Hello world! Welcome!

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Bruce Hamilton (aka Old Lean Dude aka “The Toast Guy”)

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 Blog name, “Old Lean Dude”, reflects my advanced years, aptly noted in one of the funny parodies of Toast Kaizen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR_m85h82II.

I have been around the Lean scene for a few years – first as a practitioner beginning in 1985 (when it was still TPS) and later (1999) as a consultant, and I have been fortunate to rub elbows with some great early thinkers adn innovators in that time as well as latter day lean innovators. Everyday there is something new to learn and to share. What’s the most important thing I’ve learned about Lean in 25 years? That’s hard to say, but I think GBMP’s logo (look right) is very important: Everybody, Everyday.

We learn by doing. Toyota calls it tacit learning. Sometimes the learning is directed by a more experienced person. And sometimes it’s an epiphany arising simply from personal immersion in a problem.

And the learning is for everybody. That’s my target market: everybody. So please stay tuned to Old Lean Dude, and join in when it suits you.

13 thoughts on “Hello world! Welcome!”

  1. Mark R Hamel

    Hi Bruce,

    Congratulations on the new blog. Maintaining a blog can be a stern taskmaster (you’ve got to produce a post on a regular basis!), but I am most certain that your readers will benefit greatly from your new endeavor.

    Looking forward to learning from you.

    Best of luck.

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  2. Arthur Ronagnoli

    I look forward to reading your blog and sharing your words of wisdom with my coworkers. GBMP had a profound impact on Fabco Mfg and I don’t think we would have survived this recession without implementing the lean thinking you and your staff instilled in us.

    Good Luck!

    Arthur Romagnoli
    GM Fabco Mfg

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  4. Eric Buehrens

    Looking forward to you sharing your learning and experience with the world in this new medium, Bruce. Thanks for be willing to do so. My industry (healthcare) desperately needs what Lean and TPS have to teach us, and it’s a privilege to be on the first steps of a long journey of improvement.

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  6. Tom Warda

    Bruce,

    I’m really looking forward to attending your conference because like you, I believe we need to maintain (re-gain?) this country’s manufacturing might if we’re to remain a world power and maintain our standard of living. I really am worried about what our children will do and have when they grow up.

    I got to thinking about your conference though and I have a real concern. The wrong people are going to attend. Yes, you read that right. I’d be willing to guarantee that 100% of the people signed up for the conference absolutely agree with you, John Shook and all of the other fine presenters. So you run the risk of preaching to the choir. That’s not going to change much.

    My hope in attending is that I can pick up some new ways to convince folks who have embraced outsourcing to low wage countries as their main means of productivity improvements that there is indeed another way, but not much I’ve done in the past has helped. Outsourcing apparently is a pretty strong drug and the habit is tough to kick.

    So my question to you is simple. What can we do to get “the right people” to attend your conference?

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  8. Mike McAteer

    Bruce I have started a new job in Western Canada where Lean Manufacturing is a very new concept. I am staying in a hotel and was gettting my breakfast 2 weeks ago making toast of all things and I thought of your video and how it could help me introduce lean to the team here. Well it arrived today and tomorrow I will be sharing it with the Team. I watched it again today and realized it is perfect to help solidify some of the concepts that I have started teaching. Thanks for the video and thanks for the blog as I will be watching and reading in the future.

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  9. Patrice

    Hmm is anyone else experiencing problems with the pictures on
    this blog loading? I’m trying to figure out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the
    blog. Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

    Reply ↓

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