Lean Blog Audio

http://www.leanblog.org/audio308 You might have heard of a "social media takeover" where a brand with a large following gives control of their social media feed to somebody who is promoting a cause or a social message. One person I've followed on LinkedIn is Deondra Wardelle. She is a Lean practitioner (like me) and she's a Black woman (unlike me). So, thinking back to the idea of a "social media takeover." I was inspired by Deondra, so I asked her to accept a "blog handover" as I'm calling it. My initial thought was to give a platform for her to write and talk about anything she wanted, to give more exposure to her voice.

http://www.leanblog.org/audio307 Today, I wanted to share an excellent article written by Dr. John Toussaint (of Catalysis) and Ken Segel (of Value Capture)...

http://www.leanblog.org/audio306 I'm excited to announce that our book Practicing Lean is now available as an audiobook through Audible. As we did with the paperback and Kindle versions of the book, 100% of royalties will be donated to the Louise Batz Patient Safety Foundation (it's been almost $5000 so far). You can buy or subscribe through Audible.

http://www.leanblog.org/audio305 It's possible that I could start traveling again for my healthcare consulting work next month... or maybe in July. My colleagues at Value Capture aren't sure yet how this will work out, but clients are sharing their current plans for starting to re-open -- to a new normal, not the old normal. As I mentioned (if not buried) in a post last week, my wife and I relocated from Orlando to Los Angeles last week because she is starting a new job (we will still have our permanent home in Texas). Anyway, as the consultants start to think about traveling again, I have compiled some thoughts from my own research and experience since I'm the only one who has flown or stayed in hotels over the past two months, due to the relocation.

http://www.leanblog.org/audio304 It was a sad weekend, hearing about the passing of Paul H O'Neill, Sr. on Saturday. He was 84. I had the good fortune to meet and spend time with Mr. O'Neill on a few occasions and I'll share some reflections in this post. My condolences go out to his family and friends, and especially to my Value Capture colleagues who worked with him at Alcoa or at the firm over the past 15 years. Here are his obituaries from the WSJ, the New York Times, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. You can also read more about his life on a memorial page that his family set up and people are sharing memories there.

http://leanblog.org/audio303 This is from the 3rd edition of my book Lean Hospitals. I've copied and pasted from the book with no additional edits, although I'll bold italic some parts for emphasis. I'll some closing thoughts at the end. For a more complete PDF excerpt, click here (requires Dropbox access).

http://www.leanblog.org/audio302  Thanks to Elisabeth and the team at GoLeanSixSigma.com for inviting me to contribute some thoughts in this piece: How Lean Six Sigma Can Help Fight the Coronavirus Pandemic

http://leanblog.org/audio301 It's great to see examples of manufacturing companies being flexible and adaptive in these challenging times. Lean methods are often providing a huge boost in what can be life-saving efforts. Lean often gets mislabeled as a “low inventory” system (or “zero inventories”) but that misses the point. We don't just lower inventory at all costs (anybody can make that mistake without Lean) — we have to create systems and supply chains that might possibly allow for low inventory. ..... But back to the one manufacturing company that inspired this post. It was great to see this article (hat tip to Brad Miller): How to pivot an entire company in a week–and remain profitable See more in the blog post (link at top)

http://www.leanblog.org/audio300 I had a phone conversation yesterday with an emergency medicine physician after her shift at an unnamed hospital in an undisclosed state. She had a number of frustrations to share and she doesn't really have an outlet (and doesn't want her name out there for fear of retaliation). More importantly, this isn't about one institution. She works in a well respected system. So this lack of preparedness and leadership could be widespread. When I posted my concerns about hospital preparedness for Covid-19, I guess they weren't unfounded. I'm sharing these concerns in a public way because I think it's important to try to inspire other healthcare professionals and improvement specialists who CAN be on site to drive improvements. I also hope it serves as a reminder to the public to NOT GO to the hospital unless it's a life-or-death emergency right now.  "When should I go to the hospital?" and more questions were be covered in a webinar that was done on Wednesday. Listen, watch, or read a synopsis here.

http://www.leanblog.org/audio299 I normally love the public radio program "Marketplace" and have listened to it (on radio or as a podcast) for 15 years or so. But, I was very disappointed with this recent piece, which you can read here: "Just-in-time" manufacturing model challenged by COVID-19 Yes, many factories have been shut down in China, which disrupts global supply chains. However, if you're a company that decided to move all of your production to China (to then ship out to customers around the world), that wasn't a "Lean" strategy. It's really difficult to support "just in time" delivery over such long distances. If it were a "Lean" approach to move all of your production to China, then Toyota would have done that. But, Toyota didn't.