Customer Focus
By John Hunter, author of Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. There are few managers today that would say their organization doesn’t focus on customers. It is fairly accepted that in order to proposer a business needs to convince customers to pay. But I find most organizations I interact with don’t do a decent job of […]
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By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. In, New Principles in Administration for Quality and Efficiency (speech by W. Edward Deming in Manila, Philippines, July 2, 1971) Dr. Deming laid out 19 principles. The full list of principles is included in The Essential Deming, page 176-178. Two I find particularly insightful […]
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Guest Post by Sami Bahri As a way to improve operations, manufacturers reduce inventory levels at all steps in a value stream. Taiichi Ohno, inventor of the “Toyota production System,” said that inventory conceals operational waste the same way water in a lake hides underlying rocks. Ohno advised reducing inventory levels to uncover waste. In […]
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By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Satisfied customers switch, for no good reason, just to try something else. Why not? Profit and growth come from customers that boast about your product and service – the loyal customer. He requires no advertising or other persuasion, and brings a friend along with him. Dr. W. Edwards Deming […]
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By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). In my opinion Deming’s ideas and lean thinking share many similarities. I do see plenty of weaknesses in lean manufacturing efforts at organizations. Most of the weaknesses are due to bad implementation of lean manufacturing rather than lean thinking missing fundamental elements […]
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By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. We are posting several short videos to provide everyone an opportunity to hear directly from Dr. Deming. It is remarkable how well the ideas he spoke of have aged even while the world has been changing rapidly. This video offers several questions that challenge us to think more deeply […]
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By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Customer satisfaction is better than dissatisfaction but it is not enough. A satisfied customer will leave for another provider at the slightest provocation. They see a bit lower price – they leave. You make one minor slip up – they leave. They […]
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By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Gemba is a Japanese term for “the real place” or in management terms “where the important action takes place.” The most common use of the term “gemba,” in a management context, is with respect to defining where the important work is done within an organization. Deming organizations, and lean […]
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By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. What topics would you like us to discuss on this blog? What questions would you like us respond to? One of the goals for this blog is to engage the community of readers in sharing there thoughts on the ideas we discuss. Please share your comments on the blog […]
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By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Masaaki Imai is a consultant, author and founder of the Kaizen Institute. The second edition of his book, Gemba Kaizen, was published this year. He agreed to an interview with The W. Edwards Deming Institute Blog. Question: Did you work with Dr. […]
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