By now, few of us in the industry haven't heard of ''Lean,'' Toyota's production system. To maximize productivity, we have to eliminate ''waste,'' including extra steps, overproduction, product defects, and so on. It's an idea with great appeal, especially if you've watched Hoarders on A&E. We should imagine and design our labs around drawing ...

As a kid I heard Talk is cheap, meaning that talking about doing something is the easy part. Boy, was that the truth! My homework and chores didn't get themselves done, no matter how much I talked about doing them or (often enough) why I hadn't. And there was NO BASEBALL until they were done. Imagine children forming committees, having ...

Every so often a book changes your life. Way Down Cellar made reading fun, turning rainy days into great adventures. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet inspired me to write stories, and I've been writing ever since. Time Wars made me consider time differently, and I stopped wearing a watch. But Clutter's Last Stand (tagline: It's ...

As economic pressures increase you may hear a buzz about ''productivity.'' Your manager or senior administrator may use benchmarking to compare your laboratory to others. And if you aren't working hard enough by the numbers, you'll hear that, too. Not working hard enough? Maybe your lab has these: A tech who spends time online whenever ...