Domino’s Pizza Boxes, Standardized Work, and Overproduction TAGS: attention | best practice | box | commercial | continuous improvement | dale | defects | domino's | early | excess | exertion | fold | inventory | lean blitz consulting | lean wastes | motion | operations | overproduction | pizza | process | production | quality | six sigma | sports | stacks | standardized work | store | training Just about every time I walk into a Domino’s Pizza shop I encounter a wall of pre-built pizza boxes. These stacks of boxes are generally on a shelf low to …Continue reading →

Lean is Safety TAGS: 5S | accident | acknowledge | address | anomaly | behavior | businessdictionary.com | continuous improvement | danger | environment | ergonomics | excess | harm | identify | inventory | leak | lean | lean blitz consulting | loss | motion | muda | mura | muri | overproduction | personnel | property | risk | safety | set in order | shine | slippery when wet | sort | standardization | standardize | straighten | strain | sustain | threat | transportation | unsafe | wastes | water | work First, let’s understand the concept of safety. Safety is defined as “relative freedom from danger, risk, or threat of harm, injury, or loss to personnel and/or property, whether caused deliberately or by accident” as per BusinessDictionary.com. So being in a safe situation …Continue reading →

Lean is Marketing TAGS: business901 | communicate | customer | defects | four | inventory | joe dager | lean | lean blitz consulting | marketing | needs | operations | overproduction | p's | place | price | processing | product | promotion | pull system | scrap | sports | toyota way | waiting The essence of marketing is the identification of needs a customer aims to have satisfied and providing a solution that will satisfy those needs within four specific categories – the …Continue reading →

Toyota Way Principle #3: “Pull” Systems TAGS: baseball | basketball | blitz | concession | continuous flow | excess | floor | footprint | handler | hats | ideal | interval | inventory | jugs | kanban | lean | material | metrics | minimum | multitask | operations | operators | overproduction | perishable | principle | problems | process | pull | quantities | refrigerator | reorder | safety stock | six sigma | space | sports | stands | state | stock | surface | sweet baby ray's | system | toyota way (This is the fourth post looking at the 14 lean principles of The Toyota Way.) The third lean principle of The Toyota Way is a follow-up to the second lean …Continue reading →

Football Production Process – How Much Waste Is There? TAGS: ada | blitz | defects | downtime | effort | employee | ergonomics | excessive | football | handling | inventory | issues | knowledge | lacing | lean | leather | measured | motion | new york | nfl | ohio | operations | overprocessing | overproduction | perfect | perfection | players | process | production | sbnation | six sigma | sports | stitching | tenure | transportation | turning | video | waiting | wastes | wilson | wip | work in process To continue the series of posts on how sports equipment is made (see baseballs and bats as well) here’s the video from SBNation on Wilson’s production process for NFL footballs. …Continue reading →

The 14 Principles from The Toyota Way TAGS: augusta | blitz | club | consensus | continuous | continuous improvement | controls | customers | decisions | develop | employee | engagement | flow | gemba | golf | lean | learning | liker | masters | meier | national | operations | overproduction | partners | philosophy | principles | process | pull | reflection | reliable | six sigma | standardized | suppliers | technology | tools | toyota | understand | visual | way | work When I first started the Lean Blitz blog, I jumped right into the Lean wastes and initial discussion of the Lean tools. Looking back, what I should have done was …Continue reading →

Overproduction, Defects, and How Disney’s “John Carter” Might Flop TAGS: acting | activity | actors | andrew | blitz | box office | columbia | competition | defects | directors | disney | entertainment | execution | filming | films | finding nemo | hollywood | investment | ishtar | john carter | lean | mars | maximize | operations | overproduction | pixar | process | producers | revenues | six sigma | special effects | sports | stanton | studios | wall-e | walt | waste The process of Hollywood movie production has always appeared to work contrary to lean principles. Studios will invest lots of money on talent, technology, time, and marketing for films that …Continue reading →

Spotting Waste at the Stadium: Concessions TAGS: concession stand | defects | excess motion | hot dogs | inventory | lean | lean blitz | operations | overprocessing | overproduction | pop | popcorn | processes | production | scrap | six sigma | soda | sports | transportation | trash | waiting | waste So now we’ve identified the eight lean wastes and dug deeper into what kinds of havoc they can wreak on resources. Let’s go see if we can find these wastes …Continue reading →

8 Wastes – Excess Production TAGS: blitz | changeovers | defects | excess motion | five whys | injection molding | inventory | lean | lean blitz | mold | operations | overproduction | plastic | processes | production manager | sports | transportation | warehouse | waste (This is the eighth in a series of deeper dives into the 8 lean wastes.) First a definition, then a story. Overproduction is similar to excess inventory in that there’s …Continue reading →