Jon Miller, Author at Gemba Academy

Jon Miller

Jon has dedicated his 25+ year career to the field of kaizen, continuous improvement, and lean management. Jon spent the first eighteen years of his life in Japan, then graduated from McGill University with a bachelor’s in linguistics.

1485 Articles

Visual Management of Our Readiness

By Jon Miller - September 20th, 2021

One of the most accessible and basic continuous improvement tools is a workplace organization and visualization practice known as 5S. It has roots that go back perhaps 100 years. The 5S as we know it today seems to have roots in the CA

How Important Is Physical Presence on the Gemba?

By Jon Miller - September 13th, 2021

Nearly thirty years ago when I first ventured into the field of kaizen, continuous improvement, and what’s come to be known as lean management, there was no commercial internet. This meant that if you wanted to talk to someone, y

Blog Writing Workflow and Visual Management

By Jon Miller - September 6th, 2021

Here’s an update on my ongoing experiment in making the process of publishing forty-plus blog articles per year easier, more fun, and defect-free. It’s going well. I set a task for myself every Friday to look at the WIP wit

Coaching Problem Solvers at Toyota

By Jon Miller - August 30th, 2021

It’s widely accepted these days that sustaining excellence long term requires customer focus and continuous improvement. Organizations increasingly realize that people capable of thinking and solving problems are their greatest a

Five Practice Patterns for Succeeding as a New Manager

By Jon Miller - August 23rd, 2021

For many, stepping into a management position can bring a mix of excitement and doubt. On the one hand, it’s a recognition that we’ve done a great job in our functional role, and are ready to take the next natural step up i

Upgrading Our Value Stream Infrastructure

By Jon Miller - August 16th, 2021

I recently visited family in the Midwest section of the United States. We could tell exactly when we crossed the county line from the wealthier, more urban, and industrialized county with a much higher tax base into the rural, sparsely

Live Virtual Online Lean Experiences with the Kaas Pass

By Jon Miller - August 9th, 2021

Kaas Tailored has been on their continuous improvement journey for over twenty years. For the past ten years, they have been generous in sharing both the successes and struggles of their journey. More than forty thousand people have wa

How to Lead Without Subject Matter Expertise

By Jon Miller - August 2nd, 2021

This week, while reading a Wall Street Journal article, I was reminded of something James Womack said at a lean conference about a decade ago. It was during a speech about value stream management. He pointed out a main key difference b

Piloting Continuous Improvement

By Jon Miller - July 26th, 2021

During several recent conversations with customers, I found myself discussing the pilot as an effective way to roll out continuous improvement. Like many terms that have settled into common usage in the business world, this can mean di

What Is a Milk Run?

By Jon Miller - July 19th, 2021

The milk run is a method for connecting material movement between multiple sources and a storage location nearer to the point of use or processing. The name comes from a practice in the dairy industry. A tanker truck makes rounds to

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