Lowering The Water Level
10 July 2007
Toyota calls it “lowering the water level.” Imagine a value stream or a production process as a river. Reducing the inventory in the process – “lowe…
The Obesity Epidemic
2 July 2007
On my too-frequent flights to New York recently, I started reading Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's a trip up and down…
Mass Production 1, Lean 0
21 June 2007
Boeing's ballyhooed (in some quarters) lean production of the 787 Dreamliner just ran into the ugly reality of mass production in its supply chain…
5S Isn't Just For Hammers
9 May 2007
5S isn't just for screwdrivers and hammers anymore. Some people see 5S as just a matter of physical cleaning and organization of one's worksp…
No Muda in Aisle 7
9 April 2007
The furor surrounding executive pay usually centers on either the (gross) disconnect between performance and pay or the somewhat vaguer feeling that i…
You Have to Laugh. If You Don't Cry First.
24 February 2007
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal ran an article (subscription only) on the way that Home Depot, in the wake of CEO Bob Nardelli's depart…
What's So Secret About the Toyota Way?
18 February 2007
The New York Times published an article last week on how Toyota is teaching the Toyota Way to a new generation of foreign managers, in an effort to av…
You, too, can be like AutoNation
10 February 2007
Friday's Wall Street Journal featured an article on how the CEO of AutoNation, Michael Jackson, is fed up and won't take it anymore. He's…