Category Archives: Management

Insights from Jim Womack

Posted on November 21, 2007 by John Hunter

Jim Womack provides great insights in a recent interview, Thought Leaders — Lean On Me: All the Japanese car companies did the quality thing based on the Deming Prize criteria and so forth back in the 1960s and 70s. What … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management | Comments Off

Management Improvement Carnival #23

Posted on November 17, 2007 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. Assessing Results vs. Reflection by Mark Rosenthal – “Your plan for the year consisted of a designed experiment. ‘If we do these things, we expect this … Continue reading →

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3M Cuts Back on Six Sigma for Research and Development

Posted on November 14, 2007 by John Hunter

3M Shelves Six Sigma in R&D For the past two years, 3M Corp. has been giving back freedom and decision-making to its researchers following four years of Six Sigma mania under former CEO and Chairman W. James McNerney Jr. Six … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Six sigma | 2 Comments

Six Sigma for Erie County Government

Posted on November 12, 2007 by John Hunter

Chris Collins proposed bringing six sigma to Erie County government in his campaign for county executive. He won the election. From his web site: In business, you satisfy your customers or you fail. But in Erie County government, if you … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Public Sector, Six sigma | 1 Comment

Engineering Innovation for Manufacturing and the Economy

Posted on November 11, 2007 by John Hunter

Editorial: Engineering Innovation, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: They are the invisible heroes in business, the men and women who make innovation possible. They are people like Mary Ann Wright at Johnson Controls in Milwaukee, the former chief engineer for the Ford … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, Public Sector, Science, Systems thinking | Tagged Economics, engineering, Manufacturing, Wisconsin | 4 Comments

Good Customer Focus Idea for Banks

Posted on November 8, 2007 by John Hunter

Why Your Bank Needs a Free Coin-Counting Machine But this overall strategy also included a Trojan horse, and that Trojan horse was the bank’s Penny Arcade. If you walk into most Commerce branches, you’ll see a machine or two that … Continue reading →

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Win a 2 day visit from Norman Bodek

Posted on November 7, 2007 by John Hunter

Shingo Sweepstakes: The grand prize is a 2 day visit of your organization by Norman Bodek, 2 Free admissions to the 20th Annual Shingo Prize, 5 copies of Dr. Shigeo Shingo’s latest book and more. Related: Zero Defects – Constant … Continue reading →

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The Problem with Targets

Posted on November 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Targets can seriously damage your health by Simon Caulkin Targets, claim their defenders, are simple, they provide focus, and they work. Yes, they do. Unfortunately, these are also their fatal flaws. The simplicity is a delusion. As Russ Ackoff put … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Systems thinking | Comments Off

“2007 has been a difficult year for Toyota”

Posted on November 5, 2007 by John Hunter

I find the quote “2007 has been a difficult year for Toyota” found in The Dings and Dents of Toyota a bit amusing. Toyota has had some problems as the article notes like product recalls and losing a handful of … Continue reading →

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

The Lazy Unreasonable Man

Posted on November 5, 2007 by John Hunter

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman That quote sprang to mind … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Management, Psychology, quote, Systems thinking | 5 Comments