Ohno’s TPS
13 March 2009
I began re-reading today the classic book Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production by Taiichi Ohno. As I was perusing Ohno’s Preface I…
“Annual Expenditure Twenty Pound Ought and Six”
4 February 2009
I read articles and listen to commentary about the bailout of the US financial industry and wonder, “Does giving people money solve their problems?” I…
What should Toyota do?
5 January 2009
A good friend of mine, Dan Peters, sent me a link to one of the many articles emerging in the last 24 hours on Toyota’s 11 day shutdown of its domesti…
Painting a Clearer Picture
4 June 2008
Sometimes the US – China relationship seems more like a Monet than a Rembrandt. The impression (no pun intended) that is most commonly portrayed is th…
Watanabe vs. Gates in the PowerPoint Arena
1 June 2008
I just wanted to give Garr Reynolds from Presentation Zen credit for this one. He tracked down an article (in Japanese) by Mr. Watanabe, CEO of Toyota…
TPS in Semiconductors
5 May 2008
The semiconductor industry boasts of building the most complex products on the planet. If you have never toured a facility you may be interested in vi…
Standard Work, Safety, and Audits
21 March 2008
One of the problems we consistently run into in our factories is the deviation from standard work by our equipment technicians. I don’t think the prob…
A Culture of Waste Elimination
20 March 2008
The other day I quoted Mike Hoseus from CQPO. He is co-author of the Toyota Culture book. There is a another story that he shares in the book about th…