The “Management Improvement Carnival” is a regular feature of John Hunter's “Curious Cat” blog. John has had different bloggers hosting the carnival lately and now it's my turn. So, here's the Lean Carnival for the last two weeks, some of the best blog posts in the Lean world. Check them out.
- How Toyota Handles Disaster, by Matthew May at “Elegant Solutions”:
- “Sometimes the Wall Street Journal has at best one use: wrapping fish. To wit, their ignorant article on the front page of the Marketplace section: “A Key Strategy of Japan's Car Makers Backfires.”… Long story short: Toyota's been there, done that. Read on if you want the story. (The Riken affair will undoubtedly become a case study.)”
- More Lean Companies, by Kevin Meyer at “Evolving Excellence”:
- “…the July 17th issue of Manufacturing News has an article by Cliff Ransom, President of Ransom Research. Cliff is one of the few Wall Street analysts that truly understands lean manufacturing and the impact it can have on company performance and valuation.”
- Google Exceeded Planned Spending on Personnel, John Hunter at “Curious Cat Management Blog”:
- “There are several problems with numerical goals but in here lets focus on one. The change from managing for what is best for the business to managing to hit a target.”
- Kaizen Rules 1&2, by Ron Pereira at “Lean Six Sigma Academy”
- “We must enter a “how it can be done” mindset instead of why it cannot be done mindset. The former is essential if we are to make any serious, long lasting change. This manner of thinking must also be taught to our associates. If everyone adopts this “how to” mindset change can occur rapidly.”
- A Walk with Lee, by Dr. Ted Eytan at “Daily Reflections”
- “What I can speak to today is all of the things the [healthcare] organization has done to bring respect and thoughtfulness to a multitude of processes we use to take care of people. We have not become a factory or distanced ourselves from our commitment to our members. I would say in my work, it's very much the opposite – our commitment has always been great, now it's even better represented in what we DO.”
- Cleanup, Aisle 5, by Mike Wroblewski at “Got Boondoggle?”
- “…the true problem I discovered on my Gemba walk was not a damaged box in a warehouse. The true problem is that our response was only reactive and failed to include any real corrective or preventative actions not to mention failing to record the damaged box condition (for kaizen).”
- Toyota Shifting Production to Lower Labor Costs? It Could Happen, by Ralph Bernstein at “Lean Insider”:
- “Would Toyota, the embodiment of lean manufacturing and respect for people, ever consider relocating production to reduce labor costs? According to recent reports, that's exactly what Toyota is considering.”
- There is No Honor in Muri, by Jon Miller at “Gemba Panta Rei”
- “Muri arises when you try to fight variability at the surface level rather than at the systemic level. In other words, when you try to make a quick fix rather than a root cause countermeasure to variation, the result is muri and waste.”
- You could get out of the fog and start clearing the dust, by Karen Wilhelm at “Lean Reflections”:
- “How do you use newly freed-up employees and floor space? It takes creativity, but this is what a lean leader needs to develop. Get out, find out how a different market works, what potential customers need, how they make decisions.”
- Right is Cheaper, by Rob Worth at “Lean Services Blog”:
- “So if anyone tells you that higher quality is more expensive ask them to correct themselves and count the calories they burn as they do so.”
- Survey Blames Blame for Lean Struggles, by Mark Graban at “Lean Blog”:
- “… when we find ourselves saying (and trust me, I've caught myself saying it before) “this Lean effort would be going great only if so-and-so would get on board,” that's a cop-out and an excuse. It's blaming others and I don't think it's productive. It's OK to identify lack of buy-in as a problem, but then get to work on it!”
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