August 2005 | Gemba Academy

Effective ERP Implementation

By Jon Miller - August 29th, 2005

I recently read about a Japanese company called OKI Electronics that went through implementing a new ERP system. They had a few good rules that I thought were quite smart and something I think all of us can learn from. ERP Implementati

Work Content for Line Leads

By Jon Miller - August 28th, 2005

A line lead (or team leader) is defined as a leader of 5- 6 people in an area. There’s a lot of discussion on what a good line lead is. What is a good mix of work content for line leads? One school of thought is that the lead sho

Strong Supervision: The Key to Long-term Kaizen

By Jon Miller - August 27th, 2005

A few weeks ago I had lunch with Tom Berghan, Lean Manager at Genie Industries. He is an avid student of the Toyota Production System and is always good for practical insights into ground-level Lean implementation. Tom observed that as

Gemba Keiei, Chapter 6: The Blind Spot in Cost Calculation

By Jon Miller - August 25th, 2005

Let’s start off with a bit of background on the Toyota Production System (TPS) and what has come to be called Lean manufacturing in the West. One of the pillars of TPS as envisioned and developed by Kiichiro Toyoda, Taiichi Ohno,

Gemba Keiei, Chapter 5: Misconceptions Hidden within Common Sense

By Jon Miller - August 20th, 2005

This is a short chapter. The chapter seems to act as a thematic bridge. Taiichi Ohno begins by talking about the importance of making a mindset shift in order to achieve breakthrough kaizen results, and ends the chapter by talking abou

Gemba Keiei, Chapter 4: Go See What Didn’t Work with Your Own Eyes

By Jon Miller - August 15th, 2005

Taiichi Ohno starts this chapter by pointing out that it’s relatively easy to convince the people on the Gemba (factory floor) by having them try the new way and see that is better than another way, but that this is harder to con

Wipro Studies TPS to Achieve Lean Transactions

By Jon Miller - August 13th, 2005

I’m very excited about an article in Business Week titled “Taking a Page from Toyota’s Playbook” on how Indian info tech companies are adopting the Toyota model. As an example, Wipro visited a Toyota factory to

Mr. Toyota Goes to Washington

By Jon Miller - August 11th, 2005

The August 12, 2005 article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Toyota Lobbies to Avoid Blame Amid U.S. Auto Industry Woes” explains how Toyota is adding a sixth lobbyist in Washington D.C. in an effort to avoid being bashed

Three Useful Phrases for Kaizen

By Jon Miller - August 8th, 2005

Finding myself in challenging discussions while coaching “change adverse” individuals from time to time, I try to make myself humble and ask “What would sensei do in this situation?” I cycle through the words an

Gemba Keiei, Chapter 3: Misconceptions Reduce Productivity

By Jon Miller - August 5th, 2005

In this chapter Taiichi Ohno illustrates the idea that “misconceptions reduce productivity” by telling several stories from the Gemba at Toyota. The point Ohno makes in this chapter is that demonstrating the superiority of

Month: August 2005