Operational Excellence Tools Blog

Operational Excellence tools (think Lean, Six Sigma, business process analysis), case studies, and items of interest from the US Industry Solutions Organization at Microsoft.

Lean Healthcare trip reports

I recently visited Penn State University Hershey Medical Center (HMC) and the Children's Hospital of...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 09/19/2007

New IndustryWeek webcast: Lean at Haldex featuring Microsoft Dynamics

New IndustryWeek webcast featuring a Lean leader and an IT leader from Haldex, discussing "The...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 07/27/2007

Industry Week webcast with Lockheed Martin on using software to run kaizen events more effectively

IndustryWeek is sponsoring a webcast on May 31st that should be very revealing. Registration...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 05/23/2007

www.kanban.com is now live

Ultriva has launched their hosted, subscription based eKanban service at www.kanban.com. It's a .NET...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 05/10/2007

Ultriva User's Conference highlights

In Cupertino, CA today at the Ultriva User's Conference listening to a many customer case study...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 05/10/2007

IndustryWeek webcast on Enterprise Value Stream Mapping & Analysis

On May 31st, Lockheed Martin will be conducting a webcast hosted by IndustryWeek. Lockheed Martin...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 05/04/2007

A refreshing outlook on 'New Millennium' Lean

USC Consulting Group (www.usccg.com) has written a very thorough whitepaper describing how...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 04/03/2007

Microsoft announces Microsoft Dynamics Industry Solution for Lean Enterprises

Details available at...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/21/2007

Lean commentary from major commercial aviation OEMs

Here at the SpeedNews Aviation Suppliers Conference in LA, interesting comments on lean from Airbus...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/20/2007

Podcast of last weekend's radio show on using six sigma to improve energy efficiency

Podcast of six sigma segment from Corning on last weekend's America's Business with Mike Hambrick...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/14/2007

How Corning used Six Sigma to improve energy efficiency - this weekend's topic on America's Business with Mike Hambrick

This weekend another radio segment airs on America's Business with Mike Hambrick on how Corning used...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/09/2007

Upcoming webinar on the impact of software on lean transformation efforts

...featuring the Harbour-Felax Group and Activplant, March 28, 2007. Details at:...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/08/2007

A new book for Lean Product Development

Last week at the Lean Transformation Summit, Prof. Durward Sobek of Montana State University, gave a...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/08/2007

Bill Gates on American Competitiveness

From shopfloor.org: Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates appeared before the Senate Health...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/08/2007

Interesting article on Lockheed Martin's LM21 management philosophy combining lean and six sigma

...from Defense Acquisition Review at www.dau.mil/pubs/arq/2004arq/Joyce.pdf A couple of years old...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/07/2007

And now for some manufacturing humor...

Thanks to Ron Pereira for a good laugh - found this on his Lean Six Sigma Academy blog:...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/06/2007

New case study - Gates Corporation enabling continuous improvement with Sharepoint

New case study published on Gates Corporation - details how they are using various Microsoft...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/06/2007

5s OneNote Example

In a previous post I talked about using a shared OneNote workbook as a way of making continuously...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/05/2007

Interesting post about kaizen for Windows

...talking about designing the machine around the process and not vice versa, from Gemba Panta Rei...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/05/2007

5s for the Information Worker: Example of how to use OneNote and Sharepoint to simplify and expedite team follow-up

As an industry marketing manager at Microsoft, I face a challenge that I’m sure many teams share –...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/02/2007

Great read - Scoble's book on the impact of blogging on how corporations communicate with their customers

I just started reading a great book on how blogging is changing both “the online conversation” and...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 03/02/2007

New podcast of Lean segment from Feb 10-11 America's Business radio show

Podcast of the Lean segment from last weekend's America's Business with Mike Hambrick show is now...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 02/12/2007

Free Visio trial available from National Association of Manufacturers

As you know Microsoft Visio is one of the primary tools that can help automate value stream mapping...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 02/12/2007

Lean solutions director Ingo Heel and Just Born Foods profiled on NAM America's Business Radio show this weekend !

Tune in to the National Association of Manufacturers weekly radio show America's Business with Mike...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 02/09/2007

New Manufacturing Business Technology article on lean replenishment

...shows that the application of lean thinking and tools to the supply chain is a hot area in the...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 02/08/2007

Emerson is tackling inventory turns with technology

Check out the IndustryWeek webcast from January called Emerson Lean: From Strategy to Execution....

Author: LeanTeam Date: 02/08/2007

5s for the Information Worker

Over the recent holidays, I embarked on a backup, cleanup, and Office 2007 upgrade for my PC. As...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 01/16/2007

Join me at the Lean Transformation Summit

Join me in attending this conference...several of the companies speaking are using software and...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 01/11/2007

How Software Can Help Your Lean Program – and You, the Lean Professional

There is nothing like walking into the “war room” after a kaizen event. I usually see the same thing...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 01/11/2007

Informative Lean video case study

One way to quickly understand what Collaborative eKanban is all about is to watch the Flash demo and...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 01/10/2007

Welcome to the Lean Tools Blog!

This is a new blog started by the US Lean Manufacturing team at Microsoft. It is intended to...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 01/09/2007

New IndustryWeek Webcast January 18: Emerson Lean - From Strategy to Execution

Great webcast next week featuring Ray Keefe, VP-Manufacturing at Emerson Electric. Lean deployment...

Author: LeanTeam Date: 01/09/2007