Finnish Railways ran with steam power until the late 1960s. The cockpit of the locomotive offered a workplace for two: the engine driver and the shovel man. The shovel man’s duty was to continuously shovel coal to the red-hot mouth of the furnace to keep the engine steaming. The century-long idyll of the two man…
Small to Midsize companies must consider a process improvement initiative sooner rather than later to uncover hidden opportunities for improved productivity and customer satisfaction. Why You Need Process Improvement and Enhanced Customer Experience Time and again, I have seen many processes across a variety of industries with an error rate in the range of 20-30%….
Willie Sutton, a famous bank-robber during the mid-1900’s, was once asked why he robbed banks. Willie responded, “Because that’s where the money is.” Contrast that with a commercial on television I saw, several years ago (perhaps it was even in the 1990’s) from a major American bank. The President of the bank was speaking to…
It seems not too long ago, many businesses were only local and could be managed directly. However, in a quest to reduce costs and grow sales, businesses have graduated to global status. You might say this is great because the limited market once covered has now expanded exponentially and many more sources of supply have…
“Changing a Continuous Improvement Initiative into a Global Program”; LMJ Board Member and XONITEK’s Chairman, Joseph Paris, discusses the tribal nature of people and how it hinders the scaling of lean in business. Published in Lean Management Journal in the July 2014 issue. Download PDF
I wrote the first version of this article two years ago and offered an updated version last year. I have had a great many people remark to me that it has helped them a great deal (which is the point, I guess.) I have also had several people give me some new ideas and, of course, I have had…
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