5S Boot Camp

In the many lean implementations I have been involved with, establishing a discipline of 5S has always been one of the foundations sought after. The term “5S” of course comes from the Toyota system of lean but for anyone who ever went through boot camp or basic training, it has a number of other descriptions. […]

The Lean Facilitator

The practice of lean involves eliminating waste wherever it is found and solving problems (which typically leads to waste elimination). In all things, we are trying to remove the barriers that keep our teams from being successful. But team building can be a tricky thing in any culture. Most western cultures are deeply rooted in […]

Diving into Lean

What a great week! I spent most of it in Orlando Florida at the Peabody Hotel participating in meetings and discussions around “lean culture” with members of the Lean Enterprise Institute’s Lean Transformation Summit 2013. http://www.lean.org/Events/2013_lean_transformation_summit.cfm The Institute is a non-profit organization made up of people like John Shook and Jim Womack who are certainly […]

A Good Navy Man

The Bluejacket’s Manual of 1946 was a special edition The US Navy (along with its sister services) had just finished a victory of epic proportions and the BJM writers were writing about the needs the country would have from its sailors for years to come. In the introduction, the manual talks about the need for […]

Russian Submarine Base Pictures

In all of my years on submarines, I can never remember pulling into an underground submarine base. Probably because we didn’t have any! The Russians apparently did have a big underground submarine base and docks once in the USSR. After the Soviet Union collapsed and the Russian army left Ukraine it was partly abandoned and […]

A date that should also live in infamy (but we somehow want to ignore)

1993 – World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand. http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2008/february/tradebom_022608 All of us who were alive on September 11, 2001 will remember the tragic scenes of planes exploding into buildings and the heroic […]

Thanks for your service… now hand in your guns

I rarely reblog someone else’s page but I know that I have a following of a number of veterans who have honorably served their country. I saw this one this morning and thought that is deserved a little more recognition. http://redflagnews.com/headlines/disarming-americas-heros-veterans-receiving-official-letters-prohibiting-them-from-purchasing-possessing-receiving-or-transporting-a-firearm-or-ammunition From the article written By Constitutional Attorney Michael Connelly, J.D. How would you feel […]

Submarines; Scourge of the Seas or Sentinels of Liberty? (It depends on who is at the helm)

At the outset of the war between the states, the weight of sea power rested with the Northern states both in actual number of existing ships and the capacity to manufacture new ones. The industrial capacity of the north had matured because of many reasons up to that point. Availability of raw materials and capacity […]

“… the decorous quarters of the Senate”

What an insidious sickness we have submitted ourselves to in the name of “comity”. A group of good old boys (and girls) have entrenched themselves on the shores of the Potomac in an almost ironclad posture that has been strangling the life out of America’s freedoms. How did we get here? Frankly, […]

A more modern way of living… really???

I saw this posted on a web site today and had to share. For all of my friends down in North Carolina, I do sincerely hope there are not too many like this person running around without adult supervision. We have had people like this throughout the history of the country. Otherwise PT Barnum would […]