June 18, 2008 at 9:07 am
· Filed under business, general
For Father’s Day, I was expecting the traditional breakfast in bed, cards from the kids, and my only sleep-in-past 7AM for the year, but I got something extra this year: tickets to see Snoop Dogg and 311!
Six Sigma and Snoop Dogg
I have to say this was a huge surprise because I don’t listen to Snoop Dogg. I like 311, but I’m not into Snoop all that much. When I was in 5th grade, I bought my first tape — a $2 USD bootleg of NWA. I pretty much grew-up on NWA, Eazy-E, and Dr. Dre, but I never got into Snoop. Those early years of my life were years of trouble and self-destruction and I’m glad I’m not there anymore. Now, I’m fully focused on staying positive, contributing back to society, and just doing good in the world.
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June 17, 2008 at 6:33 am
· Filed under business, complexity, customer obsession, supply chain
Several months ago my wife mentioned, in a subtle way, that she misses Giordano’s Pizza. Giordano’s is our favorite pizza joint and we used to eat there daily while I was a graduate student at The University of Chicago. I’d say most of my graduate student loan debt went to Giordano’s in exchange for their delicious and famous stuffed pizza.
To appease my wife’s appetite (and mine), I decided to purchase some Giordano’s for overnight delivery. In this post, I’ll discuss good pizza and the supply chain it takes to deliver it, including the strategic role of The Warehouse.
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June 12, 2008 at 10:12 pm
· Filed under business, clocky, customer obsession, design thinking, genchi genbutsu
“people remember experiences, not features or attributes” - a.g. lafley
I love companies and products that are disruptive, simple, and yet elegantly meets an unarticulated but dire customer need.
Today, we are speaking with Gauri Nanda, the inventor of Clocky and founder of nandahome.com.
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Tell us a little about yourself: education, background, and career focus.
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June 7, 2008 at 10:33 pm
· Filed under 5S, A3 Report, Gemba, IT at Toyota, Leadership, Lean Consumption Maps, Poka-Yoke, The Visual Factory, Visual Management, apple iphone, business, genchi genbutsu, heijunka, iphone, ishikawa, just-in-time, kanban, lean, muda, obeya, operations, pareto principle, process measures, productivity, quality, regression analysis, root cause analysis, six sigma, statistical process control, strategy, supply chain, takt time, the profit tree, theory of constraints, toyota, variation, waste, zero defects
Motorola (MOT), the inventor of Six Sigma, is in big trouble. Even though it invented Six Sigma, this is a clear example that shows how Lean or Six Sigma are not a cure-all for corporate woes, but that good leadership and a winning strategy are key in a competitive world — Lean or Six Sigma is necessary, but not sufficient.
The Art of Exclusion
Michael Porter (Porter’s Five Forces) argues — I believe correctly –, in his seminal work, What is Strategy, that Operational Excellence is necessary but not sufficient. What is needed — even still and always — is a winning strategy. In his article, he argues that the essence of strategy consist of two related propositions:
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