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Category Archives: made in the usa

Drowning in Opportunities

In 1989, after four years of what could be called ala carte improvement, my factory was introduced to policy deployment by Deming Prize winner, Ryuji..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on September 06 , 2011.

Reflections on the American Revolutions

As I watched Keith Lockhart conduct the Boston Pops to celebrate America’s birthday on July 4, another revolution that was occurring around the same..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on July 06 , 2011.

Guillotine

One of the more dubious outcomes of the French Revolution was the standardization of guillotining as the sole (and oft-employed) manner of capital..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on June 22 , 2011.

Lean Pretenders

I was listening today to a song from The Platters (there are just a few of you who will remember that group) that was the inspiration for this post:
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on June 13 , 2011.

A Supervisor's Greatest Discovery

The following is a true story but told with time compression – a nine month period shortened to three – in order cover the events in less than two..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on June 06 , 2011.

Asset Artifacts

In 1980, an ASRS at my company was the showpiece of a new plant, its capability for high-density automatic storage and retrieval of inventory..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on May 25 , 2011.

Hospital Heroes

About six years ago I was meeting with a clinical team to kick off an early improvement effort at their hospital. We began with a reflection on the..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on May 12 , 2011.

Practice Makes Permanent

In my last post I made the case for regular practice (everybody everyday) of new perspectives, behaviors and practices. All new learners begin by..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on April 29 , 2011.

Everybody Everyday

When my son, Ben, was seven years old, he took his first guitar lesson. After the lesson, I was curious to know how liked the experience. He..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on April 25 , 2011.

CEO's

Back in the late ‘80’s I had a friendly relationship with some folks at the “JIT Office” at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). These were early..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on April 15 , 2011.

Out of Sight, Out of our Minds

Gary was a talented, creative welder with an idea that made perfect sense to him but was not supported by conventional measures. Gary was determined..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on April 06 , 2011.

Waiting for Godot

Samuel Beckett’s modern drama about two hobos, Vladimir and Estragon, monotonously passing time while waiting for their friend Godot (who never shows..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, automation, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on March 31 , 2011.

IT Solution

About five years ago, I had the opportunity to participate on an improvement project in a radiation oncology department. The goal was to reduce the..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on March 23 , 2011.

Rowing

I was asked about 15 years ago to give a short presentation about Poka-yoke to an association of engineering professors from different US..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, muda, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, Taichi Ohno, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping, mura on March 16 , 2011.

EOQ = 0

When UE, my former company, revised it’s idea system to recognize “small” ideas, there were many entries from production employees suggesting part..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping on March 04 , 2011.

Epiphanitis

Back in December, I wrote a seasonal blog post entitled Epiphany to describe the exciting “aha moments” that sometimes accompany adult learning...
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, safety glasses, kaizen, hoshin kanri, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, optimization, toyota production system, inventory, made in america, Muri, shigeo shingo, made in the usa, value stream mapping on March 02 , 2011.

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