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Category Archives: Management Articles
Conclusion of Jim Womack Interview
Interview with Jim Womack part 5 of 5 has been posted by the Lean manufacturing blog. Each part provide valuable insights, from part 4: Toyota has recently said that it will now make a major effort to apply process thinking to dealer networks, probably beginning in Europe, and all of us who buy cars should wish them every success. We are making a major effort in this book to show how a totally different system of sales and service would … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles
Management Pioneer Peter Drucker 1909 – 2005
Management expert Peter Drucker passed away at age 95. See: Peter F. Drucker Information from Claremount University [the broken link was removed] and our previous post. Here we list links to some of his work. There is an excellent podcast of an interview with him on NPR (Peter Drucker – podcast interview [the broken link was removed]) on management, the state of the world today and where we are headed. A profound view from Peter Drucker in his 95th year. … Continue reading
Management Guru Peter Drucker 1909-2005
Management expert Peter Drucker passed away at age 95. Peter F. Drucker Information from Claremount University [the broken link was removed]. In 2002, Peter Ferdinand Drucker was awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. Drucker, was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1909 and moved to the United States in 1937. He taught at New York University as Professor of Management from 1950 to 1971. From 1971 through 2002 he taught at Claremont University. The university’s School of Management was … Continue reading
Lean Manufacturing: The 3rd Generation
Lean Manufacturing: The 3rd Generation [the broken link was removed] by David Drickhamer: A Toyota executive recently attributed the company’s long-term success to “brilliant process management.” Such processes are everywhere in business, including office and administrative work, areas where Toyota itself is working on how to extend TPS thinking. This is where Couch invokes TPS2, or “business-process kaizen,” and the challenge of dealing with non-physical inputs and outputs and much longer time frames than on the shop floor, such as … Continue reading
Lean Manufacturing in Forest Products
Lean Manufacturing – An Idea Whose Time is Coming to Forest Products? [the broken link was removed] by Thomas G. Dolan In fact, while many understand the basic concepts and have tried various implementations as quick fixes to problems, most miss its full and lasting potential. The full capability of the lean philosophy involves creating a culture of observing and learning and an ability to implement, to innovate, and to continuously improve. More lean thinking articles.
Posted in Management Articles
Dell’s Supply Chain
Two articles on Dell’s supply chain. Living in Dell Time by Joshua Lutz: The aftershocks of the port closings reverberated for weeks. Many companies began to question the wisdom of running so lean in an uncertain world, and demand for warehouse space soared as they piled up buffer inventory to insure against labor unrest, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks. But for Dell, the episode only reinforced the value of living on the knife’s edge. Inventory Decisions in Dell’s Supply Chain … Continue reading
Posted in Management Articles
Toyota Supply Chain Ideas for Big Box Stores
Teaching the Big Box New Tricks (bozos at Fortune deleted the web page so I deleted the link) – What Toyota knows about supply chains – and how to apply it to almost anything, even megastores – from Fortune. At the RDC, cola is now received directly from the supplier’s bottling plant in wheeled dollies. They are rolled directly from the supplier into the delivery truck to the stores. And once at the stores, the dollies are rolled directly to … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles
Tagged Womack
The 10 most important business developments
The 10 Most Important Business Developments [the broken link was removed] by Cameron Crotty, relating to the semiconductor industry: >The Quality Revolution The competitive pressure sparked a surge of quality initiatives throughout the U.S. chip industry, all based on statistical process control and the concepts of continuous improvement pioneered by W. Edwards Deming: Six Sigma at Motorola; Copy Exactly at Intel; and Total Quality Management, which was first introduced by the U.S. Department of the Navy. It also provided a … Continue reading
Posted in Management Articles
Toyota Manufactures More Itself
Bucking the trend, Toyota controls quality, cost by making many parts in house [the broken link was removed], AutoWeek via Lean Manufacturing Blog: On one hand, the company sees parts making as a critical piece of its overall quality-control program. Toyota argues that keeping some parts in-house actually makes it more efficient. Outsourcing parts simply to meet the changing industry norm is viewed warily by Toyota executives. “I don’t believe we can outsource our responsibility to the customer,” Seizo Okamoto
Lean Development
Lean Development, by Freddy Ball and Michael Ball. Great article. According to a National Center for Manufacturing Sciences report, Toyota product development projects can take half the time of US equivalents, with four times their productivity (150 product engineers utilised by Toyota per car programme versus 600 for twice as long at Chrysler). … As with implementing the Toyota production system, a more precise understanding of development practices doesn’t necessarily help to improve the efficiency of engineering projects for a … Continue reading
Posted in Management, Management Articles
Tagged Lean thinking, management
The Best Factory in the World
The Best Factory in the World (site broke link so I removed it) by Norman Bodek (from his book, Kaikaku): This is a story about a time when Bodek asked Shigeo Shingo to take him to the “very best factory in all of Japan.” … Pictures of areas of the factory or the office hung throughout the plant. Workers were encouraged to look at the pictures and talk about them together, then to make improvements. … After the visit, I … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing
Shackled by Bad Six Sigma?
Shackled by Bad Six Sigma? [the broken link was removed] by Fred Mullavey, Quality Digest: Technical experts, customers and suppliers–both internal and external–all need to be involved, regardless of their department or discipline. When boundaries aren’t crossed in this manner, problems remain entrenched, and the Six Sigma effort fails.
Posted in Management Articles
Tagged Six sigma
Box on Quality
Dr. George Box is not as well known in the general management community as his ideas merit (in my biased opinion – photo of Bill Hunter and George Box). He is well know in the statistics field as one of the leading statistical minds. Box on Quality is an excellent book that gathers his essays from his 65th to 80th year. The book has just been issued in paperback (which helps as the hardback was pricey). While some of the … Continue reading
Peter F. Drucker on a Functioning Society
Peter F. Drucker on a Functioning Society by Joseph A. Maciariello: Drucker’s concern that the institutions of society function for the common good has led him to be critical of business practice from time to time and to take on the preaching role of a prophet. For example, some of the ratios between the compensation of top executives and those of the frontline worker are well above 500 to 1… To Drucker this is shameful and sends the wrong message … Continue reading
Posted in Management Articles
Toyota and the Art of Continuous Improvement
Oh, What A Company! [the broken link was removed] by by Gary S. Vasilash TPS is not for those who are looking for the fast solution. While implementing any single element of TPS will undoubtedly bring some rather startling results in comparatively short order, it is only through the continuous, persistent application of the principles that fundamental change is realized. Very true.
Navy Six Sigma Results
Feds Train to Achieve Six Sigma Results [the broken link was removed] by Sara Michael, Federal Computer Week: For Navsea, responsible for maintaining naval ships and weapons, the Six Sigma-inspired approach encourages managers to closely examine a business operation, such as contracting or information technology support, and look for ways to streamline procedures and deliver better service. Navsea has introduced Lean Six Sigma programs in 30 of its organizations. In the first year, Brice said, the program is producing tangible … Continue reading
Posted in Management Articles