In 1946, the year I was born, Dr. Deming was 46 years old.  It was that year that he wrote a paper on his observations of the elections in Greece.  I have a fondness for Greece and the Greek people, having worked closely with Autogram International for the last 18 years.  We spent 8 days there in the late 90’s and along with New Zealand, it is a place I wish everyone could experience.  Things are very bad in Greece at this moment.  The austerity measures Greece must put in place to secure the remaining loans from the EU are causing unrest.  The solution to Greece’s problems is no further away than what Dr. Deming taught.  A half dozen Deming trained consultants, with permission, could put the country on the same track Japan took after 1950, a track that took it to the top of the world in quality of manufactured product.  Dr. Deming observed about Japan that there was nothing unique about them, they simply took what he taught them and changed the world.  Deming’s philosophy  still holds that same kind of power to change the game.

Start down the path to discovery here.

Monday, the 13th of June the Experiment with the Red Beads will be given by myself and Kevin Kjellerup at the Po’Boys in Killern.  Get the details here.

Many have turned up on
LinkedIn wanting to know more of Dr. Deming.  I can with no reservations send you to this site.
Click Here

This week we were asked to enter a bid for 500 signs, a $20,000 order, due in 2 weeks and only about 60% could be done in house.  We spent about 2 hours collecting data and asking suppliers for turnaround on their part.  We were closing in on a thumbs up, thumbs down decision when the phone rang.  It was the agency cancelling the request.  Seems the first bid came in at around $15,000, this would have been our bid less the profit, in any case that is more money than they had in the budget so that ended it.  Meeting for lunch later with my friend and fellow Deming fanatic, Kevin Kjellerup, the subject came up.  With 40 years experience in signs and graphics, a 15 minute, no make that 5 minute  discussion with me would have saved everyone wasted time and energy.  But the system is set up to absolutely keep this type of optimization from happening.  It is way past time to change.  Start your education is what is destined to be the management philosophy of a revitalized America, and start it here.

Carolyn and I spent a very pleasant 4 days away from Tallahassee for Memorial Day weekend.  Friday we drove to Orlando to meet her sister and niece at the Cheesecake Factory.  The 45 minute wait was to be expected and it was nice outside.  Saturday it was
on to Coral Springs for three days with our friends the Brasington’s.  Our return home on Tuesday was bitter sweet.  While traveling we disdain chain fast food and look instead for small, local eating places, often stumbling upon a real find.  Such was the case for breakfast
on Tuesday.  Leaving Coral Springs a little after 6 am, we headed north on U.S. 95 and when we got hungry exited at Delray Beach.  We love to drive down these old main streets, so little has changed in 50 or more years, and because of the layout of the buildings you rarely see the chain stores so prevalent in more modernized areas.  After passing on 3 or 4 sidewalk cafes that appeared to offer only coffee and sweets we came upon the Owl Restaurant.  Failing to write down the address, you will find it on the south side of the street as you go east on Main.  The Owl was already doing a brisk business when we arrived.  Sitting next to a window we ordered our coffee and dove into the menu.  My favorite breakfast would be one with Corned Beef Hash but today I would play the good husband and share with my wife a pancake from “Big Bill’s”.  Carolyn ordered a “Veggie Scramble”.  My order included 2 large eggs, 3 perfect pancakes, and 4 strips of bacon cooked exactly the way I asked for them.  The total price for these 2 really great meals, including 3 coffee refills, $15.  There are some really great places to eat in some little quaint towns, you can add the Owl Restaurant to your list.  I have clients in the area so I will return to the Owl to seriously tackle the Corned Beef Hash.
Readers of this blog know I speak and teach on the management theories of W. Edwards Deming, the American that taught the Japanese about Quality.  I am always looking for American businesses that strive for excellence and to this end I recommend the Owl Restaurant.

Left Tallahassee on Friday on our way to Ft. Lauderdale to see friends.  Stopped in Orlando where Carolyn’s sister, Charlene has been spending the week with her daughter, Melanie.  Friday evening at Cheesecake Factory and, as usual it was good.  Saturday, however, found us meeting again as a foursome at Cracker Barrel.  Our wait person was Julie and i can’t remember meeting a sweeter, more personable CB employee.  We ordered coffee all around and once that came fussed about what to eat.  Friday night Carolyn and i had split both our entree and a slice of cheesecake.  Amazingly when Saturday morning came we were hungry again.  We split a breakfast.  This is where it got weird.  Our wait person had just disappeared.  I kept craning my neck looking for her, nowhere to be found.  Fifteen, twenty minutes, no girl.  Finally I saw that she also had tables on the other side of a divider.  All in all a good meal, but nearly ruined by a system that was not performing as well as it should.

