Here we are a-goin’ ’round the blogosphere to read about what’s the latest in Lean or Lean Six Sigma.
Got Boondoggle? shares the results of the 2007 State of Lean survey. The survey says that middle managers are the biggest obstacle to lean enterprise. In fact, the top three obstacles concern people in the organization. Well, this isn’t really surprising because people in the executive level are usually the ones who are wary about change, thinking that it will affect the status quo.
Speaking of status quo, Lean Six Sigma Academy puts “challenge the status quo” as #1 on the Kaizen Rules list. It’s like saying, If it ain’t broken, fix it anyway. Ron has been running a series on the Kaizen Rules, and as of this writing, he’s now on rules #5 & #6: correct mistakes at once and be prudent on your spending to achieve Kaizen. To me, Kaizen is practicality taken to the highest level.
Over at Lean Blog, Dan Markovitz pushes for Kaizen, too, saying that it is the solution to once-in-a-decade disasters. He shares that WSJ has maligned the just-in-time (JIT) strategy of manufacturing. That is scheduling production in sync with demand-delivery to cut cost on inventory. Dan counters that the failure of just-in-time manufacturing in Japan should not be blamed on the earthquake but the choice of production system. The experience only shows the danger of single-source supply. Well, as I told my husband while we were watching news about that quake, when nature calls, you cannot turn your back from it.
Learning about Lean teaches us a thing or two about, well, lean. Accordingly, going lean is to just do it! and eliminate the “set-up” time. You’ll find out it’s faster and more efficient. I don’t know with you, but I need the “set-up” time most of the time. It my time to gather my thoughts and set priorities.
To cap this roundup, I see it apropos to end with the musings from Lean Reflections. Karen Wilhelm shares stories about making decisions, choosing careers (in technology), and simply living without letting pass by the opportunities. What does it have to do with lean? I think everything. Going lean is carefully choosing all the elements influencing you and filtering out those elements that hinder your growth. 
Interesting blogs, great insights. Check them out!
