25 Years after W. Edwards Deming

 

W. Edwards DemingTwenty-five years ago today, William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) passed away. He greatly influenced the management of quality in Japan, where he is still revered as one of the great gurus in manufacturing. Through his influence on Toyota, his ideas are now common in the lean world. Time to look back at his life.

Read more

“Lean Standard” ISO 18404 – A Questionable Idea …

iso-18404-errorRecently I learned about a new ISO 18404 standard certifying lean and Six Sigma organizations. I think this is a highly questionable idea, with little benefit for the quality of lean manufacturing. This certification madness won’t make much  difference for the quality of lean but will mostly siphon off money to the International Organization for Standardization and connected bodies for certifications of little practical value. Let me show you the details …

Read more

Happy 3rd Birthday AllAboutLean.com

3rd BirthdayYayyy! AllAboutLean.com is now 3 years old! Three years ago on September 1, 2013, I became a professor and wrote the first post on my blog. Now, 163 blog posts and one book later, I am still enjoying it immensely!

I feel that after three years of weekly (longer) postings, I am now no longer a newbie but a part of the established crowd. Thanks to all my readers for reading 🙂 , and time to look back at the last year!

Read more

Happy 2nd Birthday AllAboutLean.com

2nd Birthday
Happy 2nd Birthday!

Today, AllAboutLean.com turns two years old! Exactly two years ago, on my first day as a professor, I started blogging about my favorite topic: lean manufacturing and its history. It’s been a great time so far! I have learned tons of new things about lean, have had many good interactions with my readers, and have enjoyed writing this blog immensely. Thank you all for the interest in my writing. I hope it helped you organize whatever processes create value for your company and hence also for you! Time for another look back:

Read more

Happy 1st Birthday AllAboutLean.com

Happy 1st Birthday
Happy 1st Birthday

AllAboutLean.com is one year old. Exactly twelve months ago I started this blog on September 1st with my first post, New Professor, New Blog. Since then I have published fifty-six posts. Time to have a look back. What were the most popular posts? How did visits to my blog develop? What is the outlook for the future? And what is there already in the pipeline that will appear soon on AllAboutLean.com?

Read more

Corporate Culture on Quality Starts at the Top – A Small Anecdote on Organizational Blindness

Six Forks
Notice something?

Quality starts at the top with management. Top executives like to talk about quality, but employees below usually know very well if the manager only talks the talk or also walks the walk. Words are cheap. Quality (and pretty much everything else that is important) requires attention by management.

Read more

Cookie Consent with Real Cookie Banner