Annual Management Improvement Carnival: 2013 – Old Lean Dude

In my final review for the 2013 Annual Management Improvement Carnival I have chosen one of my favorite Lean Thinkers, Bruce Hamilton. His blog Old Lean Dude, a play on words, illustrates the sense of humor Bruce brings to life. Bruce is a local legend in my area and of course widely known in throughout the Lean Community as the “Toast Guy,” for his work in the Shingo Prize winning Toast Kaizen Video.

Bruce is the consummate storyteller bringing a wealth of experience and theory together in post.  He always has a valuable lesson to share such that we can all be better practitioners of Lean. Bruce is the president of GMBP which continues to develop wonderful learning tools for the Lean community.

Here are some of Bruce's most notable posts from this past year:

The best organizations resolve to create greater value and sales growth with very few added resources. With the best of intentions however, many organizations make what they think are improvements when they are actually just automating a waste. In Superficial Resolutions, Bruce warns organization against creating superficial improvements that just automate waste instead of eliminating it.

In a Lean environment Lean accounting is an important topic for consideration on your journey.  Bruce shares a few traits of bad (non-lean) accountant in his post
Good Witch or Bad Witch? 

Bruce says many managers ask me “How can I accelerate my company’s Lean transformation?”  His answer is two fold:  First get the direction right, and then get everyone rowing in that direction. In Rowing II he illustrates the importance of getting everyone heading in the same direction, toward True North.

Shigeo Shingo’s zero quality control principle “The only acceptable level of quality from the customer standpoint is zero defects” is a turning point for Lean companies.  As a customer once this principle is seriously adopted, our suppliers became better suppliers  — and we, too, became a better supplier to our customers. In Cracked Bruce explains why the only acceptable level of quality from the customer standpoint is zero defects using eggs as an example.

I always look forward to Bruce’s posts and take advantage of his webinars and conference visits whenever I can. Bruce is a delightfully witty Lean practitioner who is devoted to sharing his experience and knowledge so others can follow in his footsteps. If you are not following Bruce Hamilton you are missing out on an experience of a lifetime.