Metrics are a fairly common topic of discussion on the various lean manufacturing forums. One theme that comes up fairly frequently is how to determine “what counts” in this-or-that measurement. For example, a recent post asked about measuring lead times. The way they were measuring lead time only counted the time from when the order [...]
correction: I had typed “October 10″ for the date. That was my mistake. It is October 8th. I will be speaking at the October 8 meeting of the Seattle ASQ on the topic of “The Continuous Improvement Ideal: Principles to Engage Your People.” From the ASQ event page: You may have heard of Toyota’s principle [...]
Toyota to end Calif. joint venture with GM – Yahoo! News. The joint venture was developed to have American workers learn Toyota’s production methods, which were much leaner and more efficient. [emphasis added] Maybe that was GM’s intention – to “fix” the workforce. This fits in with the judgment I developed about GM’s leadership over [...]
Occasionally it is good to think about not only the product we make or service we deliver, but to reflect a bit on exactly what value the customer receives from that product or service. Sometimes we confuse the technology we apply to get something done with what we are really trying to do.
Over the weekend I returned from a 10 day visit to The Netherlands as a guest of Blom Consultancy. I am still compiling my experiences, and will be sharing them with you as I do so. (You already have one of them in the previous post.) However the purpose of this post is specifically to [...]
I am going to break my self-imposed rule against further comment on the automotive industry in general, even though it is more commentary about current events than it has to do with the Toyota Production System. In physics, a black hole is a singularity – a point where time and space are collapsed to a [...]
LEI is hosting an executive seminar with Steven Spear on June 4 in Cambridge. It looks like it is $1500. If you are a senior executive who wants to “get” what this lean stuff is really about, I would strongly encourage you to take any opportunity you can get to talk to this guy. It [...]
GM CEO Wagoner to step down at White House request I find this news interesting on a lot of levels. I have never worked at GM, and have never met Rick Wagoner. GM’s current problems have been a long time coming. They are not solely due to the current economic downturn, the market conditions have [...]
In the world of science, great discoveries simplify our understanding. When Copernicus hypothesized that everything in the universe does not revolve around the Earth, explaining the motions of things in the sky got a lot easier. In general, I have found that if something requires a great deal of detail to explain the fundamentals, there [...]
Toyota Offering Buyouts To 18,000 U.S. Workers Clearly this is an interesting development.The question in my mind is whether it will represent the same kind of sea change that occurred in 1947.