Category Archives: Management

New – Different – Better

Posted on February 8, 2008 by John Hunter

Comment on New or Different? by Matthew May: So don’t worry about new and different. Ask yourself: Is this clearly better than what’s out there now? And if you think about it, that’s a question you should never stop asking. … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Innovation, Management, Process improvement | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Using Books to Ignite Improvement

Posted on February 7, 2008 by John Hunter

Recommended Reading From an Employee-Owned Company [the broken link has been removed] Soon after, another Web Industries employee picked up “Kanban Made Simple,” a guide for adopting Kanban, Toyota Motor Corp.’s just-in-time manufacturing process by John M. Gross and Kenneth … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Improvement Through Designed Experiments

Posted on February 4, 2008 by John Hunter

The Rationale of Scientific Experimentation by John Dowd explains the value of designed experiments. Another difficulty in industrial experimentation is the existence of interactions. As has been stated, manufacturing processes are complex with many factors involved. In many processes these … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Design of Experiments, Management, Science, Statistics | Comments Off on Improvement Through Designed Experiments

Management Improvement Carnival #28

Posted on February 1, 2008 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. Freedom = Success (And not the other way around) by Polly LaBarre – “we’re literally laboring under a myth (namely, time put in + physical presence … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Comments Off on Management Improvement Carnival #28

Enrich Society

Posted on January 30, 2008 by John Hunter

Jim Press and Toyota, Setting Sights on No. 1 former president of Toyota Motor North America The Toyota family, very strongly, still has their name on the building and [have] a big influence in the company. The original founding [principal] … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Toyota Production System (TPS), webcast | 1 Comment

Giving Away Your Service for Free on Weekends

Posted on January 28, 2008 by John Hunter

Copilot is a cool application that lets you control someone else’s computer. So you can receive technical support remotely. You let someone access your computer and copilot takes care of the sometimes very complex task of linking the two computers … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, IT, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Nice Design Example, the eco-cook

Posted on January 27, 2008 by John Hunter

dining in 2015 Basically I just think this is cool. I could try and explain how it shows creativity and reducing waste… but really I just like it. From the designer: My eco-cook is an object that helps to save … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management | Comments Off on Nice Design Example, the eco-cook

Learn from Russel Ackoff

Posted on January 21, 2008 by John Hunter

The In Thinking network offers many great ways to learn. This week they have 4 hour long conference call discussions with Russ Ackoff. Thought Pieces (suggested links to review in preparation for the conference call) Lecture on “Systems Practice” at … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Education, Management, Systems thinking | Comments Off on Learn from Russel Ackoff

Creating Jobs

Posted on January 19, 2008 by John Hunter

Do Lean Companies Create Fewer Jobs? No, they create more. If you assume the lean company grows sales at the same rate as some poorly management company then it may well be that the lean company creates fewer jobs. However … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, Economics, Lean thinking, Management, Popular, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Poor Service from Amazon

Posted on January 11, 2008 by John Hunter

I like using Amazon, most of the time. But their decision to erect barriers for communication I find extremely annoying. Any time anything goes wrong you might as well be dealing with some organization in the middle of nowhere without … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Management, Process improvement | 6 Comments