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Paperless Boardroom at Toyota
Article Link I found this story today about the newly developed ‘Paperless’ Boardroom at Toyota. By utilizing and combining IT technologies a boardroom was created that allows for a variety of...
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Tiny Jets
The New York Times published an article today around the F.A.A.’s annual aviation forecast. “In its annual aviation forecast, the F.A.A. projected sharply higher levels of non-airline flights in coming...
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Fixing GM
Yesterday The Detroit Free Press published a collection of comments from auto industry analysts and GM leaders in a piece titled “5 Ways to Fix GM“ We’ve put a lot on the blog in recent months about...
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Hidden Costs of Outsourcing
A friend sent me this article from CNN Money. It’s not often that you see a mainstream article that provides data to refute the idea that outsourcing is THE way to reduce costs. The article mostly...
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Frustrated – Coping with Waste in Management Reviews
I’ve decided to write today about some personal frustration that I am experiencing as part of my daily work. My discontent stems from a form of waste that I have thus far been unsuccessful in helping...
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Just-in-Time takes the blame
On March 3, Dana Corp., a key supplier of axles, brakes and truck frames to Detroit auto makers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In doing so, Dana became the 4th major auto parts supplier to file for...
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Everyday Lean – Email Inventory
For the first installment of the Everyday Lean series, I thought I would stay with the email theme that originally got me started thinking down this path. Email is a part of just about everyone’s...
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Everyday Lean
I’ve been very interested in applying lean to daily work routines and practices and have been (unfortunately very slowly) working on a series of posts that provide various ideas and examples on how...
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Everyday Lean – Managing Your Files
In the age of file sharing, FTP sites, all sorts of web based collaboration tools and the ever dreaded email attachment, it’s as though everyone’s file cabinet is open to everyone else. This can be a...
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Lean & Flexible
Are lean and flexible equivalent terms? I’ve been seeing more and more about flexibility and hearing the term used interchangeably with lean. Flexibility, mainly referring to capital intensive...
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Because that’s not on my list
Like Mark, I’m frustrated today. Recently I’ve been working to support a quality improvement blitz within a manufacturing facility. The plant is taking a step towards ISPC by establishing maximum...
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Giving a Great Apology
I’m sure that among the readers of The Lean Blog there there is nothing but support for the lean principles of developing and respecting people. However, even with the best of intentions, consistently...
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Linking Lean Thinking to Education
For those interested in lean applications to education, there is an upcoming conference that you may want to check out. The conference is co-hosted by The Lean Aerospace Initiative Education Network...
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Linking Lean Thinking to Education – Conference Notes
Last week I attended the joint meeting of LEAN (Lean Education Academic Network) and EdNet (Lean Aerospace Initiative Education Network) in Worcester Massachusetts. Here’s a link to the conference...
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"We make it easy to do it right"
I saw the phrase in the title of this post on a BFI bin for recycling pop cans. I believe BFI was purchased by Allied Waste Industries 6 or 7 years ago. The bins certainly appear to be at least that...
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Linking Lean Thinking to Education – Conference Notes: Lean Certification
My apologies for the delay in following through with posts from the EdNet / LEAN conference. Here’s a bit on one of the presentations from the conference that I’m sure will spur on some discussion....
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The Tragedy of Waste
By Luke Van Dongen I was very fortunate to have met Bob Emiliani at the Linking Lean Thinking to Education conference in Worcester Mass last month. Bob has a wonderful combination of industry and...
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Linking Lean Thinking to Education – Conference Notes: Applying Lean Tools to...
By Luke Van Dongen For me, the topic of applying lean principles and tools to the classroom was the best part of the Linking Lean Thinking to Education conference. Admittedly, I am biased by the fact...
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Applying Lean Tools to University Courses: Go & See
By Luke Van Dongen Next in the blog series on the topic of applying lean tools to university courses is ‘Go & See’, which I personally believe can never be overdone. Getting back to our example...
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Linking Lean Thinking to Education – Conference Notes: Womack’s vision of a...
By Luke Van Dongen I am a huge fan of Jim Womack’s ability to identify and describe problems within complex systems simply and absolutely. Womack was a keynote speaker at the conference and used his...
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