Craig Otto

Batching and bay building feel efficient—but they quietly drive up cost, complexity, and lead time. One-piece flow does the opposite. It reveals problems fast and keeps value moving at the pace of the customer. This post breaks down why one-piece flow wins every time.

Leadership To-Do By Craig Otto | Leadership Insights In the movie Draft Day, Kevin Costner plays the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns. At the start of the movie, he writes a note to start his draft day and puts it in his pocket. The film follows him through a whirlwind of trades and developments leading up to the draft, keeping the audience guessing about his first pick. When he finally makes that pick, his decision shocks everyone—the owner, the coach, the staff, and even the player...

The Hidden Law By Craig Otto | Operational Excellence Insights Introduction: The Hidden Law Behind Decline Many organizations launch ambitious Operational Excellence (OpEx) initiatives and see impressive early wins in performance, quality, and engagement. Yet over time, those gains fade. Momentum slows. Old habits return. Why does this happen so consistently? The answer isn’t just organizational, it’s universal. According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics , everything naturally moves from...