29 Years at New Hampshire: What NASCAR Has Taught Me About Continuous Improvement
- Lean in Practice, Sharing Best Practices
- August 19, 2026
Paul Akers answers the popular question, “Do you apply Lean thinking at home?” In this new video Paul brings us into his own and shows a number of great ideas where he has applied lean thinking. His approach to life is about making simple improvements to make life easier. Every second he saves is a
READ MOREConsider attending the Northeast Lean Conference in Springfield, MA on October 5-6, 2011. The theme is “Made Lean in America” and the idea is to gather hundreds of people to make a strong statement about the ability of companies to use lean to remain a strong and vital part of the American economy. For these
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Frequent readers of this blog know I like to share good Lean examples as well as resources you can use to keep learning. Today’s post combines both elements into one. Ryder System, Inc., a provider of leading-edge transportation, logistics and supply chain management solutions, defines their Lean thinking process and principles. The key to delivering long-term
READ MOREPaul Akers describes his approach to teaching lean principles of productivity improvement this way: “All I do is ask everybody to make a two-second improvement a day for the rest of their life.” An accumulation of two-second improvements and a relentless emphasis on lean methods have helped build FastCap from a single product—a peel-and-stick cover for
READ MORERecently, I wrote about the importance of the stand-up desk for health and ergonomics. Have you changed the way you think about a conventional office yet? If you are still contemplating this or you need some ideas to get you started then I have a video for you. Paul Akers takes you on his lean
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When organizations want to improve their performance, they often benchmark. Benchmarking is the process of comparing one’s business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and/or best practices from other industries. The discussion of whether benchmarking is good or bad is an old one. Benchmarking can be an effective means to learn new skills and
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