Category Archives: Management

Lean is Harmony

Posted on September 30, 2006 by John Hunter

In Mike Wroblewski’s capstone, to his posts on his tour of lean manufacturing in Japan, he states: My lean manufacturing epiphany is quite simple, LEAN IS HARMONY. … The lean principles are helping us develop and promote harmony by removing barriers, rocks, and conflicts that disrupt flow in our business. Yes, lean is about eliminating waste and using great lean tools to improve our business but that is all we seem to focus on in the US. Lean principles are … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Six sigma, Systems thinking

Meeting Like Google

Posted on September 29, 2006 by John Hunter

How to Run a Meeting Like Google [the broken link was removed], offers good advice like agendas distributed ahead of time, having a note taker… Instead, she encourages such comments as “The experimentation on the site shows that his design performed 10% better.” This works for Google, because it builds a culture driven by customer feedback data, not the internal politics that pervade so many of today’s corporations. Also definitely read: Most Meetings are Muda and meeting advice from 37 … Continue reading →

Posted in Google, Management, Quality tools | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Leaving Quality Behind – Again No

Posted on September 28, 2006 by John Hunter

Is PAT Leaving Quality Behind? [the broken link was removed] The intent of PAT was to advocate a more scientific and methodical approach to product development, scale-up and production. The impact of PAT will be felt in all sectors of the organization, and if applied correctly, will increase granularity in the quality and quantity of data being created throughout the product development lifecycle. Ok, so in what way is that leaving quality behind? Does this add something to design of … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Management, Process improvement | Tagged , ,

Excessive CEO Pay

Posted on September 28, 2006 by John Hunter

Overpaid CEOs and Underpaid Managers: Fairness and Executive Compensation by James B. Wade, Charles A. O’Reilly, III and Timothy G. Pollock: We also find evidence suggesting that CEOs serve as a key referent for employees in determining whether their own situation is “fair,” and this influences their reactions to their own compensation. More specifically, we find that when lower-level managers are underpaid relative to the CEO, that is, underpaid more than the CEO or overpaid less, they are more likely … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , ,

Chaos Management (by design) at Google

Posted on September 25, 2006 by John Hunter

Chaos by design by Adam Lashinsky: Sandberg recently committed an error that cost Google several million dollars — “Bad decision, moved too quickly, no controls in place, wasted some money,” is all she’ll say about it — and when she realized the magnitude of her mistake, she walked across the street to inform Larry Page, Google’s co-founder and unofficial thought leader. “God, I feel really bad about this,” Sandberg told Page, who accepted her apology. But as she turned to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Google, Innovation, Management | 4 Comments

Lean Outsourcing

Posted on September 25, 2006 by John Hunter

Unfortunately many people think of outsourcing when they think of lean, because they don’t understand lean manufacturing. Lean Manufacturing and Outsourcing by Eric O. Olsen and Mark Zetter (via Lean Outsourcing) looks at outsourcing with an understanding of lean manufacturing. Related: Toyota Manufactures More Itself – Communication Failures Impact Quality – Excessive Executive Pay – outsource the CEO – IT Outsourcing Slowing

Posted in Lean thinking, Management

Incentive Programs are Ineffective

Posted on September 19, 2006 by John Hunter

Reward and Incentive Programs are Ineffective — Even Harmful by Peter Scholtes The greatest management conceit is that we can “motivate” people. We can’t. Motivation is there, inside people. Our people were motivated when we hired them and everyday, when they come to work, they arrive with the intention of doing a good job. Managers cannot motivate. They can, however, de-motivate. Herzberg established this over 30 years ago (Herzberg, Frederick “One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?” Harvard Business … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Management Improvement History and Health Care

Posted on September 17, 2006 by John Hunter

Squeezing the fat from health care [the broken link was removed] by Hanah Cho is another article on lean healthcare. This one provides a better view of the overall picture – especially compared to all those claiming to be one of the first lean thinking effort in healthcare. A good sign was that the author referenced, Going Lean in Health Care, a great report by IHI (James Womack and others). It is nice to see a recognition of management history … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Management, Six sigma | Tagged ,

