Lean Tools: Standardized Work and Best Practices TAGS: 14 principles | activities | best practices | consulting | continuous improvement | cycle | excess | house of lean | lean | lean blitz | maximize | motion | operations | process | production | quality | repeatability | safety | six sigma | sports | standardized work | takt time | toyota way | waiting | walking | waste It’s been a long time since I’ve jumped into describing the Lean tools – I broke away to focus on the 14 principles of The Toyota Way, because they were …Continue reading →

A Lamborghini & Process vs. System TAGS: activities | adding | blitz | bolster | capabilities | consulting | continuous | difference | driving | fancy | flow | gold | hammer | improvement | information | lamborghini | lean | management | metaphor | operations | optimization | optimize | procedures | process | productivity | scenarios | significant | six sigma | sports | subaru | success | system | tools | value | waste | wheel I have encountered multiple scenarios in my career where upper management was under the impression that putting in fancy new systems and technology would dramatically boost productivity and the quickness …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #8 and Implementing Technology that Helps TAGS: activities | blitz | client | computer | consulting | current | director | expectation | future | identification | lean | manager | manual | map | mapping | money | note | operations | optimize | people | post-it | principle | process | projects | provider | requirement | resource | risk | serve | six sigma | solution | sports | state | technology | time | time study | toyota | waste | way One of my current clients has a two-pronged plan for improving a process that is absorbing a lot of resources (people, time, risk, money). The first prong is to optimize …Continue reading →

If You Don’t Have Standardized Processes You’re Wasting Money – Part II TAGS: activities | blitz | burgers | flipping | lean | operations | process | six sigma | sports | standardized work | waste As indicated in the first post about wasting money by not having standardized work, we now provide an example using a situation commonly found in stadium concession stands. First, let’s …Continue reading →

State of the Lean Blitz Blog: April 2012 TAGS: activities | alignment | apparel | atlanta | audience | augusta | baseball | baseball winter meetings | basketball | bat | ben hill | blitz | blue | braun | braves | championship | club | cnbc.com | columbus | comments | communication | concessions | consultants | continuous | customer | darren rovell | david schoenfield | dayton | e-book | elmore | email | espn.com | experience | facebook | five whys | followers | football | georgia | giveaway | golf | google | greenjackets | group | hot dog | improvement | jackets | jersey | knowledge | lean | locker room | manufacturing | mascot | masters | merchandise | minor league | moneyball | movie | national | ncaa | notre dame | ohio | operations | pin flag | plus | principles | process | questions | respond | ryan | satisfaction | season | service | seth godin | silver hawks | six sigma | sneezers | Soccer | south bend | sports | sportsbiz | steroids | subscribers | subscriptions | sweetspot | t-shirt | tools | tournament | toyota way | twitter | waste | wastes I figured that since the blog is between 5-6 months old now that I provide a “state of the blog” address – what has changed since the blog first kicked …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #2: Continuous Flow TAGS: 2 | 5S | activities | balancing | blitz | capabilities | continuous | flow | ideal | insulation | lean | load | operations | operators | principle | process | products | services | six sigma | state | stockouts | tools | toyota | waiting | waste | wasteful | way | wip | work in process This image, used as a depiction of a process with minimal waste, was first examined last week with regard to defining what lean is. This timeline shows an ideal state …Continue reading →

So What Is Lean Anyway? TAGS: activities | blitz | burger | buttons | cash register | cashier | combination | defects | diet | excess | lean | lean enterprise institute | motion | non-renewable | non-value-added | operations | pop | process | resource | scrap | six sigma | soda | sports | time | timeline | transfer | transporation | value | value-added | waiting | wastes | what is lean We should step back and start from the beginning. Lean Blitz has already looked at the lean wastes, started to review some of the lean tools, and touched on the …Continue reading →

Why Is Lean Important Today? (More Fatalistic View) TAGS: activities | change | consulting | critical | cut costs | flexibility | implement | lean | lean blitz | open mind | operations | process | reduce | save money | savings | sports | strategy | time | waste So we’re struggling through the worst economic downturn in our lifetimes, and based on the varying opinions of all the economic experts no one knows for sure when it will …Continue reading →

What is lean? TAGS: activities | assembly | atlas shrugged | blitz | consulting | cost | definition | efficiency | efficient | lean | lean blitz | money | operations | process | savings | six sigma | sports | time | transmission | value | waste Before you can run off and start using lean principles or figure out why lean is so important, you have to first ask, “What in the heck is ‘lean’ anyway?” …Continue reading →