Does University Come Before or After the State Name? TAGS: after | before | consulting | espn | indiana | lean | lean blitz | name | operations | process | sample gates | school | sports | state | the ohio state university | university How many times have you wondered if University comes before or after a state name when referring to a college? Not many? Okay, how many times have you heard someone call …Continue reading →

What Brad Stevens Leaving Butler Can Teach Us About Lean TAGS: assistant | basketball | boston celtics | brad stevens | butler | consulting | employee knowledge | founding fathers | independence day | indiana | lean | lean blitz | matthew graves | operations | process | sports | standardized work | thad matta | todd lickliter | tools | transition | wastes Brad Stevens was seemingly part of the next wave of great college basketball coaches – 36 years young, sticking it out with one small Indiana school (Butler University) by turning …Continue reading →

The @ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement #WCQI13 TAGS: american | asq | audi | center | conference | consulting | convention | dallas | giveaways | improvement | indiana | indianapolis | innovation | international team excellence award | itea | karen martin | lean | lean blitz | malcolm baldrige | mark graban | podcast | quality | quality of life | sally hogshead | shingo | society | sports | swag | the outstanding organization | trade show | world | young quality professionals | yqp The ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement closed last Wednesday and now that I’m finally back I’m going to cover some of the things I saw and experienced. ~~~~~~~ …Continue reading →

Lean and the Law of Cosmic Laziness TAGS: flexible | indiana | kaizen | knox high school | law of cosmic laziness | lean | lean blitz consulting | matt aukerman | money | operations | process | save | sports | strain | time | waste activities My seventh grade math teacher at my little school in Indiana was a fellow named Matt Aukerman. In addition to being a great teacher and funny guy, he introduced us …Continue reading →

The Filth and Disgusting Health Behaviors at Wrigley Field TAGS: 5S | baseball | big league stew | blitz | blog | chicago cubs | cleaning | concessions | consulting | disdain | disgusting | documentation | espn | everywhere | facilities | fan | feces | field | filth | filthy | five whys | gross | hands | health | indiana | inspector | issues | lean | maintenance | major league baseball | management | opening day | operating | operations | playbook | procedures | process | root cause analysis | set in order | shine | sort | sports | stadium | standardize | standards | strategy | sun-times | sustain | tpm | training | ufe | ufe.com | upkeep | urine | visual | wash | with leather | wrigley | yahoo sports I came across this little op-ed piece on ESPN.com’s Playbook about Wrigley Field being the grossest sports stadium in the four major North American sports leagues, sharing a little bit …Continue reading →

Vision and Value TAGS: ability | action | annie | associate | blitz | brand | cat food | cereal | consultant | consulting | detergent | difference | director | electronics | engineer | eradicate | expert | field | fish | fix | function | guru | improvement | indiana | irreplaceable | kelley | laundry | leader | lean | leibovitz | management | manager | marketing | mba | mentor | operations | opportunity | partner | photographer | pipe | plan | plumber | process | profession | retail | school | service | six sigma | sports | teach | university | value | vision | visualize Everybody has the opportunity to create value, in one fashion or another. A person can merely be a “warm body” that stands in as part of a process creating a …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #1 TAGS: athlete | authors | baseball | basketball | blitz | business | coach | continuous | crean | david | games | goals | hoosiers | improvement | indiana | jeffrey | kelvin | kentucky | lean | liker | long-term | meier | ncaa | operations | organization | patrons | philosophy | principles | process | sampson | savings | short-term | six sigma | sixteen | sponsors | sports | student | sweet | tickets | time | tom | tournament | toyota | university | value | visual | way Yesterday we brought forth a bit of a visual depiction of what lean is and how it can impact a small business or sports organization. Hopefully we demonstrated the level …Continue reading →

Time for a Lean Blitz Update! TAGS: 5S | anthony | augusta | blitz | carmelo | crean | disney | ebook | flop | georgia | golf | graban | hoosiers | indiana | jeremy | john carter | kentucky | knicks | lean | leanblog | lin | linsanity | mark | masters | memes | movement | ncaa | new york | operations | process | six sigma | sixteen | sort | sports | sweet | tom | tournament | tournaments | university There are a few updates on some previous posts that should be shared. Remember Linsanity? Part of the reason Jeremy Lin got the opportunity to start for the New York …Continue reading →

Lean Tools: 5S, Standardize, and the Marching Hundred TAGS: 5S | audits | band | blitz | cell | cleanliness | colors | factory | finished goods | floor | hundred | images | indiana | inspections | lean | lock step | marching | operations | operator | organization | processes | safety | set in order | shapes | shine | signs | six sigma | sort | sports | standardize | straighten | sustain | university | user | visual We’ve covered the first three steps of 5S – sort (also here), set-in-order, and shine. The good news? Those three steps are everything you need to overhaul a work cell …Continue reading →