Something that should be obvious to many is that the US Government (or probably any government local or federal) is full of waste: processes are bloated, many workarounds, a lot of waiting – you get the picture. A natural antidote to such a state of affairs is the application of lean manufacturing or six sigma. […]

An underestimated aspect of productivity is the reliability of the equipment we are using. Whether the equipment is heavy equipment used in manufacturing, supply chain, fulfillment and distribution, or whether our equipment is data center reliability. The reliability of the tools we rely on is critical. There are four critical factors to consider when addressing […]

The type of Bruce Lee training is known to be notorious and extremely difficult. At least that’s the folklore. Bruce Lee is attributed to having said the following: I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. Let’s explore both cases: […]

A process map is helpful because it gives us a holistic overview of the customer experience or the specific process that we’re interested in analyzing. But, it’s just a fist step. While a process map can point to general areas of opportunity, it’s sometimes not specific enough. A complement to a process map is what […]

In this post, we discuss another key difference between service and manufacturing. Previously, we discussed how production and consumption is different in service versus manufacturing; we also covered the intangible differences between service and manufacturing, the topic of “inventory” and inventory in service versus inventory in manufacturing; then, we discussed the concept of variation in service versus variation in manufacturing. Most […]

John Wooden shares with us the spirit and approach of Kaizen – Kaizen Training. This way of doing things requires small improvements everyday and that type of training leads to lasting and sustained improvement. But don’t let me tell, John Wooden words can do that: When you improve a little bit each day, eventually big […]

This article shows a timeline and video of the History of Lean Six Sigma Toyota. As with most things, The Toyota Production System (later to be called Lean in America) has been influenced by previous thought and influences current thinking. Below is a historical timeline of how Lean evolved over time, its roots, in both […]

Matt May was kind enough to send me a pre-release copy of his new book, The Shibumi Strategy. I liked what I’ve read so far and I think you would too. Matt May’s new book, The Shibumi Strategy: A Powerful Way to Create Meaningful Change, will be released on November 16. But, you can pre-order […]

Dogs want more than anything to please their owners. As such, they respond to positive reinforcement: if the dog does something good and the owner responds with affection, treats, and joy, then the dog will remember that and will eventually learn to do those things that make the dog owner happy. A recent article on […]

My son turned 2 years old in June 2010. By most standards, barely a 2 year old isn’t ready to be potty trained. I beg to differ. The other day, after breakfast, I placed him on the toilet, hoping so badly he would go poopy. After 30 minutes or so, he finally went poopy and […]