Welcome to Bruce Hamilton’s (aka The Toast Guy from Toast Kaizen DVD fame) Blog, an on-going reflection on Lean philosophy and practices with an emphasis on keeping good jobs close to home. That’s the mission of my organization, GBMP, a Boston-based not-for-profit organization with the parochial objective of shipping products overseas rather than jobs. The… [Read more…]
May 25, 2012
I can remember a Decoration Day (as Memorial Day was then called) parade in which the last living veteran of the American Civil War marched. He was over 100 years old at that time, but had been a drummer boy in the Union Army in 1865. In 1952 the celebration was still held on May 30th… [Read more…]
May 10, 2012
The company I was visiting was a component manufacturer, one of several divisions producing for the aftermarket. Larry M., a dapper middle-aged gentleman and vice president of manufacturing for this firm, had asked GBMP to propose improvements at their site. “Our margins are slipping and we can’t keep the right products on the shelf,” he… [Read more…]
April 24, 2012
Spring is my favorite season because of the spirit of renewal it brings with it. So here is a post dedicated to spring that is inspired by a comment made recently by my colleague, Menrika Louis: “I am one with the weeds,” Menrika commented jokingly while we were working together on an improvement project. She… [Read more…]
April 19, 2012
3P, “Production Preparation Process,” is a method introduced to the US in the mid-80’s by Chihiro Nakao, a contemporary of Mr. Ohno, and founder of Shingijutsu consulting. I recall the method was called “New Production Preparation” (NPP) early along, but apparently succumbed to a marketing intervention, hence 3P. The basic idea of 3P is to… [Read more…]
April 6, 2012
I take my work very seriously, but sometimes when I have excess idle time (like on the red-eye from Phoenix to Boston), I’ll have a whimsical idea. Here’s one I’d like to share, to demonstrate the universality of a good idea. My stream of thought begins with recent participation in the Boy Scouts Merit Badge… [Read more…]
March 30, 2012
With the International Shingo Prize Conference just a month away, I thought a short post about Shigeo Shingo and the Prize named in his honor would be worthwhile. At the time of Prize’s founding in 1988, Shingo was nearly an unknown in the U.S. His first book translated into English (1969, Japanese Management Association) was… [Read more…]
March 14, 2012
Some years back while working in an administrative department I encountered a curious condition. With about a half-dozen employees, I was following the information flow from sales order to shipping. Our spaghetti diagram kept looping back to an inbox on a table just outside John’s door. It was imposing. It looked a bit like this: “Who… [Read more…]
November 19, 2010
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