I give a talk this week to the 40 employees of a top pest control company.  In three
previous talks we have done the Red Bead Experiment, talked about systems thinking, and about processes.  This time I will talk on variation.  Variation is one of the most misunderstood elements of systems thinking.  I am a big fan of sweet tea.  I was first addicted as a young boy when my mother, not knowing any better, made tea in a giant three gallon pot on the stove top.  After the dozen or so tea bags draped over the side of the pot had done their work it was time to add the sugar.  You can’t add sugar to cold tea, it must be hot or the sugar will not dissolve.  So it was into this huge pot of steaming tea that my dear mom would add a 2 pound bag of sugar.  Did I mention that I was addicted?  This brew was always made the same way, it always tasted the same.  Today I can’t seem to settle on one place to get my sweet tea, too much variation, you see.  McDonald’s used to be my choice, but variation drove me to Sonic.  That did not last long.  I tried Steak ‘N Shake to no avail.  Then SNS lowered their price for a large tea to just one dollar.  I gave them another try, and that is where I currently go.  So I ask you, is it just price that has me shopping all over for sweet tea?  Nope, it is for consistency, lack of variation.  Management thinks it is all about price, Dr. Deming knew better, strive for reduction of variation, price will become secondary.

Two weeks ago an employee of 13 years resigned.  Like there is a better place to work or for that matter a better person to work for.  Just kidding.  This unfortunate turn of events has found me back in front of the shop’s design station creating whatever graphics files are needed by our customers.  Bet you thought this would at long last be a post that does not mention Dr. Deming.  Fat chance.  This exodus has left us with two young and enthusiastic kids that have stepped up mightily to fill the gap.  So after two days of cleaning and reorganizing the graphics department I got to work….thinking.  We may hire a new graphic designer, and if we do, I would like for he/she to be in the same age area as the two we have.  One other thing would be very wise.  That is to start again, from the beginning, with Deming.  I would start with a video for the entire company to watch, followed by Q&A.  A weekly session of an hour would keep it all fresh.

Folks, I have told you before, but it bears repeating.  Business success is just NOT what most of you think it is about, it is not achieved the way most American managers think it is achieved.  Constantly monitoring the ads and activities of our competitors, worrying if the next quote will be cut by them, or much worse, being paralyzed with fear that they are taking all our customers.  All a waste of precious time.

Read Deming’s 14 Points on this site.  Note Point 1, Constancy of Purpose, or Point 8, Drive out Fear.  See the way Harley Davidson, Winchester Firearms, Campbell’s Soup, and Ritz Carlton do business, and achieve success.  this is the Deming difference.

Well, no, but the maintenance man, that’s me, is out of patience. Normally our $50,000

Infinity 1612S UV Printer sings along just fine, making us a good bit of money I might add.

Lately it has decided to push to the limit, the graces of it’s owner. More than 30 hours this week alone has been spent massaging the various systems that make it print to no avail. From my dad, Capt. Floyd Pippenger II, all four of his sons learned, some could say, were born with an amazing skill. That is we can take almost anything apart and miracle of miracles, put it back together with a bare minimum of parts left over. i have stretched my skill to the max and still I have not won victory. But wait, this is the weekend, and I will give it nary a thought ’til Monday. Maybe that is not exactly true, I will go over in my mind the attempts I have made and be ready on Monday to once again claim superiority over that hunk of metal.

Recently my wife’s cousin Robbie and his wife Karen rode to Tallahassee from their home in North Carolina. They did this on his shiny Harley Davidson motorcycle. My wife was quick to ask a ride and here she is saddled up and ready to go.

The weather was gorgeous so burgers were the order of the day on our spacious deck.

Some of you know our home is situated on 5.5 acres and sits about 300 feet back from the street. Very quiet and serene, our plot is a common fishing ground for Grand Egrets like those shown here.
There is a rain water containment passage through the property and a nice bridge that allows us to cross. This picture was taken in the early morning mist.

The SignPrinters building on the west side of Tallahassee is located in an industrial park. Not dank and dark but full of greenery and 7 large holding ponds that catch the rain water runoff. The ponds contain water year round.

I guess we should not have been surprised, therefore to see this family of geese waddling along the side of our building on their way to the biggest of the ponds. A little scene like this can do wonders to lighten the day and we had all the employees come outside to watch the scene.

My last post detailed my trip to St. Petersburg to see my brothers. I spent the day Saturday with my brother Pete and my wife, Carolyn and her sister, Charlene headed for Winter Haven to visit their 99 year old aunt Marie. Near Lakeland, Florida, they snapped this picture of a watertower made up like a birthday cake. From the ground it is not possible to tell the flavor of icing used, but it appears to be butter creme, my favorite.