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Questions about and Lessons from a Steering Wheel Falling Off

Photo: Car and Driver In the news yesterday, a General Motors recall over what could be just one isolated steering wheel problem in an Ohio-built Chevrolet (don’t call it Chevy) Cruze. Most news...

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Doofus and Leanie Cartoon #4 – GM vs. Toyota

It has been a while since I’ve collaborated with artist Ed Butler on a “Doofus and Leanie” cartoon (Ed was also the artist for Wii Lean and the satirical “Lean Sensei” app. The recent reactions of GM...

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Podcast #118 – Jim Womack on GM, Toyota & Lean Six Sigma

Please upgrade your browser MP3 File (run time 29:14) Episode #118 is a follow up to podcast #116 with Jim Womack, founder and former Chairman of the Lean Enterprise Institue, now their Senior Advisor...

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Lean Lessons for Healthcare from a Boeing 737 Factory Video

Podcaster Cali Lewis (a fellow DFW-area Texan) hosts a show called GeekBeat.tv, where she normally highlights new consumer tech gadgets and nerdy robots from MIT. Her most recent video features video...

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MD or MBA as CEO? Wrong Question?

As I’ve worked with different hospitals and different leaders, I’ve sometimes wondered if there’s been a study on the differences in results between hospitals that have a physician CEO vs. those that...

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Upcoming Podcast Interview with former GM Exec Bob Lutz

As someone who started his career in the auto industry, I’m excited to be interviewing a modern auto-industry legend on Friday for an upcoming podcast — Bob Lutz, the retired former Vice Chairman of...

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Podcast #126 – Bob Lutz on “Car Guys vs. Bean Counters”

Please upgrade your browser MP3 File (run time 17:50)  - See transcript later in this post. Photo from Bob Lutz Communications My guest for Podcast #126 is Bob Lutz, author of the book Car Guys vs....

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Good News, Bad News on GM Doubling ‘Volt’ Production

I don’t often go back to write about GM, the first company I worked for out of college. Thanks to my dad who sent this article from the Detroit paper: “GM delays 2nd shift at Detroit-Hamtramck.” You...

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The Fall and Rise of Automotive (and Healthcare) Quality

One of my favorite newspaper writers is Ed Wallace of my local Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Wallace appears in the Sunday automotive section and usually writes about broader business issues beyond cars....

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Mental Models and How We View the Gemba & Workers: GM & Dell

Regular readers know I started my career at General Motors from 1995 to 1997. After graduate school at MIT, I took a job at Dell, Inc. in 1999. At the time, Dell was at the peak of its reputation in...

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Stuff I’m Reading, April 5, 2012: New Books, Layoffs “Forced,” Regrettable...

Back by popular demand, here are links to some more articles I’ve read recently that might be of interest on a number of Lean related topics: Potent Medicine Delivers a Treatment Plan for U.S. Health...

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Podcast #145 – Natalie Sayer, “Lean for Dummies”

Please upgrade your browser MP3 File (run time 26:30) Episode #145 is a conversation with Natalie J. Sayer, co-author of the recently updated 2nd edition of the book Lean For Dummies. I was able to...

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Watching the Steve Jobs “Lost Interview,” Part 1

Recently, I stumbled across something that’s been out for about a year, a lost video of Steve Jobs being interviewed in 1995. See this CBS News story about the video or you can rent the video via...

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Data vs. Facts, Illustrated

There are two expressions that get used often in the lean world, one from Dr. W. Edwards Deming and one from Toyota’s Taiichi Ohno. Dr. Deming was quoted as saying (even if he didn’t originate it): “In...

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NPR on the “End of the Line” at NUMMI and My Story About an Interviewee

Here’s some Saturday morning listening… a story from yesterday’s “All Things Considered” on the “End of the Line” at the NUMMI plant (the GM / Toyota joint venture that will produce its last car next...

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Read this Book – But Don’t Copy ThedaCare

Due out in June is a book that I think will be an important one for the Lean Healthcare movement. That book is about the Lean journey of the Wisconsin health system ThedaCare. It’s called “On the Mend:...

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Who Coined the Term “Lean”? And Where is He Today?

People often ask “So where did the term ‘lean’ come from?” It didn’t come from Toyota. And the term isn’t an acronym (so no need to type it as LEAN or L.E.A.N.). The term came from John Krafcik, who...

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Toyota Texas Tour Tales #1: Overview

Wednesday, I had the chance to go (with a Lean club from Austin) to TMMTX – or Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas, the truck factory in San Antonio. Thanks to those organizers (including Andrew Cahoon...

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Cases of Technology “Solutions” Looking for a Problem?

One of my favorite of the 14 “Toyota Way” principles to discuss with hospitals, in particular, is principle #8, which says: “Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and...

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GM Blames Layoffs on the Japan Earthquake and JIT; Should Instead Look in Mirror

Let me give a big ole’ Texas-sized hat tip to Bob Emiliani for sending me this sad article with the headline “General Motors lays off workers at NY plant.” This is an addition to earlier Shreveport...

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