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...

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...

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

From shopfloor.org : Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates appeared before the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee yesterday to testify on the topic of US competitiveness , a topic in which he is well-versed. Link to the full...

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...

In a previous post I talked about using a shared OneNote workbook as a way of making continuously updated customer follow-up information available to field solution specialists on their desktop. Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to set this...

This weekend another radio segment airs on America's Business with Mike Hambrick on how Corning used Six Sigma (DMAIC), supported by Microsoft technology tools such as Visio and our partner Itron, to achieve the following objectives: § Assure uninterrupted...

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...

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...

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...

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

I just started reading a great book on how blogging is changing both “the online conversation” and the way corporations relate to their customers via marketing, PR, and media channels. There's a lot in here on how Microsoft's decision to allow employee...

As an industry marketing manager at Microsoft, I face a challenge that I’m sure many teams share – how do I make it easy for a solution specialist team to follow-up with customers who have registered interest? This is important for 3 reasons: 1. This...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

...shows that the application of lean thinking and tools to the supply chain is a hot area in the industry. Ultriva, quoted in the article, is a provider of electronic kanban and other solutions built on the Microsoft platform using tools such as SharePoint...

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...

As you know Microsoft Visio is one of the primary tools that can help automate value stream mapping and process analysis. NAM is running a free trial offer for manufacturers, available at http://www.nam.org/s_nam/sec.asp?CID=202321&DID=234872

...talking about designing the machine around the process and not vice versa, from Gemba Panta Rei at http://www.gembapantarei.com/2007/02/standard_work_needed_for_use_o.html . I know there are numerous improvement efforts in the product groups at...

Last week at the Lean Transformation Summit, Prof. Durward Sobek of Montana State University, gave a presentation about a new book just published called "Lean Product and Process Development" authored by Allen Ward. I think you'll find the book to contain...

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