October 2007 | Gemba Academy

Thank You, Thank You, Sam-I-Am

By Jon Miller - October 30th, 2007

One of my favorite philosophers is Theodor Geisel, a man whose illustrated stories continue to entertain and speaks to children and adults alike. Anyone continuous improvement professional who has read his “Green Eggs and HamR

Stumbling on the Lesser Category of Obstacles

By Jon Miller - October 29th, 2007

The important and influential ideas of W. Edwards Deming include a System of Profound Knowledge, 14 Points for Management, and the 7 Deadly Diseases. While Deming was not an innovator of practical tools to implement Lean manufacturing,

Do You Understand the System of Profound Knowledge?

By Jon Miller - October 28th, 2007

W. Edwards Deming said “without theory there is no learning” while Taiichi Ohno said “understanding means doing.” Deming left a great legacy with his Theory of Profound Knowledge which if followed allows the way

Two Types of Kaizen

By Ron Pereira - October 28th, 2007

The word kaizen is fast becoming a buzz word galore. You will hear about how people are “doing kaizen” or running a big “kaizen event” next week. Many times folks are in fact executing kaizen’s in an att

Seeing Problems for What they Are, Or Lean Insights from G.K. Chesterton

By Jon Miller - October 25th, 2007

G.K. Chesterton was an extremely clever early 20th century writer who used many twists of phrase to make his points. His style of thinking and the points he makes at times makes me wonder if members of the Toyoda family read and were i

Alignment of People, Process and Purpose

By Jon Miller - October 24th, 2007

A few years ago during a visit to the gemba of high volume manufacturing client, I found a good case study in a disjointed Lean implementation. There was a lack of alignment between how management was leading the Lean effort (providing

Steelcase to Bring Lean Office to China?

By Jon Miller - October 22nd, 2007

An article in the October 23, 2007 in the English version of the Chinese newspaper People’s Daily hints at a future for the Lean office in China. Titled Furniture firm builds presence, it is largely corporate PR announcing the ex

Top 10 Lean Education Mistakes (and a Few Recommendations)

By Jon Miller - October 21st, 2007

Here is a mixed bag of thoughts on common Lean education mistakes and a few recommendations on how to avoid them: #1: Teaching things rather than teaching thinking If one thing can be said about the Lean tools, it is that they work. Ye

Lean Specialists, Lean Generalists and the Benefit of Half-Persons

By Jon Miller - October 20th, 2007

Things seem to come in threes. Or perhaps we become satisfied and stop counting at three when in fact the particular phenomena we are counting in fact persists. This week three separate organizations asked us on three separate occasion

The Right Inventory is an Asset!

By Ron Pereira - October 19th, 2007

Most lean practitioners, myself included, spend lots of time talking about how calling inventory an asset is hog wash. We use analogies like how lowering inventory is the same as lowering water in a river… eventually all those

Month: October 2007