- MrBeast: From Obsession to Global Icon
In this episode we explore the business case of MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), analyzing his meteoric rise to become the world’s…
- McDonald’s: From Drive-In to Global Empire
In this episode, we unravel the story of McDonald’s, exploring its journey from a humble hotdog stand to a global…
- Beyond the Big Mac‘s
Ten significant, often humorous, failures and successes in the history of various businesses. From Coca-Cola’s “New Coke” debacle to Tesla’s…
- Does a messy desk affects productivity?
A 2015 study by Chae and Zhu investigated the impact of workspace organization on persistence and self-regulation. Their experiments showed…
- Weekly Podcast – Pilot
Welcome to the Inspired for Excellence podcast, your source of inspiration for operational excellence and lean manufacturing. Join us as…
- Best improvements 2023 Fastcap
Fastcap is well known for its lean implementation. Every year the team records the best improvements and shares a video.…
- Competitor vs. comrade mindset
In his book “Feel good Productivity”, Ali Abdaal describes two very distinctive mindset types and how they can affect productivity…
- Blockbuster
In the early days of the 21st century, Blockbuster Video stood as the undisputed king of the movie rental industry.…
- The Super Mario Effect
In 2016 Mark Rober, a former Nasa engineer set up a challenge to prove that everyone is able to code.…
- Feel good productivity
Ali Abdaal, a doctor and YouTuber from England, was intrigued on why trying to become more productive made him feel…
- Lean Startup in 2024
The term “lean startup” was coined in the early 2000s, by Eric Ries who adapted Lean concepts to the business…
- Changes
- Leadership and Innovation online class on Udemy. Join for Free using the coupon
Hi there, I am glad to announce that my new Innovation Class is online – Leadership & Innovation This course…
- Free Problem-Solving Masterclass on Udemy
Find here the free access to my Udemy online course. Valid for 4 days. https://www.udemy.com/course/the-super-power-of-problem-solving/?couponCode=95836B82D8A4691BEB29 couponCode=95836B82D8A4691BEB29 Hi there, I am…
- The importance of manufacturing systems
Elon Musk on the effort that goes into creating a Manufacturing System:“It’s 10 to 100 times more effort to design…
- The world’s best delivery service?
A dabbawala is a person that collects freshly cooked meals from the homes of customers and deliver them to their…
- Can you understand the signs?
https://www.frontsigns.com/blog/the-difference-of-world-traffic-signs/ #I love standards
- SpaceX
Between 2013 and 2015, SpaceX attempted to land its Falcon 9 rocket 14 times before successfully landing it on December…
- Functional Fixedness
Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that refers to our tendency to think of an object only in terms of…
- 2 second lean
Here is another incredible resource from Paul Akers.His audiobook 2 Second Lean – Just like Audible but for free. 🙂…
- Lean Library from Fastcap
Here the link to an amazing library of #lean related videos created by Paul Akers and his team.These videos are…
- Doing the job in half the time
Paul Akers, a Lean enthusiast and entrepreneur, understood the benefits of giving employees free time for implementing improvements instead of…
- The Good Samaritan
In 1973 John Darley and Dan Batson conducted an experiment to see how pressure affected human behavior. The 2 psychologists…
- Blank sheet of paper
On his first day at Toyota, a new employee would often find nothing else than a blank sheet of paper…
- Work hard play hard
Eye opening movie about the corporations and the „Human Resource“. (German Language) On Vimeo: On Prime:
- The window and the mirror
There is a special type of leader capable of transforming a company from good to great: The Type 5 Leader…
- The power of YES
Marcio Ballas, a Brazilian TV moderator, entertainer, and clown, created an interesting approach to boost creativity and promote problem-solving. The…
- Elon Musks 6 rules for more productivity
1) Avoid large meetings Large meetings waste valuable time & energy – They discourage debate – People are more guarded…
- Art and Fear
During a ceramic pottery class, the teacher divided the class in two groups. The two groups should produce clay pots,…
- Dyson
In 1978, James Dyson became frustrated when his vacuum cleaner diminished performance due to a clogged filter bag. He had…
- About Waste
In the movie Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin plays a factory worker fired due to his inappropriate behavior. A certain scene…
- How you think about your working colleagues?
Is that really important? In fact, when it comes to improvement and innovation, this is one of the most important…
- The Backstage
In his book entitled “Zurück an die Arbeit”, Lars Vollmer examines the aspects that keeps us from delivering good, productive…
- Long-term Development
For decades, Prof. Jeffrey K. Liker devoted his time to study the Toyota Production System to find out what is…
- The Courage to Stop
You probably have seen this cartoon: Two persons working hard while a third person is standing apart with a solution…
- The 2 Minutes Rule
In his book, “Getting Things Done”, David Allen describes the “2 minutes rule”. It is a simple rule stating that…
- What is This?
Of course, this is a hammer, but can you guess how many people in the world wanted this kind of…
- Positive Interactions
Being interested, expressing affection, giving appreciation, finding opportunities for agreement, empathizing, apologizing and using humor are good ingredients for building…
- The Magic Ratio
In 1970, Dr. John Gottman conducted an interesting experiment: He observed married couples and how they argued in conflict situations.…
- Motivation for Problem Solving
Threatening to punish or offering a reward? Which alternative is the best? According to Daniel Pink, none. For problems that…
- Self-organize
No traffic light, no traffic signs, no road markings. The example shows our great ability to self-organize. We sometimes tend…
- 100 Humans
I set out to find a reference to confirm that positive interactions can boost performance… and I found it: on…
- The power of positive interactions
A study published in the Harvard Business Review in 2004 shows how positive interactions are crucial for innovation. In a…
- The Coffee Problem
He made his coffee of instant coffee grounds, sugar, milk, and water, just like me. He used a large mug…
- Do what you love or love what you do?
“I hated every minute of the training, but I said don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your…
- Two-Pizza Rule
Created by Jeff Bezos, this rule states that any innovation/task force team should not be larger than eight team members—enough…
- Thank you for believing! Thank you for persisting!
Whatever you are doing right now, if you believe in it, please… continue doing it. Without knowing, your ideas and…
- “Failure is Success in Progress” Albert Einstein
A few people know that the rebellious nature of Albert Einstein as a child led to his expulsion from school.…
- Management Consulting
Management Consulting
- His Lost 10 years
Shigeo Shingo, one of the founders of the Toyota Production System, explained his insight related to the proportion of statistical…
- Microsoft
Few people know is that Bill Gates first company was a failure. A business called Traf-O-Data was designed to process…
- The Paradox of Success
Grab one tennis ball with the right hand and another tennis ball with the left hand. Imagine a horizontal line…
- Relentless
Interestingly, the prominent and highly innovative enterprise called Amazon started as relentless.com. This website and business idea was, to a…
- The Sensei and His Two Students
One day, the sensei asked his two students:“You both, go into the factory and look for what has to be…
- Book Giveaway on Goodreads.com
I am giving away 100 copies of my brand new Kindle E-Book “The Quest for Innovation”. Hope you have as…
- The Quest for Innovation
An industry-wide search for the best improvement and innovation approaches Now available on Amazon.com
- Home Office in VR
Trying to set up a home office in virtual reality.
- Grandma’s Cookbook
Grandma’s cookbook looks old, it has been used a hundred times. Some loose pages are recipes cut out from newspapers…
- Stop Procrastinating Improvements
Continuous Improvement is simple, but it only can happen once you stop procrastinating. Procrastinating means to put off things that…
- Business Poker
Top 10 Leadership & Management playing cards
- The Joy of Achievement
- Lean Factory VR
Starting a new Project…launching on April 6th
- The Paradox of Success
Here a few thoughts on how learning, doing and failing can lead you to success.
- Just do it?
Does this situation sound familiar to you: You instruct, teach and exemplify. You give your very best to let the…
- Virtual Plant Tour – Part 2
This is a virtual visit at the factory from Doublecoin in Thailand. It is a very modern and well maintained…
- Virtual Reality Factory Tour
Welcome to the VR plant tour. Every week I will be visiting a different production plant around the world. We…
- This is the year
Tired of going to work?Tired of someone else telling you what to do?In the factory, the supermarket, the construction: This…
- New! Problem Solving Class
Hi there, I am experimenting using informal language to transmit concepts related to Lean Manufacturing. I created a 1 hour…
- Leadership Training
This is the first part of my online leadership training. It is an experiment to find out if this kind…
- Simple SMED Simulation using Playing Cards
A few weeks ago I created this SMED simulation instruction video using playing cards. In this game the participant can…
- The hidden power to improve everything
What a heck are you doing? Lost your mind?With shaking hands, I was kneeling on the floor. In front of…
- Trust
“Hello Charlie, I want to report on our last Lean Kaizen event. It was great! We gathered together with the…
- Pull-Takt-Flow Simulation Using Playing Cards
Objective In this game, the participants will learn the benefits of implementing pull, one-piece-flow and takt. By playing with the…
- The Joy of Problem Solving
It’s a beautiful day, sun is shining birds are flying. Everyone is happy and you are heading to work. You…
- How to Play Scrum Planning Poker in 4 Simple Steps
Scrum card game Planning Poker is a way for Scrum & Agile Development teams to estimate the effort to reach their goals. It is a…
- Simple and Fun 5S Simulation Using Playing Cards
I created a simple 5S game using playing cards. This is the first of a series of games to be…
- The Manufacturing Deck
Hi there,Today I am Launching the Manufacturing Deck. It is my contribution to make Lean Manufacturing fun.?The Manufacturing Deck is…
- Shopfloor meetings, a interesting way to think about
But first another question… What is this: Answer: A drill. 6mm diameter, 100mm long for concrete drilling. Can you say…
- 44 Most Important Lean Tools and Methods
The vast quantity of Lean Manufacturing tools, methods and principles, makes it difficult to keep track of everything. To ease…
- T-Cards explaned
T-Cards can help you to continuously imporve working standards and are applicable to an infinite amount of areas. Here you…
- Why suggestion boxes dont work
Everyone who has worked in a big company knows it: You have a good idea and want to see it…
- Some might or might not…
Some might look at things the way they are, and ask why? Others imagine things the way they could be,…
- Great job! You are the greatest project manager!
You finished the project within time. That’s great! Well, it was really a team effort. Thanks to the detailed master…
- Kaizen / Lean Shopfloor Board – Creating the perfect one
Its astounishing how much a well designed Kaizen board is able to move in the Shopfloor. A clear visualizualization can…
- Traffic Light
Stopped at a crossroad, completely alone. The traffic light is red. You can clearly see that there is no other…
- Traffic Light
In the videos below, two very different situations are shown: In the first video a crossroad with a traffic light…
- Stuck in traffic
Last week, returning from work, I found myself stuck in traffic, waiting and waiting. Nothing seemed to go forward. Surprisingly…
- Thoughts on productivity…
The only thing worse than seeing something done wrong is seeing it done slowly. But is there really reason to…
- 3 Great Mindsets for Problem Solving
The biggest kind of waste is needing to repair something after a mistake has been done. Therefore you need to…
- The Highest Joy of Lean
When someone says Lean Manufacturing, we often hear continuous improvement, optimization, cost reduction, efficiency increase, stock reduction, lead time reduction…
- Looking for something great to read?
On the quest to Operations Excellence it is important to get a wide range of informations about Lean Manufacturing. However,…
- Why these guys don’t want to change?
I am convinced that people generally like changes, who doesn’t? Who likes to spend his holiday at the same location…
- How to best improve this working place?
Good idea to start with 5S right? Sort things out. Keep only what is needed. Set in Order. Maybe some…
- Lean Einsparungen
Anton startete im Jahr 2016 als Lean Manager in einem Großem Familienunternehmen. Sein Ziel war einfach: Die Profitabilität des Unternehmens…
- Was ist falsch mit den schlechten Mitarbeitern?
Dies ist die Geschichte von den Mitarbeitern einer Fabrik und deren Führungskräften. Ein Unternehmen das normale Menschen beschäftigt, normale Produkte…
- What a heck has Lean Manufacturing to do with Juggling?
Lean manufacturing is applied to corporate environments and is about continuous improvement, finding and eliminating waste! Waiting, Movement, Transportation, Overproduction,…
In this episode we explore the business case of MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), analyzing his meteoric rise to become the world’s…
Ten significant, often humorous, failures and successes in the history of various businesses. From Coca-Cola’s “New Coke” debacle to Tesla’s…
A 2015 study by Chae and Zhu investigated the impact of workspace organization on persistence and self-regulation. Their experiments showed…
Welcome to the Inspired for Excellence podcast, your source of inspiration for operational excellence and lean manufacturing. Join us as…
Fastcap is well known for its lean implementation. Every year the team records the best improvements and shares a video.…
In his book “Feel good Productivity”, Ali Abdaal describes two very distinctive mindset types and how they can affect productivity…
In the early days of the 21st century, Blockbuster Video stood as the undisputed king of the movie rental industry.…
In 2016 Mark Rober, a former Nasa engineer set up a challenge to prove that everyone is able to code.…
Ali Abdaal, a doctor and YouTuber from England, was intrigued on why trying to become more productive made him feel…
The term “lean startup” was coined in the early 2000s, by Eric Ries who adapted Lean concepts to the business…
Hi there, I am glad to announce that my new Innovation Class is online – Leadership & Innovation This course…
Find here the free access to my Udemy online course. Valid for 4 days. https://www.udemy.com/course/the-super-power-of-problem-solving/?couponCode=95836B82D8A4691BEB29 couponCode=95836B82D8A4691BEB29 Hi there, I am…
Elon Musk on the effort that goes into creating a Manufacturing System:“It’s 10 to 100 times more effort to design…
A dabbawala is a person that collects freshly cooked meals from the homes of customers and deliver them to their…
https://www.frontsigns.com/blog/the-difference-of-world-traffic-signs/ #I love standards
Between 2013 and 2015, SpaceX attempted to land its Falcon 9 rocket 14 times before successfully landing it on December…
Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that refers to our tendency to think of an object only in terms of…
Here is another incredible resource from Paul Akers.His audiobook 2 Second Lean – Just like Audible but for free. 🙂…
Here the link to an amazing library of #lean related videos created by Paul Akers and his team.These videos are…
In 1973 John Darley and Dan Batson conducted an experiment to see how pressure affected human behavior. The 2 psychologists…
On his first day at Toyota, a new employee would often find nothing else than a blank sheet of paper…
There is a special type of leader capable of transforming a company from good to great: The Type 5 Leader…
1) Avoid large meetings Large meetings waste valuable time & energy – They discourage debate – People are more guarded…
During a ceramic pottery class, the teacher divided the class in two groups. The two groups should produce clay pots,…
In 1978, James Dyson became frustrated when his vacuum cleaner diminished performance due to a clogged filter bag. He had…
In the movie Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin plays a factory worker fired due to his inappropriate behavior. A certain scene…
Is that really important? In fact, when it comes to improvement and innovation, this is one of the most important…
In his book entitled “Zurück an die Arbeit”, Lars Vollmer examines the aspects that keeps us from delivering good, productive…
For decades, Prof. Jeffrey K. Liker devoted his time to study the Toyota Production System to find out what is…
You probably have seen this cartoon: Two persons working hard while a third person is standing apart with a solution…
In his book, “Getting Things Done”, David Allen describes the “2 minutes rule”. It is a simple rule stating that…
Of course, this is a hammer, but can you guess how many people in the world wanted this kind of…
Being interested, expressing affection, giving appreciation, finding opportunities for agreement, empathizing, apologizing and using humor are good ingredients for building…
In 1970, Dr. John Gottman conducted an interesting experiment: He observed married couples and how they argued in conflict situations.…
Threatening to punish or offering a reward? Which alternative is the best? According to Daniel Pink, none. For problems that…
No traffic light, no traffic signs, no road markings. The example shows our great ability to self-organize. We sometimes tend…
I set out to find a reference to confirm that positive interactions can boost performance… and I found it: on…
A study published in the Harvard Business Review in 2004 shows how positive interactions are crucial for innovation. In a…
He made his coffee of instant coffee grounds, sugar, milk, and water, just like me. He used a large mug…
“I hated every minute of the training, but I said don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your…
Created by Jeff Bezos, this rule states that any innovation/task force team should not be larger than eight team members—enough…
Whatever you are doing right now, if you believe in it, please… continue doing it. Without knowing, your ideas and…
A few people know that the rebellious nature of Albert Einstein as a child led to his expulsion from school.…
Management Consulting
Shigeo Shingo, one of the founders of the Toyota Production System, explained his insight related to the proportion of statistical…
Few people know is that Bill Gates first company was a failure. A business called Traf-O-Data was designed to process…
Grab one tennis ball with the right hand and another tennis ball with the left hand. Imagine a horizontal line…
Interestingly, the prominent and highly innovative enterprise called Amazon started as relentless.com. This website and business idea was, to a…
One day, the sensei asked his two students:“You both, go into the factory and look for what has to be…
I am giving away 100 copies of my brand new Kindle E-Book “The Quest for Innovation”. Hope you have as…
An industry-wide search for the best improvement and innovation approaches Now available on Amazon.com
Trying to set up a home office in virtual reality.
Grandma’s cookbook looks old, it has been used a hundred times. Some loose pages are recipes cut out from newspapers…
Continuous Improvement is simple, but it only can happen once you stop procrastinating. Procrastinating means to put off things that…
Top 10 Leadership & Management playing cards
Starting a new Project…launching on April 6th
Here a few thoughts on how learning, doing and failing can lead you to success.
Does this situation sound familiar to you: You instruct, teach and exemplify. You give your very best to let the…
This is a virtual visit at the factory from Doublecoin in Thailand. It is a very modern and well maintained…
Tired of going to work?Tired of someone else telling you what to do?In the factory, the supermarket, the construction: This…
Hi there, I am experimenting using informal language to transmit concepts related to Lean Manufacturing. I created a 1 hour…
This is the first part of my online leadership training. It is an experiment to find out if this kind…
A few weeks ago I created this SMED simulation instruction video using playing cards. In this game the participant can…
What a heck are you doing? Lost your mind?With shaking hands, I was kneeling on the floor. In front of…
“Hello Charlie, I want to report on our last Lean Kaizen event. It was great! We gathered together with the…
It’s a beautiful day, sun is shining birds are flying. Everyone is happy and you are heading to work. You…
Scrum card game Planning Poker is a way for Scrum & Agile Development teams to estimate the effort to reach their goals. It is a…
I created a simple 5S game using playing cards. This is the first of a series of games to be…
Hi there,Today I am Launching the Manufacturing Deck. It is my contribution to make Lean Manufacturing fun.?The Manufacturing Deck is…
But first another question… What is this: Answer: A drill. 6mm diameter, 100mm long for concrete drilling. Can you say…
The vast quantity of Lean Manufacturing tools, methods and principles, makes it difficult to keep track of everything. To ease…
T-Cards can help you to continuously imporve working standards and are applicable to an infinite amount of areas. Here you…
Everyone who has worked in a big company knows it: You have a good idea and want to see it…
Some might look at things the way they are, and ask why? Others imagine things the way they could be,…
You finished the project within time. That’s great! Well, it was really a team effort. Thanks to the detailed master…
Its astounishing how much a well designed Kaizen board is able to move in the Shopfloor. A clear visualizualization can…
Stopped at a crossroad, completely alone. The traffic light is red. You can clearly see that there is no other…
In the videos below, two very different situations are shown: In the first video a crossroad with a traffic light…
Last week, returning from work, I found myself stuck in traffic, waiting and waiting. Nothing seemed to go forward. Surprisingly…
The only thing worse than seeing something done wrong is seeing it done slowly. But is there really reason to…
The biggest kind of waste is needing to repair something after a mistake has been done. Therefore you need to…
When someone says Lean Manufacturing, we often hear continuous improvement, optimization, cost reduction, efficiency increase, stock reduction, lead time reduction…
On the quest to Operations Excellence it is important to get a wide range of informations about Lean Manufacturing. However,…
I am convinced that people generally like changes, who doesn’t? Who likes to spend his holiday at the same location…
Anton startete im Jahr 2016 als Lean Manager in einem Großem Familienunternehmen. Sein Ziel war einfach: Die Profitabilität des Unternehmens…
Dies ist die Geschichte von den Mitarbeitern einer Fabrik und deren Führungskräften. Ein Unternehmen das normale Menschen beschäftigt, normale Produkte…
Lean manufacturing is applied to corporate environments and is about continuous improvement, finding and eliminating waste! Waiting, Movement, Transportation, Overproduction,…