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Survive to Make Money or Make Money to Survive?
With GM’s demise becoming more real every day, many people have been asking me, “Why didn’t GM learn from Toyota…
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Eiji Toyoda and Management Muda
Enthusiasts know how tremendously influential Eiji Toyoda has been to the development of Toyota and its revolutionary management system. Perhaps…
Read article The Most Frustrated Person in Your Company
No, it’s not you. Earlier in my career I spent most of my time down in the front lines of…
Read article Mega Mura Bubble Trouble
I started writing my monthly e-letter in October of 2001 to speak to the worries of the Lean Community as…
Read article “Our people are our most important asset”…Really?
This well-intentioned phrase can carry a buried and profoundly disrespectful message, implying conventional capital asset thinking, treating the people in…
Read article A Recession Action Plan
A recession is a good time for lean. Organizations can either postpone lean and resort to traditional cost cutting, or…
Read article No Excuses
There has been much drive-by observation of lean operations over the years. A drive-by will unveil a fair amount of…
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What is Lean Management?
If lean thinking means a different approach to business, then it must also imply a different approach to managing by…
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Lean Landscapers
HighGrove Partners, an Atlanta landscaping company, needed some time to figure out how to apply lean management principles. After all,…
View case study It Takes 2 (or more) to A3
No one can create a useful A3 in isolation. It takes at least two individuals and often many more. Developing…
Read article Manage the Contract or Improve the Value Stream?
As much as I would like to, I can't walk frequently along every type of value stream. As a result,…
Read article Fighting Cancer with Linear Accelerators and Accelerated Processes
A series of cross-functional lean improvement teams in the Radiation Oncology Department at the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS)…
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