Sliding Head First Into First Base Is A Bad Process With A Risky Result TAGS: base | baseball | blitz | consulting | dive | faster | first | head | injury | lean | mythbusters | physicist | risk | safety | slide Why do players think it’s a good idea to slide head first into first base? The baseball season is barely nine games old and already there have been two injuries …Continue reading →

Addressing The Problem With The NBA Slam Dunk Contest TAGS: all-star | analysis | blitz | cause | consulting | contest | dunk | fans | format | game | injury | john wall | lean | michael jordan | national basketball association | nba | operations | participation | problem | process | risk | root | safety | slam | sports | stars | washington The NBA Slam Dunk Contest has been a cornerstone event during the NBA All-Star Weekend for years – originating in the NBA in 1984, it celebrates captivating physical feats and …Continue reading →

NBA and NFL Draft Eligibility Restrictions – Why? TAGS: acl | basketball | brandon jennings | college | consulting | continuous improvement | david stern | derrick rose | draft | eligibility | football | greg oden | injury | jadeveon clowney | kentucky | knee | lean blitz | marcus lattimore | nba | ncaa | nerlens noel | nfl | operations | pat forde | process | risk | rules | six sigma | south carolina | sports The NBA and NFL both have eligiblity restrictions on draftable players, and those restrictions are very quickly being called into question. The NBA implemented a rule in 2005 that required …Continue reading →

FMEA and College Basketball on Aircraft Carriers TAGS: aircraft | ambient | analysis | barack | basketball | blitz | california | carrier | charleston | consulting | continuous improvement | court | design | detection | dfmea | effects | espn | failure | fema | florida | fmea | georgetown | jacksonville | lean | marquette | michigan state | mode | moisture | myron medcalf | ncaa | noise | north carolina | notre dame | number | obama | occurrence | ohio state | operations | pfmea | president | priority | process | product | rain | risk | rpn | safety | san diego | san diego state | severity | six sigma | south carolina | sports | syracuse | temperature | university of florida | uss yorktown | winds A really novel concept – a regular season college basketball game played between high-profile teams outdoors on an aircraft carrier – was introduced last season. It really couldn’t have gone …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 →

College Football and the Lack of PDCA TAGS: act | activity | alabama | ann arbor | appalachian state | check | college baseball | college basketball | college football | continuous improvement | crimson tide | cupcake | defects | do | errors | exhibition | football | inferior | lean blitz consulting | michigan | mlb | nba | nfl | nhl | nick saban | operations | opponents | pdca | plan | preseason | process | production | risk | scheduling | six sigma | south carolina | sports | waste Pretend for a moment you’re a company with a few manufacturing lines. Some are big, some are small, some are complex, and there’s one that gets a lot of attention …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 →