What Your Father Can Teach You About Lean TAGS: augusta national golf club | blitz | cars | consulting | directions | education | fathers day | free throw | golf | happy fathers day | lean | lean consulting | operations | process | rework | spark plugs | sports | time | training Happy Fathers Day to all of the dads, grandpas, great-grandpas, uncles, and dads soon-to-be out there. Fathers Day has evolved a little bit into a day of phone calls, golf, …Continue reading →

ASQ Influential Voices: The Value of Appropriate Training TAGS: asq | audit | augusta greenjackets | concessions | consulting | customer | customers | expectations | influential voices | lean | lean blitz | learning | manager | measure | operations | paul borawski | process | quality | sports | training In August, ASQ CEO Paul Borawski penned his thoughts about companies providing training around quality, using data from the Global State of Quality survey to show that companies with centralized …Continue reading →

What Professional Wrestling Can Teach Us About Performance Optimization TAGS: 5S | andre the giant | brock lesnar | celtic | colonial life arena | columbia | consulting | damien sandow | lean | lean blitz | optimization | performance | practice | professional wrestling | safety | scripted | setup | sheamus | smackdown | south carolina | standardized work | training | warrior | world wrestling entertainment | wwe Recently I attended a professional wrestling event for the first time ever – WWE Smackdown at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. I am not a wrestling fan by …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 →

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 →

What Is Standardized Work (And What Is It Not)? TAGS: a lean journey | beyond lean | blitz | christian paulsen | consulting | kaizen | lean | lean enterprise institute | leanblog | management | mark graban | matt wrye | operations | process | six sigma | small business | sports | standardized process | standardized work | stopwatch | teamwork | tim mcmahon | training | training within industry | velaction | work instruction As this House of Lean diagram shows, the foundation is built on 5S, visual controls, and plant or facility layout. (I tend to lump 5S and layout together because setting …Continue reading →

NFL Replacement Referees and Lack of Standardized Work TAGS: accuracy | agreement | bargaining | blitz | book | collective | consulting | continuous improvement | denver broncos | error | experience | four timeouts | john fox | knowledge | lean | lean wastes | national football league | new orleans saints | nfl | operations | players | process | referees | replacement | rules | seattle seahawks | six sigma | sports | standardized work | training | union | work instruction So, NFL, how are these replacement referees working out for you? Between snagging one off the street who turned out to have significant New Orleans Saints allegiances to the lack …Continue reading →

What Endurance Running Can Teach Us About Lean TAGS: 5k | 5S | act | audit | bright | check | continuous improvement | control | couch | cycle time | dayton ohio | discipline | distance | do | endurance | excess | flashlight | goals | high school | inventory | lean | lean blitz consulting | lofty | maintaine | motion | motivate | motivation | operations | osha | pdca | plan | process | progress | race | run | running | s.m.a.r.t. goal | safe | safety | soreness | sports | sprint | success | susie stein | system | template | training | troy ohio | up and running | visual indicator | waste reduction | weight loss | win | wins Many moons ago, I was a distance runner. I ran cross country in high school my junior and senior years, each race being a 5K. After starting out as a …Continue reading →

The Masters: Mowing the Fairways TAGS: 2012 | angc | augusta | blade | blitz | bubba watson | cart | club | communication | cut | fairway | golf | grass | hydraulic | leak | lean | maintenance | masters | mow | mower | national | operations | patron | practice | process | sharpen | six sigma | tennis ball | tractor | training When the patrons begin leaving Augusta National Golf Club during the week of the Masters and when the final groups of golfers finish up their rounds or work at the …Continue reading →

Chicago Cubs and Correcting Mistakes Immediately TAGS: accountability | accountable | blitz | chicago | communication | correct | cubs | dave | footwork | lean | mental | mistakes | operations | positioning | principle | process | six sigma | spring | strategy | sveum | technique | toyota | training | way | world series New manager Dave Sveum has brought a “new philosophy” to the Chicago Cubs this year in spring training – correcting mistakes immediately, greater accountability, and working to get it right …Continue reading →

Overproduction Example: Too Many Boxes! TAGS: beer | blitz | boxes | cleaning | concessions | customers | cycle time | forklift | hot dogs | inventory | lean | material handler | nachos | operations | operator | overprocessing | processes | productivity | safety | six sigma | sports | standardized work | supplier | thomson plastics | training As a refresher, the definition of the lean waste overproduction is the manufacture/assembly/production of more than what is needed at the time. An example of where overproduction can be a) …Continue reading →