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Category Archives: bruce hamilton (4)

Half Full or Half Empty?

I’ve always felt the need to accentuate the positive, something I think I picked up from my mother. In tense situations she would always interject..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, lean manufacturing, GBMP, staff meetings, plant tours, bruce hamilton, idea systems, toyota production system on November 08 , 2013.

Cracked

According to the USDA Egg Grading Manual, “Checks [aka ‘cracks’] are an unavoidable problem in the marketing of eggs because eggs cannot be..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, AQL, NE Shingo Conference, standards, quality control, bruce hamilton, shigeo shingo, defects on September 06 , 2013.

Seeing the Invisible

[This post celebrates the product launch for a great new book Seeing The Invisible, authored by GBMP’s friend and collaborator, John Kravontka, and..
This entry was posted in lean, old lean dude, GBMP, Management Kaizen, northeast shingo prize conference, John Kravontka, total productive maintenance, TPM, bruce hamilton, equipment, failure, Fuss & O'Neill on July 26 , 2013.

Culture Schmulture

Some time ago, while giving a presentation entitled Organizational Obstacles to Lean, I displayed a slide with the title “It’s Not about Culture”. My..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, continuous improvement, Management Kaizen, kaizen, bruce hamilton, toyota production system, Lean Management, John Shook, Lean Culture on June 21 , 2013.

Good Witch or Bad Witch?

A recent comment from a business friend, call him Tom, who manages a small factory, reminded me of a scene from The Wizard of Oz. “Our president is..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, lean manufacturing, Toast Kaizen, SMED, bruce hamilton, lean accounting, gemba, toyota production system on June 05 , 2013.

Lean Transformers

A few years ago, after I gave a speech on Lean at a meeting of the Transformer Association (like the kind on the telephone poles providing..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, transportation, continuous improvement resolutions, bruce hamilton, elimining waste, storage, shigeo shingo on April 23 , 2013.

Lean Avoidance

I went to the gym this morning, April 1, and the gym’s owner, sole employee, and pretty much everyone’s personal trainer, Howie, asked me the same..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, transportation, continuous improvement resolutions, bruce hamilton, elimining waste, storage, shigeo shingo on April 01 , 2013.

Valu Ngineering

My son, Ben, asked me last week, “How come the bacon cooks better on Grandma’s pan?” I’d just fried up some bacon using a pan handed down from my..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, value engineering, cost, bruce hamilton, price, machining, operational excellence, profit on March 05 , 2013.

Early Bloomers

This winter has presented folks in my clime with a perpetual blanket of snow that hides most of the welcome signs of an approaching spring. There is..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, kaizen, shingo prize, bruce hamilton, lean in healthcare, Everybody Everyday, operational excellence on February 26 , 2013.

Death by Efficiency

I was reminded this week how problematical the conceptual blind spots in our management systems can be: An otherwise insightful and..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, demand, efficiency, Russ Scaffede, shingo prize, bruce hamilton, customer, upstream, local efficiency on February 11 , 2013.

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