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Apr-2009

Article: Toyota’s British Influence  by Bob Emiliani Book: Supply-Based Advantage by Stephen Rogers Blog Post: Pop Goes China

Turbulent Economy Survival Kit

Like everyone else, we have been thinking a lot about our turbulent economy. Despite Administration changes, political promises, and bailout plans no one really knows where this economic meltdown will lead us, when it will end, or what conditions our organizations and retirement accounts will be in by the time we achieve some normalcy in [...]

The Choice

In The Choice, Eli Goldratt exposes the deep, underlying principles of life embodied in TOC. People are Good. People Think. Emotion is Logical. All Conflicts can be Eliminated. There are always Win-Win Solutions. Systems are Simple. Systems can be Improved Infinitely. Taken together, everyone should succeed. Then, why not? Dr. Goldratt teaches us in a [...]

Mar-2009

Article:  Turbulent Economy Survival Kit  by Terence Burton Book: The Choice by Eliyahu Goldratt Blog Post:Homozygosity – That’s the Problem!

Frank Woollard – The Forgotten Pioneer of Flow Production

The historical record of the origins of Lean management centers almost exclusively on Ford Motor Company in the 1910s and 1920s and Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1950s through the 1970s. There is no mention of the British automaker Morris Motors Ltd., the pioneering production work of Frank G. Woollard in the mid-1920s, or their [...]

Principles of Mass and Flow Production

Principles of Mass and Flow Production is a 55th Anniversary Special Reprint Edition of Frank G. Woollard’s long-forgotten book published in 1954, and includes Woollard’s amazing 1925 paper “Some Notes on British Methods of Continuous Production.” Both are presented as unabridged digitized images of the original works, and include commentary and analysis by noted Lean [...]

Feb-2009

Article: Frank Woollard – The Forgotten Pioneer of Flow Production  by Bob Emiliani Book: Principles of Mass and Flow Production by Frank Woollard and Bob Emiliani Blog Post: Waste in Speed

The Skinny on Lean Management

Reprinted with permission. Lean management doesn’t resonate in marketing and sales. Nor does it among boards, senior executives and investors. Reasons relate to where lean tends to do most of its work – in operations – and its usual presentation as an attack on waste. Obscured are its much greater potential in the distribution pipelines [...]

Managing to Learn

Managing to Learn by Toyota veteran John Shook, reveals the thinking underlying the vital A3 management process at the heart of lean management and lean leadership. Constructed as a dialogue between a manager and his boss, the book explains how A3 thinking helps managers and executives identify, frame, and then act on problems and challenges.

Jan-2009

Article:  The Skinny on Lean Management  by Richard Schonberger Book: Managing to Learn by John Shook Blog Post:Japan Kaikaku Experience – The Summary

Toyota Kyushu – The Manufacturing Ballet

Note: Links to all of four Japan factory tour posts and the various lessons from those tours can be found here. I thought I understood lean pretty well.  I was wrong.  There is still so very much to learn. On Monday I visited Toyota’s Kyushu operations as part of Gemba’s Japan Kaikaku Experience. The complex has the [...]

Real Lean – Volume 4

This fourth and final volume of the REAL LEAN series brings Lean full circle. It shows how Lean management is itself a craft that can only be learned as any other craftsman would learn their trade. Few people understand Lean management in the context of a craft, including the best Lean practitioners and Lean thinkers [...]

Oct-2008

Article: Proof of Process as Leading Indicators  by Cash Powell Book: Going Lean by Stephen Ruffa Blog Post: A 5am Wakeup Call

Proof of Process as Leading Indicators

Article By : Cash Powell   Posted By: Kevin Meyer In his book “Selecting the Right Manufacturing Improvement Tools”, Ron Moore introduces the idea that many of the traditional measurements in use by companies measure business activity after the fact. He calls them “lagging indicators” such as unit cost of production, return on net assets [...]

Going Lean

This book sets aside the notion that efficient operations and powerful innovations are only possible when business is steady and demand is growing. Instead, companies must learn that sudden shifts or unpredictable conditions need not undermine their results. Led by a new breed of companies -Toyota, Wal-Mart, and Southwest Airlines–a powerful, yet unexpected mindset is [...]