Author Archives: John Hunter

The Art of Work

Posted on February 20, 2006 by John Hunter

The Art of Work [the broken link was removed] by Ann Marsh: These companies are now using Csikszentmihalyi’s ideas to learn how they can get the best out of their workers or create more compelling connections with their customers. Without flow, there’s no creativity, says Csikszentmihalyi, and in today’s innovation-centric world, creativity is a requirement, not a frill. Excellent books by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1991. People enter a flow state when they … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management Articles | Tagged

The Deming Difference

Posted on February 19, 2006 by John Hunter

The Deming Difference (broken link removed): Everyone wants instant pudding. Then, Dr. Deming stands up and says there is no such thing as instant pudding. That we must learn how to integrate knowledge of people, statistics, and theory of knowledge into a working, breathing organizational system. That understanding these principles will lead to transformation. Instead of being competitive, individual components of the system will, for optimization, reinforce each other. This process is not spontaneous and is discontinuous. Some days little … Continue reading →

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Funding Invention Vs. Managing Innovation

Posted on February 19, 2006 by John Hunter

Funding Invention Vs. Managing Innovation [the broken link was removed] by John Hagel and John Seely Brown But if we shift our attention from invention to innovation, we begin to see a much broader horizon. Innovation — the ability to create and capture economic value from invention — is what really drives both the economic prosperity of nations and the shareholder value of corporations. Innovation isn’t just confined to commercialization of new products. It can also build upon creative new … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management Articles | Tagged

Visible Data

Posted on February 18, 2006 by John Hunter

Effective visual signals are important for effective management improvement: lean thinking emphasizes such ideas. Top 5 Rules of Effective Measurement Boards is an excellent post on how to make measurement effective. Take the time to find the important measures and then don’t keep data hidden in some drawer or computer file out of people’s view and therefore out of mind. Post the important data for everyone to see. Review the data as changes are made and see that the changes … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Performance Appraisal Problems

Posted on February 15, 2006 by John Hunter

The Struggle To Measure Performance [the broken link was removed], Business Week: One company that recently decided to dump forced rankings altogether is Chemtura (CEM), a $3 billion specialty chemicals company formed by the July merger of Crompton in Middlebury, Conn., and Great Lakes Chemical in Indianapolis. “The system forced me to turn people who were excellent performers into people who were getting mediocre ratings,” says Eric Wisnefsky, Chemtura’s vice-president for corporate finance. “That demotivates them, and they’d follow up … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles, Performance Appraisal, Psychology | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Lean Continuous Improvement

Posted on February 14, 2006 by John Hunter

Continuous Improvement — Taking A Big-Picture Approach To Lean [the broken link was removed] by Jonathan Katz, Industry Week: Northrop Grumman Newport News geared its lean value stream toward meeting customer commitments rather than strictly using it as a means to improve production. The company is constantly measuring its progress on customer contracts by using scorecards that help managers determine how close or how far they are to meeting customer agreements. Through this process, the company has saved on materials, … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles

Toyota Special Report: Thinking Production System

Posted on February 13, 2006 by John Hunter

Toyota Special Report: Thinking Production System [the broken link was removed]. A very interesting article on Toyota’s web site (www.toyota.co.jp). At the 2003 Automotive Parts System Solution Fair, held in Tokyo, June 18, 2003, Teruyuki Minoura, then-managing director of global purchasing, Toyota Motor Corporation, talked about his experiences with TPS (the Toyota Production System), and what it means for suppliers and for the future of the auto industry. This short article is peppered with many great quotes as section headers: … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Quality tools, Respect, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Organization, Systems and Culture

Posted on February 13, 2006 by John Hunter

Organization, Systems and Culture [the broken link was removed] by S. M. Lane, G. J. Garrett, with contributions from R A. Long: Traditional methods of how companies are organized, staffed and managed have become obsolete. The purpose of this paper revolves around those things most companies can do to remain successful, in spite of changing times, changing economies, global competition and customer needs. The information contained within is not new and is not radical, but it is a different way … Continue reading →

