When Trying Harder Just Does Not Cut It

. . . . Upon arrival, the first signs of trouble emerged, too many customers for the two employees on duty to handle. Waiting patiently (well mostly patient!), we were informed politely by our Customer Service rep that the full size car we had paid for was not available. She was sorry, other customers had not returned their rentals on time, thus “our car” was not back yet. She did promise to check to see what was available which is when the real trouble began. I thought, “this can happen.”

Lean Six Sigma in government

Lean Six Sigma is new to City government. Fort Wayne may be the first City in the country to implement Lean Six Sigma. Mayor Richard wanted to capitalize on the many benefits it could bring to Fort Wayne government.

Community Good Service Grant for Lean in School District

The School District of Ashland, in Ashland, WI, recently received a Community Good Works (CGW) grant to help implement a lean program throughout the district.

Google Turns to Behavioral Targeting

Google Turns to Behavioral Targeting to Beef up Display Biz Beta Tests Two Ad Offerings Amid Pressure to Grow Revenue by Abbey Klaassen Published: March 11, 2009 NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Google’s fledgling display-ad network is hoping a pair of new targeting options will bolster its value to advertisers and publishers. The company today announced [...]

The Pillow Menu

Our family traveled to Florida over the Holidays to introduce our new grandson to his great-grand mother, my wife’s mom.We stayed at a Holiday Inn near the West Palm Beach Airport. We had an un-eventful flight, a horrendous experience with Hertz (I’m saving this for a later blog) and upon checking in were “delighted” to find a simple card (see below), which was our “Pillow Menu.”

What Might 1% Mean in Educational Efficiency?

Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed consolidating 400 of the state’s 500 active school districts to cut costs.

This article has information on Northampton County Pennsylvania. The local political leaders should be interested in ideas from Lean and Six Sigma that could help them reduce costs and make their processes more effective.

For every 1% of Support Services that could be saved, through Consolidation or even just shared services, the tax payers could save $315,000, without cutting any teachers or their salaries.

Making our schools effective & efficient, our students excellent & ethical

Pennsylvania School District Data: Will School Consolidation Save Money?

Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed consolidating 400 of the state’s 500 active school districts to cut costs. See how your district’s finances compare to districts around the state. Are smaller districts really less efficient? Delve into the data by entering your home county via the link to the right:

This article has information on Lehigh County Pennsylvania. The local political leaders are interested in ideas from Lean and Six Sigma that could help them reduce costs and make their processes more effective.

Public schools are under stress to reduce costs while imporving performance at the same time. I will keep you posted on developments of this project.

Innovation: The Story of Post-It Notes

Bringing ideas to market that touch the hearts and minds of customers is best accomplished via rapid prototyping, using small pilot projects. People react to prototypes more reliably than to surveys or coming up with ideas themselves.