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My friend Sam Duregger (@duregger) pointed me to an article about the obsessive-ness people have developed with their smartphones.
The article opens with a story about a man who was so engaged with his smartphone he didn’t notice the bathtub water he was filling for his daughter was overflowing onto the floor.  Why is this technology […]

"We’re cutting R & D."
"We have money right now, we’re just not spending any of it." (something I heard from a potential client of mine in the last few months)
A VP I was speaking to at a large manufacturer said a mistake their organization made in 2001 was to not invest capital in the future, […]

What?!  Yeah, okay, maybe it’s a stretch.  But bear with me.  Maybe I was desperately searching for a way to include this cool video, but if nothing else, you’ll get to see a really cool video.
wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.
In lean manufacturing, people talk about "lowering the […]

John Shook at Lean Enterprise Institute says lean is "just what the doctor ordered" for 2009 and is hoping for a better year.
Brian Buck expects creativity and innovation to arrive on the scene.
Jon Miller talks about how Tom Vilsack might bring lean to the federal level (hooray!).
Kevin Meyer suggests Toyota could use some of its […]

Hopefully making for some more useful conversation, I’m starting to find some more lean people on Twitter.  I’m starting to connect with people around the world that I otherwise would never meet.  Here they are in no particular order:

Mark Graban: http://twitter.com/leanblog.  His focus is on healthcare and you can also read his blog here: http://www.leanblog.org
Ron […]

Ford declined the bailout.  Gutsy move, and makes them stand out from the other two in the Big 3.  Also, makes the cartoon in this post look a little different.

Lean Enterprise Institute has a blog now.  I was waiting for them to start one up.  John Shook is the primary author (maybe only?).  You can find it at http://www.lean.org/shook/.
Just before Thanksgiving, Kevin Meyer shared this great post (and I’ve been passing along to others) on how American Apparel continues to succeed.  On a related […]

Had to add "in a positive light" because being mentioned in an ISO audit may not be a good thing, but in this case it definitely was.  For those wondering about how Thrive can support your ISO certification, it is definitely a "value add".  Here’s what was said in a recent audit:
The investment in tools […]

Well, my first trade show is over.  It was a good experience!  I learned a lot (about being a vendor at a trade show instead of an attendee) and met some good people that are working hard to improve their organizations.

I made a quasi-three-dimensional tour of the vendor area.  You can view that here, […]

All setup for Lean Tech’s first trade show.  At the Marriott in Schaumberg, IL for Lean Manufacturing 2008: Lean Tools for Maintenance & Reliability.  Here’s my booth!

Thanks to Tom Flynn of Lessing Flynn in Des Moines for the awesome booth design, Chuck Bloyer at Beeline and Blue in Des Moines for the booth printing and […]