In the fall of 2009, I launched Gemba TalesTM in anticipation of the Kaizen Event Fieldbook. Truthfully, it was something that I was told authors do - “You need to have a blog to promote your book.”
Well, sort of.
Blogs, in my opinion, should emanate less from a marketing imperative and more from a sense of sharing and community. That’s a whole lot more fulfilling.
So, with like mind, I would like to announce a new entrant into the lean blogosphere, it’s called Lean MathTM (leanmath.com).
I know what you’re thinking, “Lean Math?!” Now, that’s a subject that evokes passion in the heart of every lean practitioner…right?
But, the truth is effective lean transformations require some level of math, whether it’s the often deceptively simple takt time calculation, sizing kanbans, calculating process capability, or anything in between. It’s hard to get away from math.
There is no such thing as math-free lean and certainly not math-free six sigma!
Lean MathTM is not intended to be some purely academic study and it does not pretend to be part of the heart and soul of lean principles. (Can you say niche?) Rather, it’s a tool and a construct for thinking. Here we want to integrate lean math theories and examples with experimentation and application.
Some background. Within the next year, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers will be publishing a book, tentatively entitled, Lean Math. I started this thing a LONG time ago, just ask SME! And, I’m not going it alone this time, Michael O’Connor, Ph.D. (a.k.a. Dr. Mike) is co-authoring this work. We’re also getting a ton (!) of help from Larry Loucka, friend, colleague, and fellow-blogger at Lean Sigma Supply Chain.
No surprise, we’re the three folks who are launching the Lean Math Blog. The formal launch date is February 14th – because we LOVE math! Ok, love may be a bit strong. We really LIKE math.
Here are some of our first blog posts:
- Time
- Cycle Time
- Square Root Law
- Available Time
I even made an introductory video for the new site. First video ever. And it's about math...!?! Scary.
The categories or topics that we’ll ultimately address with future posts include the following. Go here if you want to see the detail.
- Systems
- Time
- “Ilities”
- Work
- Inventory
- Metrics
- Basic Math
- Measurement
Yes, there’s a lot of ground to cover. That’s why the book draft is so stinking big!
Please check out the site and subscribe to RSS or email to catch future posts. If you’re so inclined, make a comment and start a conversation and/or share the posts with other folks through social media (we’ve got the buttons). Also, please like us on Facebook (Lean Math Blog) and follow us on Twitter (@LeanMath) and on our LinkedIn company page (Lean Math Blog).
Admittedly, we’re just getting started, we will continue to add new content in a variety of categories. Through our own application of PDCA, we’ll endeavor to improve the site and increase the value to our readers.
Ultimately, we hope that you will join our fledgling Lean MathTM community and that it lives up to our blog tag line, “Figuring to improve.”
Related posts: Does Your Cycle Time Have a Weight Problem?, Musings About FIFO Lane Sizing “Math”, Guest Post: “Magical Thinking”