Month: August 2007

41 Articles

Newt Gingrich Wants to Kaizen the U.S.A.

By Jon Miller - August 10th, 2007

Newt Gingrich wants to kaizen the U.S.A. He talks of “a world that works, and a world that doesn’t” using the example of FedEx versus the U.S. Federal Government in this video clip on Youtube. In an August 7, 2007 spe

Toyota Production System Applied to Software Development

By Jon Miller - August 8th, 2007

Some of the most interesting insights into the Toyota Production System come from the experiences people have with implementing the TPS outside of manufacturing. Whether it is in schools, hospitals, or software development firms, the c

Cooking up a Profit

By Ron Pereira - August 8th, 2007

No, this post is not about corporate fraud or funny accounting.  Instead it is about a neat story I just read in the Columbus Dispatch (Go Bucks, beat scUM).  The article is about Kahiki Foods, one of the largest Asian-frozen-food ma

Three Key Points to Kaizen Your Communication

By Jon Miller - August 7th, 2007

How well do you communicate what is truly important to your peers and to the people you teach? How often do you say “These three points are important. Write them down”? Here are three key points to effective communication:

7 Ways to Reduce Cost

By Ron Pereira - August 7th, 2007

I finished the book Gemba Kaizen by Masaaki Imai.  It was quite good and I highly recommend it.  It is chalk full of excellent tips like 7 ways to reduce costs in gemba (as Mr. Imai phrases it).  They are: Improve Quality:  Imai

Tell Us Your Lean Failure Stories

By Jon Miller - August 6th, 2007

Recently one of our consultants came back from a sales call having received the question from our prospective client “When has your firm failed in consulting engagements? Tell us your Lean failure stories.” Not having serve

The Big 200!

By Ron Pereira - August 6th, 2007

Yesterday I posted my 200th article on the blog!  Also, today we received our 400th comment on the blog.  Now many of these comments are from me responding to others (like the actual 400th comment) but hey who is counting! I have t

Chrysler’s (Lean?) Six Sigma Future

By Jon Miller - August 5th, 2007

The Chrysler Corporation has a new CEO, Bob Nardelli. Nardelli Picked to Run Chrysler in Industry Shift, the August 6th, Wall Street Journal reports. Mr. Nardelli was most recently in the news for bringing a controversial combativeness

Bad Metrics in a Hair Salon?

By Ron Pereira - August 5th, 2007

I got my haircut yesterday.  I am cheap and like the $12 action at Great Clips right up the street.  They do a good job so I can’t see paying $35 (or more) for some overpriced version of the same thing. As the stylist was bring

God’s Country

By Ron Pereira - August 5th, 2007

As I previously explained my family and I took a roadtrip the last few weeks.  We drove from Keller, Texas to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  We traveled through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota on our wa

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