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Army – Lean Six Sigma

Posted on February 13, 2006 by John Hunter

Army Adopting Lean Six Sigma [the broken link was removed] “We’ve already identified well over 20 processes that are Army-wide processes that we want to take on using Lean Six Sigma. . . We’re on the very beginning of making Lean Six Sigma, and the disciplined approach that comes with that, a major part of the way the Army does business,” said Maj. Gen. Ross Thompson III, Army G-8. The Army Materials Command has long practiced Quality Management methods. Red … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Public Sector, Six sigma | Tagged ,

Lean Thinking in Scotland

Posted on February 12, 2006 by John Hunter

The man who would save Scottish industry [the broken link was removed] by Terry Murden Ross says: “Lean thinking can be applied to almost any process, but the key is the involvement of those who actually do the work. I passionately believe that companies, councils and the NHS can make major improvements across all their key measures once they learn how to involve their staff in the elimination of wasted time.” The article offers few details but is another example … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles, Public Sector, UK | Tagged ,

Single Piece Flow

Posted on February 9, 2006 by John Hunter

Single Piece Flow [the broken link was removed] by Rich Weissman: The transition from batch and queue to lean manufacturing involves converting to single piece flow… In traditional manufacturing, specific operations were done in batches by departments that specialized in individual manufacturing tasks like machining, welding, assembly, and test. Through the integration of lean induced cellular manufacturing processes, cross-trained employees produce just the amount of completed products that are required by other internal operations or the end customer. By eliminating … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles, Manufacturing, Quality tools | Tagged

Leading Six Sigma

Posted on February 8, 2006 by John Hunter

Leading Six Sigma [the broken link was removed]: Launching the Initiative by Roger W. Hoerl and Ronald D. Snee. An excerpt, of a chapter of their book, Leading Six Sigma: A Step-by-Step Guide Based on Experience with GE and Other Six Sigma Companies discussing the deployment process for Six Sigma. The project must be tied to the bottom line in some way. The project scope should be for improvements that are attainable in the four to six month time frame. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Six sigma | Tagged

Lean Accounting article from SME

Posted on February 8, 2006 by John Hunter

Keeping score with lean accounting cost management [the broken link was removed] by Jerry Solomon: We changed the format of our income statements. We made them simple. For each value stream, all of the payroll expense is in one bucket called processing costs. There is another bucket for all of our variable costs. We exclude elements outside the value stream, like property taxes or insurance. Now the income statements allow the folks to clearly see and understand what was spent … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles | 1 Comment

Learning, Systems and Improvement

Posted on February 6, 2006 by John Hunter

A Major Mistake That Managers Make by Russell L. Ackoff Once again Ackoff provides great ideas: Page 4 and 5 explore the method to effectively learn from decisions the organization makes. The idea seem simple but they are powerful. Preparing a record of every decision of any significance, ones that involve doing something or (of particular importance) ones that involve not doing something. This record should include the following information: • The justification for the decision including its expected effects … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | 4 Comments

Deming Seminar and Conference

Posted on January 30, 2006 by John Hunter

Audio CDs of the 2005 W. Edwards Deming Deming Institute Conference presentations ($100) [the broken link was removed]. I attended the conference and posted: “Mike Beck gave an excellent presentation at the Deming Institute conference about the United Technology Corporation management improvement system. I plan on posting more about the session.” I have not posted an update :-0 but now you can hear it yourself. I also thought the “Back to the Future” presentation by Larry Smith was excellent. You … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming | Tagged | 5 Comments

ThedaCare: Lean Healthcare

Posted on January 30, 2006 by John Hunter

Area health systems put customer service first [the broken link was removed] by MaryBeth Matzek In 2005, ThedaCare was able to save $10 million thanks to its lean programs and officials hope to save another $12 million this year, Toussaint said. ThedaCare’s march toward lean began when Toussaint started looking for a way to improve quality and service while cutting costs. He found what he was looking for in an unlikely place – a factory that produces lawnmowers and snow … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Lean thinking, Management Articles | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment