November 2006 | Gemba Academy

Hansei on Hansei

By Jon Miller - November 30th, 2006

As Taiichi Ohno said “Check is hansei” when referring to the third step of PDCA. I am doing hansei on the previous blog post on the topic of hansei. I did not think deeply enough about what “hansei” means and wh

The ROI of an Open Office

By Jon Miller - November 29th, 2006

What is the ROI (return on investment) of an open office? That was a question some while back by a reader on this blog about to take the leap and convert their office to an open format. It went unanswered (apologies) and I was recently

Dilbert Rips Six Sigma

By Jon Miller - November 28th, 2006

Kent Bradley from Gemba handed me a Dilbert cartoon yesterday poking fun at Six Sigma. Here is the script: [Point-Haired Boss standing next to “SIX SIGMA” slide] Our company has decided to try something new. [Dilbert] New?

The Toyota Way is Total Company Discipline, Partial Study is GM’s Failure

By Jon Miller - November 27th, 2006

Kan Higashi was President of the NUMMI company, the joint venture between Toyota and GM, when it was started two decades ago. In the October 16, 2006 issue of Nikkei Business (a Japanese magazine) Mr. Higashi shares his insights in a s

Gemba Keiei by Taiichi Ohno, Chapter 33: The Difference Between Production Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering

By Jon Miller - November 26th, 2006

Taiichi Ohno begins the chapter by saying “We think of production engineering and manufacturing engineering as distinct things. We distinguish manufacturing engineering as the work to determine the method of manufacturing and pro

Thankful but Dissatisfied

By Jon Miller - November 25th, 2006

Reflecting on this Thanksgiving holiday, I have a lot to be thankful for but I am dissatisfied. It has been a challenging year in many ways, both personally and in business. I am thankful that there are so many problems in front of me

How to Stay Out of Trouble with Mr. Convis

By Jon Miller - November 23rd, 2006

Gary Convis is the senior vice president of manufacturing in North America for Toyota Motor Corporation. In a November 20, 2006 article in the Lexington Herald-Leader titled New Tundra Plant Just Shows that … Toyota Keeps on Truc

The Water Spider: What’s in a Name?

By Jon Miller - November 22nd, 2006

One of the things that keeps Lean manufacturing from being boring to the amateur linguist is the many odd-sounding words that make up the Lean lexicon. Kamishibai Heijunka Pareto Yamazumi Takt Andon Jidoka Kaizen Pokayoke Gemba And don

What is a Kamishibai?

By Jon Miller - November 21st, 2006

I heard the term kamishibai (紙芝居) used in the context of the Toyota Production System for the first time in 2006. It was at an LEI seminar hosted by a former Toyota manager. At the time I thought it was a gratuitous use of a Japa

Dissatisfaction: The Essence of Toyota Management and the Kaizen Mindset

By Jon Miller - November 20th, 2006

I’ve said again and again that complacency and being satisfied with the current condition are anathema to kaizen. The article in Fast Company December/January 2006 issue titled “No Satisfaction” is excellent. Here are

Month: November 2006