April 2006 | Gemba Academy

Tame the Hedgehog, Name it Kaizen

By Jon Miller - April 28th, 2006

A reader e-mailed me a couple of days ago and said “I personally don’t believe all problems can be solved by a group of workers gathered together doing Kaizen” and went on to make a convincing case that specialized kn

Lean Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering & HRD: No Animals Today

By Jon Miller - April 26th, 2006

Leon Fok asked me a question today about the differences in Japanese and American management practices and how this affects their kaizen efforts. Leon is the Publications Coordinator at Gemba and has been with us a month. His question

Bill and Barry Grapple with the Lean Manufacturing Elephant

By Jon Miller - April 25th, 2006

Part of what started me thinking about Lean manufacturing, kaizen and the role of Industrial Engineering and Human Resource Development was an exchange on one of my favorite bloggers a reader a few weeks ago. There were two themes in t

Following the Kaizen Process Out of the Lion’s Den

By Jon Miller - April 24th, 2006

I’ll be blogging on the theme of Lean manufacturing, Industrial Engineering and Human Resources Development this week. This is a topic that’s been on my mind for quite a while and it’s time some of it was written down. Industrial

Lean Broadcasting? NHK Calls Toyota for Help with Kaizen

By Jon Miller - April 19th, 2006

Another embattled Japanese state-owned enterprise asked Toyota executives for help with kaizen yesterday. NHK (the national broadcasting corporation) has requested that Toyota send an official to join the board of directors of NHK. Toy

Kaizen in a Petri Dish

By Jon Miller - April 18th, 2006

Last summer while teaching VSM and demonstrating one-piece flow at one of our client’s factories in southern China I was introduced to the General Manager. He shook my hand. He wasted no time. He had one urgent question for me: “Ho

Gemba Keiei Chapter 19: Toyota Made the Kanban System Possible

By Jon Miller - April 17th, 2006

In this chapter Taiichi Ohno explains the origin and the conditions that resulted in the development of the kanban system at Toyota. In the beginning the machining process upstream would replenish what the assembly process downstream u

Lean Food Service: Cut Overproduction, Feed the Hungry

By Jon Miller - April 13th, 2006

One of the informal definitions of Lean manufacturing is “doing more with less”. A Puget Sound Business Journal article titled Throw Out Less Food and Help the Less Fortunate made a lot of sense to me. It maps out some prac

Job Shop Kaizen

By Jon Miller - April 12th, 2006

A continuous improvement specialist from a UTC group company e-mailed us today with the question “What principles should I look to implement for Job Shop Kaizen?” Kaizen in a job shop should aim to implement the same principles as

First Face of Innovation: Go to Gemba

By Jon Miller - April 10th, 2006

I’m reading The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley, general manager of IDEO. These days innovation seems to be the trump card of executives and politicians who have grown bored with operational excellence. So I picked up this

Month: April 2006