There isn't one day that goes by when I don't have so much of community importance to report on Realneo but, unfortunately, I don't have the time to do so. 

So many of the daily interactions I have seem of exquisite importance - examples of life's experiences that need to be reported and discussed so that everyone can learn from them.

I'll give you an example.

Kaizen

I am on a steam train headed to Iowa City and a 40ish fellow comes through the car and we start talking.  

Turns out Michael S. is from Wisconsin and is a dairy farmer working out of the same home he was born in. 

The guy is very knowledgable about everything.  Wired on the dairy farm.

I ask him how he came to be on the train.

Well, he says, I found out late about the event and called the event sponsor to find out if there were any tickets left - and I was told no way.  Sold out. 

But I knew there were over 700 tickets sold and I thought to myself, there has to be someone in that group who needs to sell their tickets because they couldn't attend.

So I jumped in my vehicle and drove down to Iowa arriving at the train yard an hour before the train was to leave for Iowa City.

I began asking people I met if anyone knew of a ticket for sale.

Within 5 minutes someone called out to someone  else on their festival radio - because they had heard of an elderly lady who had a ticket for sale - and sure enought I was able to buy a ticket.

Now when I (Jeff B) met Michael and heard this story what struck me was the Kaisen philosophy: To solve any problem you need to physically go to the location of the problem.

Michael, confident in his sincerity and in his resolve, drove from Wisconsin to Davenport, Iowa, and, within minutes, proved the Kaizen philosopy. 

IF THERE IS A PROBLEM YOU NEED TO PHYSICALLY GO TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF THE PROBLEM TO BEST SOLVE THE PROBLEM.

KAIZEN

Proved itself again.

Incidentally, before and aside from this true life story, I believe in Kaizen. Here is the Japanese KAIZEN from this site

 トヨタの仕事の仕方8ステップ (the 8 steps of the Toyota way of working)

1. 問題を明確にする (clarify the problem)
2. 問題をブレイクダウンする (breakdown the problem)
3. 達成目標を決める (set the target to be achieved)
4. 真因を考え抜く (think through to the true cause)
5. 対策を立てる (develop countermeasures)
6. 対策をやりぬく (follow through on the countermeasures)
7. 結果とプロセスを評価する (evaluate the result and the process)
8. 成果を定着させる (make sure the results take hold)

Read more: Lean Manufacturing Blog, Kaizen Articles and Advice | Gemba Panta Rei 

 I am looking back through my notes for the directive to go to the physical location of the problem and will post support for that view here.  Here is a link to 

Genchi Genbutsu which explains the importance of "being there" to understand and solve a problem