Why Companies Succeed at Lean
24 September 2008
Guest author today is Cash Powell, Jr. of the University of Dayton's Center for Competitive Change. --------- In a recent interview, the 16th Pre…
Sloan Blows Lean 101
23 September 2008
Recently my opinion of MIT's Sloan Management Review, and the supposed gurus behind it, has improved. This week the bubble burst and they're b…
The Balloon Finally Pops
22 September 2008
I often compare regulating the free market to pushing on a balloon... there will always be a reaction. You just don't know where. Well last week,…
What's Dov Been Up To?
21 September 2008
It's been a while since we checked in on Dov Charney's American Apparel. Regular readers know that AA is one of our favorite companies, perhap…
The Double-Edged Productivity Sword
19 September 2008
We often write about how productivity gains in manufacturing have been spectacular during the past few decades, and how unfortunately productivity has…
The Smoking Hot Blonde of Kaikaku
18 September 2008
Earlier this week Dan Markovitz penned a post comparing kaizen with kaikaku... steady continual improvement versus sudden, radical improvement. The po…
Predictions from Employees
17 September 2008
We often say that organizations don't understand the true value of their employees and treat them as a simple pair of hands... instead of a source…
Is the Four Hour Work Week Really Lean?
16 September 2008
Regular reader know that I like Tim Ferris' book, The Four Hour Workweek. The productivity aspects of lean dovetail perfectly with the concepts h…