Mel Brooks fans will remember Spaceballs, his jocular jibe at the Star Wars epic. In pursuit of a rebel ship, evil Lord Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) orders his crew to accelerate their craft beyond the speed of light to “ludicrous speed.” While time travel remains science fiction, our ability to process and transmit data has … Continue reading
The last few weeks have been all things Shingo for me including a presentation at the Shingo Institute’s International Conference three weeks ago in Provo, Utah, followed by four days of Shingo Institute workshops at Vibco in Richmond, Rhode Island. Questions at both events about assessing for enterprise excellence caused me to reflect on a … Continue reading
Viewing Bill Murray’s “Scrooged” last week for the twenty-fifth time in as many years, I recalled a kind of holiday miracle I witnessed shortly after I began consulting. I was working with a manager team at a food processing plant shortly before Christmas, observing a packing line set up especially to pack hams for the … Continue reading
I participated recently in the AME conference in Jacksonville, Florida; a terrific rally for manufacturing excellence with the tongue-twisting theme “Strategic Success Through People Powered Excellence.” I had a small role on a keynote panel that attempted to answer questions from attendees relating to generating the people power needed for strategic success. The session evoked … Continue reading
With our 10th Annual Northeast Conference just eight days away, I’ve taken a little poetic license with the conference theme, Putting People First, to highlight just one of the outstanding teams who will be presenting at the conference: Two weeks ago I had the honor of attending the ribbon cutting for the West Suburban Cancer … Continue reading
One of my early lessons in leading change came at the age of 19, while working in in a program known as VISTA, Volunteers in Service to America. The lesson was this: Leading change is marathon not a sprint. Sometimes you just have to pace yourself, give your mind and body a break and do … Continue reading
Four years ago I posted a funny story passed along to me by a Lean friend, that dealt with the consequences of crazy measures, and how lack of management oversight will allow these measures to persist indefinitely. It’s one of my shortest posts and worth a quick read if you haven’t already seen it. Go … Continue reading
