Subscribe:
RSS feed
A Blog About Understanding TPS and Gaining Its Full Benefits, brought to you by "The Toast Guy"
Browsing All Posts filed under »Old Lean Dude«
Another Use for Duct Tape
If you want your employees to begin thinking that problem solving is a key part of their jobs, then you have to cease being the chief executive problem solver.
True North Pole
December 23, 2015
Many years ago a small expedition to the North Pole was funded by several American toy manufacturers, anxious to better understand how Santa’s workshop achieved such incredible productivity and just-in-time delivery. “How can Santa produce all those toys in such a short time?” one manager questioned in disbelief as the small group of managers furtively […]
Mistake-Proofing Mistakes
December 8, 2015
There is a popular lore provided by Shigeo Shingo, that the original name for mistake-proofing (Poka-Yoke) was “fool-proofing” (Baka-Yoke). Shingo chided managers at Panasonic for using the latter term, as it was disrespectful to workers, essentially calling them fools. Shingo substituted the word “mistake” for “fool”, because, as he aptly noted, making mistakes is part […]
Lazy Lean Guy
November 12, 2015
Why not make the job easier? Shigeo Shingo, in his book Non-stock Production, went further stating that the order of improvement must be easier, better, faster and then cheaper, in that order! He was adamant. Easier comes first.
Burning Platform
September 22, 2015
A favorite Twilight Zone episode that played Labor Day weekend put me in mind of the stressful push production environment that many organizations still endure today. In a technical sense, push production refers to launching orders into production before customer requirements are known and then pushing them along, some faster than others as requirements become […]
Putting The Pieces Together
July 24, 2015
Summer’s here, and that means a family vacation to the beach, the boardwalk and the Hamilton’s favorite Pizza place. We all agree that Manco’s pizza is the best anywhere, but we differ on the reason why. My brother, Geoff, thinks it’s the cheese: aged white cheddar in place of mozzarella. My son, Ben, says it’s […]
Up, Back and Around
July 13, 2015
Watching the US Women’s Team take the World Cup last week caused me to reminisce about my short-term coaching stint of a U12 soccer team. Before becoming a coach, I hadn’t played soccer or even watched a game, but there were not enough coaches in our town league so I volunteered. After a two-week clinic […]
January 11, 2016
2