Foundations of Failure

The problem with many of the problems we find ourselves having to contend with at any given time is that we learn of their existence after the fact (when the damage is done) or after discovering that the results we were looking for simply didn’t materialize.  As we learned from Michael A. Roberto’s book, “Know What You Don’t Know“, there […]

Solving problems BEFORE they Happen!

Wouldn’t it be great if you could solve problems before they happen?  While a problem free world may be far from our present reality, I am encouraged to learn that there are steps that we can take to improve our ability to recognize and resolve problems before they happen in real-time.  The solution to developing this problem awareness mindset is […]

Lean Reflections

Sometimes we need to take a look back in history to understand and appreciate the significance of change over time.  I recently found an article titled “How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers” that was published on November 26, 2001 and authored by Sarah Jane Johnston.  The title of the article gave me cause to reflect on the recalls that […]

Flawless Execution – “This Is It” – Practice Makes Perfect

We are often encouraged to look beyond our own business models to expand our horizons or to simply gain a different perspective.  Music is one of my personal areas of interest in the outside world and I have learned to appreciate and value the many genres of music that exist today.  As a lead guitar player for a number of […]

Lean Sensations – A taste of reality

We are all familiar with the adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words”.  While it is easy to get caught up in data analysis and reports, this adage holds true for first hand experience as well.  It could even be said that some experiences are simply beyond description. – you have to see and “taste” it for yourself.  Words […]

Lean Recalls – Compromising Safety?

Is there ever a time when risk outweighs the real fix?   As we are quickly learning from the latest news regarding Toyota’s proclaimed “savings” through limited safety recalls, the answer is “NO”.  The details of the story surrounding Toyota’s knowledge of the mounting safety concerns and the Toyota’s defense is very disturbing.  Toyota has responded by stating “Our first priority is the safety of […]

Lean, OEE, and How to beat the “Law of Diminishing Returns”

Are your lean initiatives falling prey to the Law of Diminishing Returns?  Waning returns may soon be followed by apathy as the “new” initiative gets old.  For those who have not studied economics or are not familiar with the term, it is defined by Wikepedia as follows: The law states “that we will get less and less extra output when we add additional […]

Lean Execution – Excel Site Update

For those of you who are looking to expand your knowledge of Excel, improve your skills, or wish to develop an application in VBA, we have added Ron DeBruin’s web site to our Excel page.  Ron presents some very useful solutions to what could otherwise be some very difficult problems.  We trust you will find the link leads to some very practical solutions for […]

Quality is Priceless

The price tag for Toyota’s recent recall campaigns is estimated to be more than $2 Billion and the loss in share holder value is likely many times more than this.  Yet we remain optimistic and anticipate that Toyota will make it through this crisis.  We can only imagine what this kind of money could buy if wasn’t spent on repairing vehicles. In our […]

Toyota Recall: Quality versus Quantity!

There has been much speculation about what went wrong and what is still right at Toyota.   It has even been suggested that Toyota may have become blinded by the desire to be the number 1 automaker in the world.  This suggests that quality and quantity are interelated and that one will suffer at the expense of the other.  We would argue that this is simply not true in this […]