Posts tagged as:

respect for people

Unhappy Employees Result in Unhappy Customers

by Pete Abilla July 24, 2010

Of the two major pillars in Lean Thinking, one is Respect for People. From Toyota’s perspective, it’s almost a moral imperative to develop humans and treat them well and fairly. But, there’s also a very pragmatic reason: the way a company treats its employees will be the way those employees will treat the customer. the [...]

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Lean Culture is about “How”

by Pete Abilla July 18, 2010

The Lean subculture talks about the tools of lean, often ignoring principle behind the tool, method, or practice. Another item that is often ignored is “How” things are carried out in an organization where true lean has taken hold. The debate between “true” and “fake” lean is a tough one to have and is difficult [...]

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Some Growth is not Visible

by Pete Abilla May 4, 2010

With Spring underway and flowers are beginning to bloom again, my mind is drawn to lessons learned from the garden.  During the Winter months, what have my trees been doing?  Have they been growing at all? Then, I’m reminded that not all growth is visible – that’s true for trees, plants, and flowers.  But, it’s [...]

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Kanban Family Job Chart

by Pete Abilla November 25, 2009

I’ve tried this a few times, but I think this time, with the help of the kids and my sweet wife, we’ve got it right for our family. The Opportunity We have a big family – we’ve adopted a bunch and we’re very thankful for our chance to be parents.  We’ve got great kids. But, [...]

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Amazon and Zappos Sitting in a Tree

by Pete Abilla July 22, 2009

As most you know by now, Zappos has entered into a definitive agreement with Amazon.com and will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.  This is exciting and, after speaking with my friends both at Amazon and at Zappos, they are all quite excited too.  Congratulations to Amazon, Zappos, Tony Hsieh, and Jeff Bezos 1  [...]

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The Source of Dirt

by Pete Abilla May 26, 2009

In Amazon’s 2008 letter to shareholders, Jeff Bezos shares about a Kaizen event he participated in: At a fulfillment center recently, one of our Kaizen experts asked me, “I’m in favor of a clean fulfillment center, but why are you cleaning? Why don’t you eliminate the source of dirt?” I’ve spoken numerous times about Bezos [...]

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Do Not Run From Your Customers

by Pete Abilla July 6, 2008

I’ve spoken extensively about the unheralded — but, arguably, the most important — Pillar of The Toyota Production System: Respect for People. Today, I want to highlight an interesting company that appears to have done an amazing job at Participative Management and in eliminating fear and mediocrity in the workplace: Semco Group. I was first [...]

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