Tag Archives: lean management

Lean Construction

Posted on May 17, 2006 by John Hunter

Lean Manufacturing in the Construction Industry [the broken link was removed] by Eric Sander: In a radical departure from construction on site, Bensonwood Homes of Walpole, New Hampshire, has begun assembling major wall and floor components of their custom homes in their shop. These sections are delivered and assembled on site to reduce the construction time and improve quality. This approach is common in Japan. Toyota Homes and Misawa Home prefabricate custom homes in their factory for onsite assembly. Tedd … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management Articles, Manufacturing | Tagged

Be Thankful for Lean Thinking

Posted on November 22, 2005 by John Hunter

Topics: Management Improvement and Economics The Dallas Federal Reserve white paper, Supply Chain Management: The Science of Better, Faster, Cheaper [the broken link was removed] by Thomas F. Siems provides a macroeconmic view of what to be thankful due to the practice of lean thinking: Through better information engineering, supply chain improvements have resulted in a reduced bullwhip effect, lower inventory levels, reduced logistics costs, and streamlined payments. These improvements appear to have helped produce macroeconomic benefits such as more … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Lean thinking, Management, Six sigma | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Lean Government

Posted on October 4, 2005 by John Hunter

Making Government Work [the broken link was removed] by Tom Vilsack via Panta Rei [the broken link was removed]: We redesigned the child welfare system to place greater focus on the complex and hard cases that people live out every day. We cut down paperwork so workers would have more time to spend helping children. That effort was part of our charter agency effort, which the Kennedy School at Harvard and the Ash Institute recently recognized as an Innovation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Public Sector | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Dramatic Spread of Lean Thinking

Posted on October 3, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement and Economics The Dramatic Spread of Lean Thinking [the broken link was removed] by Jim Womack: Currently we are experiencing an explosion of interest in applying lean thinking to practically every process in every corner of the world. And it is causing all of us in the Lean Community to think about how we can best serve the needs we are hearing about. … I am delighted with the spread of lean thinking far beyond the factory … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers

Posted on September 25, 2005 by John Hunter

How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers [the broken link was removed], Sarah Jane Johnston interview of Steven Spear. It is our conclusion that Toyota has developed a set of principles, Rules-in-Use we’ve called them, that allow organizations to engage in this (self-reflective) design, testing, and improvement so that (nearly) everyone can contribute at or near his or her potential, and when the parts come together the whole is much, much greater than the sum of the parts. The main … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Management, Process improvement, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Bezos on Lean Thinking

Posted on July 29, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement and Investing 10 Questions for Jeff Bezos, time.com via Lean Manufacturing Blog Time: Here’s a question you probably hear all the time: read any good books lately? Bezos: [Laughs.] I read a book recently about Toyota’s lean production methodology, which is very interesting Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon.com. He really understand many quality management ideas: customer focus, long term thinking, process improvement, innovation. He also understands finance much better than most. I believe … Continue reading →

Posted in Investing, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , , | 1 Comment