I recently visited Penn State University Hershey Medical Center (HMC) and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). HMC is applying Lean methods in the area of demand capacity matching in their emergency department. Thus far they've realized significant improvements. Here is a quick summary...

New IndustryWeek webcast featuring a Lean leader and an IT leader from Haldex, discussing "The Haldex Way," how and why the company embarked on a Lean path, and how IT and Microsoft partner Avanade has been an enabler in the process. This story focuses not on value stream mapping but on building visibility...

Ultriva has launched their hosted, subscription based eKanban service at www.kanban.com . It's a .NET enabled online service for small to medium sized manufacturers to better align inventory and production with actual customer demand. It includes a wizard-based interface making it very easy to use. This...

In Cupertino, CA today at the Ultriva User's Conference listening to a many customer case study presentations from Emerson Electric, Rexnord, and Dover Inc. What is most compelling in the talks is why each company is using Lean. OK International started on their Lean journey in 2001 to improve customer...

On May 31st, Lockheed Martin will be conducting a webcast hosted by IndustryWeek. Lockheed Martin apparently has transformed their entire approach to conducting kaizen events through the use of software tools like LeanView from the Orlando Software Group. The registration site is http://www.industryweek...

USC Consulting Group ( www.usccg.com ) has written a very thorough whitepaper describing how technology augments traditional Lean methods, but also argues that technology is a requirement to make a full Lean transformation. The link to the document is http://www.usccg.com/Ref/USCMillenniumBroch.pdf ...

Details available at http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2007/mar07/03-13ConvergenceDayTwoPR.mspx .

Here at the SpeedNews Aviation Suppliers Conference in LA, interesting comments on lean from Airbus and Boeing: Airbus - site setup and configuration based on lean techniques are a major pillar of Airbus' Power8 restructuring plan, allowing them to achieve efficiency while reducing the magnitude of...

...featuring the Harbour-Felax Group and Activplant, March 28, 2007. Details at: https://lra100.livemeeting.com/LRSRegistration/EC/activplant/638697426.aspx

New case study published on Gates Corporation - details how they are using various Microsoft technologies such as Sharepoint to standardize work, improve information access, and push KPIs and transparency throughout the organization. Excerpt: "To enforce consistent business processes, executive management...

Podcast of the Lean segment from last weekend's America's Business with Mike Hambrick show is now available at http://marcmonp.members.winisp.net/podcasts/AB_FEB10_SEG3%20Lean%20Segment-1.wma

Tune in to the National Association of Manufacturers weekly radio show America's Business with Mike Hambrick this weekend on Feb 10-11 for a segment on Lean Manufacturing. Interviews include Ingo Heel, Lean Solutions Director for Microsoft, and a profile of Just Born Foods' success story presented by...

Check out the IndustryWeek webcast from January called Emerson Lean: From Strategy to Execution . It's presented by Ray Keefe, VP of Manufacturing at Emerson and Ashley Stirrup, CEO of Ultriva. What is especially insightful is how Emerson has figured out how to tackle the "bullwhip" issue. The recording...

Over the recent holidays, I embarked on a backup, cleanup, and Office 2007 upgrade for my PC. As part of the process, I realized that it would be a good idea to take a look at the 5s concept from an information worker perpsective, since e-mail and spreadsheets are the "tools" and "dies" used by many...

Join me in attending this conference...several of the companies speaking are using software and tools built on the Microsoft platform to enable their lean initiatives. As a former black belt for a service business at GE, I am particularly interested in hearing a current perspective on the success of...

There is nothing like walking into the “war room” after a kaizen event. I usually see the same thing - butcher paper and sticky notes lining the walls from floor to ceiling. It is the result of people coming together to improve their value streams – the scene is impressive. What I’m less impressed with...

One way to quickly understand what Collaborative eKanban is all about is to watch the Flash demo and video case study on www.ultriva.com . It takes 6 minutes total. Both are really well done.

This is a new blog started by the US Lean Manufacturing team at Microsoft. It is intended to highlight lean best practices, technology that can help you implement and manage lean projects, customer successes, and events/webcasts of interest to the lean community. Comments are welcome! Technorati Profile

Great webcast next week featuring Ray Keefe, VP-Manufacturing at Emerson Electric. Lean deployment at Emerson Electric goes beyond traditional shop floor thinking to reduce manufacturing cycle times and remove waste. Through the years, Emerson has expanded the scope of Lean from shop floor, to total...