Tag: Kaizen

This is an interesting article: Inside Toyota's Takaoka #2 Line: The Most Flexible Line In The World I had a chance to visit the 'Takaoka #1"...

When we have really sticky, complicated problems (like the widespread healthcare patient safety and quality problems), I think it's interesting to think about problems...

I guess I'm wired for improvement. Or, it's just become a habit. Or, it's both. I celebrate moments when I can identify an opportunity for...

Here is an interesting article that a few people pointed me toward the other day about the Seattle Mariners team: Mariners Sunday mailbag: Explaining the...

You might remember one of my favorite podcasts was with Dr. Bob Maurer of UCLA, author of two great books on the Kaizen style...

I like to exercise, and it's important to me and my health. I've never been a runner (bad knees), so I prefer using an...

I was honored to have an opportunity to present with my friend Chip Ponsford, DVM at the Veterinary Leadership Conference that was held this...

A key Kaizen principle is continually improving through incremental improvements. When we use a Kaizen process to improve our work, we're not likely to...

Thanks to the Lean Enterprise Institute for publishing my article about Kaizen, new habits, and New Year's resolutions: Take Baby Steps Towards Improvement "As 2019 begins,...

When I got back from Japan a few weeks back, somebody at a hospital client of mine asked me: "Why go back to Japan again? Haven't you been there, done that?" Why go back to Japan? Why not go back? I learn something new and have great experiences each time and my recent opportunity to tag along with Honsha was no exception.

Jet lag, even well managed and planned for, meant I was awake early on a Sunday morning. Over breakfast, I read more about news from last week, that GE had fired their CEO John Flannery after 14 months and replaced him with a relatively new board member, Larry Culp. Culp is GE's first outsider CEO hire in their 100+ year history. So who is this guy and why did they hire him? Culp was CEO of Danaher, a company that's quite often held up as the best non-Toyota Lean company out there. And they're an American company. Danaher, through its Danaher Business System (DBS) approach, uses Lean as a business strategy in a way that's very different than Toyota. Danaher has acquired companies and brought DBS and Lean in as a way to turn around and improve those businesses.

In the third and final part of this series, I share more about how Toyota teaches about TPS and TQM... and how they are sharing that approach with doctors and hospitals.