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Tag Archives: lean manufacturing
Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog Ranking
I created a ranking of top management improvement blogs for fun. There is no way to objectively rate blogs by how worthy or valuable they are. I just wanted to create a listing that ranked blogs I thought were worth … Continue reading
Magnetic White-Board Kanban Card Options
Just some quick ideas for Kanban whiteboard magnetic card options from a question I answered on Reddit. Here is the best lean solution: Trying Out My Agile Kanban Board from Jon Miller. Why, well mainly I am kidding about it … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Quality tools
Tagged agile management, kanban, lean manufacturing, productivity, project management, Quality tools, tips, usability, visual management
Comments Off on Magnetic White-Board Kanban Card Options
Toyota Understands Robots are Best Used to Enhance the Value Employees Provide
Toyota has always seen robotics as a way to enhance what staff can do. Many USA executives think of robotics as a way to reduce personnel. Toyota wants to use the brainpower of employees to continually improve the organization. Toyota … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged continual improvement, engineering, Innovation, Japan, lean manufacturing, managing people, Manufacturing, overpaid executives, respect for people, technology, Toyota, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Comments Off on Toyota Understands Robots are Best Used to Enhance the Value Employees Provide
You are a Fool if You Do What I Say
Guest post from Mark Graban There’s an interesting quote from Taiichi Ohno in “Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management,” which I was re-reading today… “You are a fool if you do what I say. You are a greater fool if you don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Deming, Lean thinking, Quality tools
Tagged continual improvement, guest post, lean manufacturing, quote, Taiichi Ohno
3 Comments
Business 901 Podcast with Me: Deming’s Management Ideas Today
I recently was interviewed for a podcast by Joe Dager, at Business 901: Dr. Deming on Lean in 2012. I hope you enjoy the podcast. Listen to this podcast. Here are some links related to items I mention in the … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Management
Tagged Deming, interview, John Hunter, lean manufacturing, Lean thinking, podcast, Toyota Production System (TPS)
6 Comments
Respect for Everyone
TL;DR – The two pillars of the Toyota Way are: respect for people and continuous improvement. One of the big reasons my career followed the path it did (into management improvement) was due to the impact of respect for people. … Continue reading
5s at NASA
NASA did some amazing things culminating with landing on Moon. Much of what they did was doing many small things very well. They used 5s, checklists, gemba thinking, usability, simplicity, testing out on a small scale and much more. Here … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Quality tools, Systems thinking
Tagged government, lean manufacturing, Process improvement, Quality tools, USA, usability
1 Comment
New Deadly Diseases
Management and the economy keep evolving. Many good things happen. In the last decade the best things are probably the increased deep adoption of lean thinking in many organizations and the adoption of lean and Deming methods in software development … Continue reading
Value Stream Mapping for Fun and Profit
Guest post by Evan Durant, author of the Kaizen Notebook blog [The broken link was removed]. I tend to get a little preachy about the importance of value stream maps, but they really can be useful tools not only to … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Quality tools
Tagged guest post, lean manufacturing, Manufacturing, Quality tools
1 Comment

Leadership and Management
I don’t think the attempts to separate leadership and management are useful. I read plenty of things that are variations on Peter Drucker’s: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” A manager that is not concerned … Continue reading →