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August 2009

Goodbye Customer: Loyalty, Costs, Complexity, and Recovery

by Pete Abilla on August 22, 2009

Goodbye Customer. That is sometimes what we say, without knowing the full costs and burden that proposition means on the business.  Ironically, businesses are often unaware that their actions are pushing the customer away while at the same time trying to recover and retain them through expensive customer retention programs.  Metaphorically, this is like pushing [...]

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Everyday Poka-Yoke: Pharmaceuticals

by Pete Abilla on August 17, 2009

King Pharmaceutical (NYSE: KG) recently had a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Their drug, Embeda, has an interesting property: If you take the medication as prescribed, it works fine; if you abuse the medication, it ceases to work.  This is Poka-Yoke (ポカヨケ) for Pharmaceutical drugs. Poka-Yoke (ポカヨケ), translated, means mistake-proof, or [...]

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Unappetizing Spaghetti Diagrams

by Pete Abilla on August 9, 2009

A Spaghetti Diagram is a simple visual tool to demonstrate the flow of material, flow of information, and flow of money in a process. The word “spaghetti” is descriptive because it describes flow that is not easily understood, can’t easily be followed, or if the flow is literally all over the place.  Indeed, a Spaghetti [...]

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Business and Garden-Variety Defects

by Pete Abilla on August 4, 2009

how to get rid of weeds, defects

Working in the garden can teach us a lot about the natural course of plants, trees, and weeds.  Indeed, there are many corollaries between weeds in the garden and defects in a business setting.  What can we learn from the natural world that are applicable in business? The Garden is the Gemba To properly care [...]

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