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Category Archives: old lean dude (9)

Lean Wizards

October was Lean conference month for me: First our own Northeast Lean Conference in Worcester (pronounced “Wustah”), then the international AME..
This entry was posted in lean, old lean dude, TPS, six sigma, continuous improvement, lean thinking, Toast Kaizen, Toyota Production System. Lean manufacturing, kaizen, 5S on October 31 , 2016.

Doormats

One of Shigeo Shingo’s popular status quo targets was engineers, whom he placed in three categories: Table engineers—those who just sit around a..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, lean manufacturing, six sigma, continuous improvement, lean engineer, toyota production system, design for assembly, shigeo shingo on September 23 , 2016.

Summer Memory

I was lucky that the first boss I ever had (at age 13) had much to teach at a point when I had much to learn. Chris M. was a brilliant but illiterate..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, kaizen, lean conference, toyota production system on September 16 , 2016.

Lean By Doing

Early along, as a student of the Toyota Production System (TPS), now referred to as “Lean,” I struggled with some of the concepts and systems. For..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, lean manufacturing, kaizen, 5S, toyota production system, shigeo shingo on September 07 , 2016.

Space Junk

Last weekend in the Nantucket ferry terminal, I passed a defunct phone booth, the ornate wooden kiosk kind that was used twenty years ago to frame a..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, lean manufacturing, Toast Kaizen, northeast lean conference, 5S, idea systems on August 24 , 2016.

Peripheral Discoveries

The following post is inspired by The Teachings of Don Juan, an anthropological novel from the 1960’s written by Carlos Castaneda chronicling his..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, lean manufacturing, GBMP, kaizen, toyota production system, shigeo shingo, value stream mapping on August 16 , 2016.

Consult with Humility

A friend and colleague remarked to me recently “You know the Lean market has become mature,” implying a depth and breadth of Lean understanding in..
This entry was posted in old lean dude on July 11 , 2016.

Profitless Part Proliferation

I wrote a post a little more than five years ago about Variety Reduction Program (VRP), an amazing but little known product design optimization tool...
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, kaizen, hoshin kanri, true north, poka-yoke, toyota production system, inventory, shigeo shingo, value stream mapping on June 27 , 2016.

Traditional Lean?

Twice in the last month I’ve heard the phrase “Traditional Lean” used in public presentations. In neither case did the presenter explain the..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, six sigma, continuous improvement, GM, automation, MRP, toyota production system, lean sigma, ERP on May 31 , 2016.

Eye of the Beholder

Many moons ago when I was just getting started on my lean journey, I visited a large automotive supplier to benchmark pull systems. My own factory..
This entry was posted in old lean dude, TPS, lean manufacturing, kanban, GBMP, Toast Kaizen, kaizen, TPM, 5S, true north, poka-yoke, toyota production system, shigeo shingo, value stream mapping on May 20 , 2016.

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