joint venture – the first of its kind on U.S. soil between a Japanese and an American carmaker – is something of an industry gem. Its secret to success, besides the common sense of building small cars and trucks that are in demand, has been its good labor relations and adoption of Toyota’s “lean manufacturing” techniques. Referred to … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking | Tagged

Warren Buffett’s 2005 Shareholder Letter

Posted on March 6, 2006 by John Hunter

As usually Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter is packed with good investment thoughts along with some management wisdom. Too often, executive compensation in the U.S. is ridiculously out of line with performance. That won’t change, moreover, because the deck is stacked against investors when it comes to the CEO’s pay. The upshot is that a mediocre-or-worse CEO – aided by his handpicked VP of human relations and a consultant from the ever-accommodating firm of Ratchet, Ratchet and Bingo – … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Investing, Management | 6 Comments

Seth Godin Video

Posted on March 5, 2006 by John Hunter

Seth Godin has a great blog on marketing. To me, his views put marketing within the context of the system (of the whole organization) rather than a disconnected “stovepipe” as it is often treated. This fits with my bias in favor of systems thinking. He has written several books on the topic: All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable The Big Moo: Stop Trying to … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun | Tagged

Saving for Retirement

Posted on March 5, 2006 by John Hunter

Our Financial Failings by Neil Irwin, Washington Post: Meet the typical American family. It has about $3,800 in the bank. No one has a retirement account, and the neighbors who do only have about $35,000 in theirs. Mutual funds? Stocks? Bonds? Nope. The house is worth $160,000, but the family owes $95,000 on it to the bank. The breadwinners make more than $43,000 a year but can’t manage to pay off a $2,200 credit card balance. That is the portrait … Continue reading →

Posted in Investing | 2 Comments

Cease Mass Inspection for Quality

Posted on March 4, 2006 by John Hunter

Comment in response to, Re-Discovering W. Edwards Deming, a partial quote from that post: Not all of the Deming approach is part of core TPS thinking. In particular, Deming advocated a statistical sampling approach to quality inspection, while Toyota focuses on 100% inspection or eliminating the need for inspection through via the concepts of Poka Yoke and Jidoka. As much as I admire Deming and his philosophy, I agree with the Toyota innovation that it is better to prevent defects … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The Power of Purpose

Posted on March 3, 2006 by John Hunter

The Power of Purpose by Rebecca A. Morgan: Constancy of purpose means that quality decisions are not situational. End of month quality is the same as beginning of month. It means that the long term benefit of the organization is not sacrificed to hit quarterly targets. It means having your eye on the competition, whether it is in your industry or coming from elsewhere, with plans to stay ahead. Constancy of purpose doesn’t require the threat of a customer leaving … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Skinny on Lean

Posted on March 2, 2006 by John Hunter

The Skinny on Lean [the broken link was removed] by Peter Bradley The pursuit of perfection and obsessive attention to detail that characterize Toyota’s lean model are reflected in Menlo Worldwide’s 278,000-square-foot Brownstown facility, known as the Great Lakes Lean Logistics Center (GLLLC). Look around, and you’ll notice process maps on the wall of a room off the main warehouse. You’ll see taped outlines on the floor and walls to indicate the precise location of every cart, every tool, every … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles | Tagged