Category Archives: process management

Can You “Manufacture” Customers?

Posted on August 7, 2018 by

Digging through our archives we found this article from the 1999 issue of Electronic Business that Ralph wrote. It does not appear to be available online (even though the world-wide web existed back then), so we are posting it here … Continue reading →

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In ‘N Out vs McDonald’s

Posted on May 30, 2017 by

I have posted before about the differences between In ‘N Out and McDonald’s. Just last week one of the Principals in our company, Neil Reckon, noted a process example difference between the two companies I have seen but never thought about … Continue reading →

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Make Doing the Wrong Thing Hard … Another Example

Posted on May 2, 2017 by

I posted on this topic last year for the first time. I found another great example recently. But first a reminder. To help prevent errors, a construct translated as “make doing  the wrong thing hard” has been around informally for … Continue reading →

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What Is Lean Marketing … Really?

Posted on April 18, 2017 by

Occasionally I feel the need to resurrect this question. As I have noted a few times in the past, the term Lean Marketing has become bastardized by consultants with their own agendas. Since we are consultants too, one could argue … Continue reading →

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Make Doing The Wrong Thing Hard

Posted on August 16, 2016 by

To help prevent errors, a construct translated as “make doing  the wrong thing hard” has been around informally for many decades. It was formalized as part of the Toyota Production System by Shigeo Shingo and called poka-yoke in Japanese. This … Continue reading →

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Customer Experience and Process Management: A Dichotomy?

Posted on July 12, 2016 by

We find ourselves at Customer Manufacturing Group at the intersection of two trends that are finally becoming mainstream conversations: customer experience and process management. As we discuss these topics with people, we notice their concern that the two may be … Continue reading →

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Confusing Motion With Progress

Posted on December 29, 2015 by

My older son, who works for a Fortune 200 company, mentioned this morning that his company was going through yet another reorganization to improve results, or efficiency … or something. I remember telling my dad the same story, and I … Continue reading →

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