Lean Thinking at United

Posted on September 17, 2006 by John Hunter

Mark Graban gives a nice review of some material on web site of a United labor union in: An Encouraging Lean Example at United Airlines. From the union web site, he quotes: “Once fully implemented, the 5S+1 process can increase morale, create positive impressions on customers, and increase efficiency and organization. Not only will team members feel better about where they work, the effect on continuous improvement can lead to less waste, better quality and faster lead times.” It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Psychology

Recalls at Toyota and Sony

Posted on September 15, 2006 by John Hunter

Recalls by Toyota and Sony shock Japan’s pride [the broken link was removed]: another article discussing the recent recalls at Toyota and Sony. Some have also begun to blame the decline on recent American-style management changes, like performance-based pay, the end of traditional lifetime job guarantees and increased use of temporary workers in order to cut costs. I don’t actually think this is right in Toyota’s case anyway; Toyota seems to have resisted adopting poor management practices form the west … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged | 2 Comments

Japan Kaikaku Experience

Posted on September 14, 2006 by John Hunter

Mike Wroblewski is blogging a great series of posts on his Japan Kaikaku Experience, including Toyota Motor Kyushu: An interesting point is that the assembly line had a goal of only 97% uptime. They did not want 100%. It was believed that a goal of 97% was better (more realistic) and prevented quality problems from being slipped through. If the goal is 100%, the employees would say that something was not really a problem and let it go to keep … Continue reading →

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

Two more Lean Blog Podcasts

Posted on September 12, 2006 by John Hunter

More excellent management podcasts from the Lean Blog: Part 2 of 2 with Dr. Liker, Lean Healthcare and Jamie Flinchbaugh on Muda. As Jamie explains the reason for talking about the seven wastes (muda) is the value added to waste elimination that the distinction provides (by helping people see the issues more clearly). The reason for learning about lean more thoroughly is to more effectively improve. Related: articles by Jamie Flinchbaugh – management blog posts on podcasts – Toyota Targets … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, webcast

Going Lean Brings Long-term Payoffs

Posted on September 10, 2006 by John Hunter

Going lean brings long-term payoffs [the broken link was removed] by John Torinus: The growing number of Wisconsin manufacturers, and the few service companies, taking the lean journey are learning that it is not a sprint. … The immediate paybacks come in the form of saved space, less distance traveled, fewer handoffs, faster throughput, lower inventories and man-hours saved. I would state the authors next point differently. The early successes provide resources to invest in making large more fundamental changes … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

New Lean Blog: Lean Insider

Posted on September 7, 2006 by John Hunter

A new lean blog, from Productivity Press, starts off with: The Low Rates of Lean Implementation [the broken link was removed]: In presenting the results during a recent Industry Week Webinar, Jane Biddle, VP of Global Manufacturing Research at Aberdeen also set forth a familiar list of characteristics of the best in class: Mastered the basic tenants of lean, dedicated to continuous improvement, top management is committed and embracing a ‘culture of lean.’ So what else is new? We’ve heard … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management

Thoughts on Hospital Management by Deming

Posted on September 6, 2006 by John Hunter

The latest newsletter from the W. Edwards Deming Institute [new link since the old link was broken] includes the photo of Dr. Deming from 1951 and: Some notes on management in a hospital by W. Edwards Deming, Ph.D.: Fifteen hours elapse between dinner and breakfast. I was hungry in the middle of the night, first night. Fortunately had candy bars on hand. I have learned how to acquire and store up food like a squirrel if I get hungry during … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Health care, Management | Tagged , , ,

Toyota IT Overview

Posted on September 5, 2006 by John Hunter

What’s Driving Toyota? by Mel Duvall is an interesting, long article discussing Toyota overall and focusing on Toyota’s Information Technology systems. Technology does not drive business processes at Toyota. The Toyota Production System does. However, technology plays a critical role by supporting, enabling and bringing to life on a mass scale the processes derived by adhering to TPS. “What strikes me about Toyota is, if you were to ask them if they have a technology strategy, they would probably say … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Popular, quote, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 9 Comments