Tennessee Baseball – Nation’s Fastest Field Cleanup TAGS: 5S | baseball | cleanup | college | consulting | field | fun | kaizen | lean | lean blitz | operations | six sigma | sports | standardized work | tennessee | thinking The University of Tennessee baseball team claims to have the nation’s fastest pregame field cleanup. Before home games the players sprint out to handle cleanup tasks at the end of …Continue reading →

“Be Lean” vs. “Do Lean” TAGS: arnold schwarzenegger | art byrne | be lean | blitz | consulting | do lean | formula | lean | lean blitz | lean manufacturing | lean turnaround | lean wastes | mr. universe | new ideas | non-value-added | operations | process | respect for people | sports | wastes It’s common for companies to hear about the great benefits Lean and Six Sigma can bring about in their organizations – they hear about the streamlining of processes and gained …Continue reading →

Hitting the Reset Button for 2014 TAGS: 2014 | consulting | continuous improvement | french bulldog | leadership | lean | lean blitz | melky cabrera | reset button | six sigma | sports As I posted in late 2013, 2013 was both a good year and a pretty tough year. There are three reasons behind why 2013 was difficult: – One was a …Continue reading →

Waving Goodbye to 2013 TAGS: 2013 | 2014 | asq | beyond lean | blog | consulting | happy | karen martin | lean blitz | lean blog | mark graban | matt wrye | new year | operations | podcast | process | pug | rob neyer | sports In short, 2013 was a pretty tough year, both personally and professionally. Some really great opportunities presented themselves, while I also found there is a great deal of professional growth …Continue reading →

Happy Holidays from Lean Blitz Consulting TAGS: charlie brown | christmas | clark griswold | consulting | happy | holidays | lean blitz | merry | muda | mura | muri | national lampoon | overburden | tree | vacation I have been absent from posting new Lean/continuous improvement content for the last month and a half, for which I apologize. Reasons for this will begin coming out in the …Continue reading →

Tampa Bay Buccaneers and MRSA Outbreak Strikes Again TAGS: bacteria | buccaneers | carl nicks | consulting | dicon | football | illness | infection | injured reserve | lawrence tynes | lean | lean blitz | locker room | Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus | mrsa | nfl | non football injury | protocol | respect for people | staph infection | tampa bay Three players for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been diagnosed with MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) this season, including one player who has been hit twice with the infection. Kicker …Continue reading →

Better Technology is NOT Always the Solution to the Problem TAGS: conservative | consulting | continuous improvement | daily show | fox news | glenn beck | jon stewart | lean | lean blitz | overprocessing | problem | solution | technology Last night a segment on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart poked a little fun (big surprise) at the new and allegedly better technology on Fox News for collecting and …Continue reading →

Penn State Football Oversells Tickets to Sold Out Game TAGS: consulting | deal | defects | glitch | lean | lean blitz | michigan | oversell | penn state | rework | scrap | student | ticketmaster | tickets | white out The opposite of having too much inventory you can’t sell is selling inventory you don’t have and confirming orders you cannot fulfill. Both can be equally costly – inventory absorbs …Continue reading →

Pink NFL Penalty Flags Surprisingly Cause Confusion TAGS: awareness | breast | cancer | confusion | consulting | flag | lean | lean blitz | month | nfl | official | penalty | pink | visual indicators Starting last Thursday, the NFL will bring attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month the same way they have for the last few years – players, coaches, and officials will sport …Continue reading →

Major League Baseball Expands Instant Replay, Joins 21st Century TAGS: armando gallaraga | bud selig | consulting | don denkinger | instant replay | jim joyce | john farrell | john schuerholz | lean | lean blitz | major league baseball | operations | process | sports Last month it was announced that there would be an expansion of Major League Baseball instant replay use and umpire video reviews of in-game calls, with some process similarities to the NFL’s …Continue reading →

Lack of Standardization of Major League Baseball Fields TAGS: consulting | craig robinson | espn | fields | flip flop fly ball | flip flop flyin | infographic | lean | lean blitz | major league baseball | rob neyer | standardization | symmetry I’ve mentioned before that baseball prides itself on its symmetry and lack of rule changes over the years – the game 100 years ago is roughly the same game it …Continue reading →

How to Better Error-Proof a Stadium Color-Out TAGS: clemson | college football | color out | consulting | error-proofing | football | georgia | green out | lean | lean blitz | notre dame | oklahoma | orange | poka-yoke | southern cal | sports | tickets Last Saturday, in an example of what has come into vogue with college sports recently, Notre Dame attempted a “green-out” of Notre Dame Stadium during their game against Oklahoma. The …Continue reading →

Obvious Bad Calls and the Case For Instant Replay TAGS: blown | call | cb bucknor | consulting | instant replay | lean | lean blitz | marlins | mlb | operations | phillies | process | rich kruger | sports During last night’s semi-meaningless game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Miami Marlins, this play and subsequent call happened. Umpire CB Bucknor called the runner out. FYI, the rule in …Continue reading →

Is the NFL Concussion Settlement Enough? TAGS: 5S | als | apple | concussion | consulting | continuous improvement | head | ipad | iphone | junior seau | lawyers | lean | lean blitz | lou gehrigs disease | nfl | operations | pittsburgh steelers | process | proposed | san diego chargers | settlement | sports | suicide | trauma | troy polamalu One of the biggest elephant-in-the-room topics related to sports AND safety is concussions and other forms of brain damage caused by playing football. There’s so much new information, so much …Continue reading →

What the Trent Richardson Deal Can Teach Us About Lean TAGS: adrian peterson | agile | brandon weeden | cleveland browns | consulting | fishbone diagram | flexible | forklifts | indianapolis colts | interrelationship digraph | lean | lean blitz | lean manufacturing | metrics | six sigma | titanic | trade | trent richardson | value NFL trades happen very infrequently, especially in the middle of the season. Offensive and defensive systems all have steep learning curves, and to swap out pieces of the specialized schemes …Continue reading →