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Year: 2007

406 Articles

Why Heijunka – Part 2

By Ron Pereira - June 7th, 2007

Last night we discussed why we would use heijunka in a manufacturing environment in response to a readers question.  Tonight I want to focus in on why we would want to use heijunka, or leveling, in an office environment. This could

Why Heijunka – Part 1

By Ron Pereira - June 6th, 2007

B.D. asked, “You’re talking about HOW to do heijunka, but I’m not seeing WHY.”     Great comment B.D.  I will attempt to answer the why here this evening.  Let’s dig into the manufacturing side of things in this articl

How to Reduce the Distance Between Management and Gemba

By Jon Miller - June 5th, 2007

This issue, and how it is addressed, is one of the main factors separating successful and sustained lean transformations from those that are not. Let’s say the distance between management and the gemba is value D and the quality,

Heijunka in the Front Office

By Ron Pereira - June 5th, 2007

In the house of Toyota heijunka belongs in the foundation.  Sadly many people dismiss this critical lean concept explaining how it isn’t relevant for their business. Heijunka which is properly pronounced (hey-june-kah) and n

Is Laying People off Really Anti-Lean?

By Ron Pereira - June 2nd, 2007

Update: June 3 @ 7:33 PM CST Over the weekend, this post has had some good action (via comments and emails I have received).  I am modifying the original post ever so slightly to make the “assumptions” a bit more clear. 

6 Ways to Use Lean & Six Sigma at Home

By Ron Pereira - June 1st, 2007

Here are some ways to use Lean and Six Sigma methods away from the office. Sort clothes according to color and place them into different bins eliminating the need to sort.  When the bin is full wash those clothes.  Don’t wait

More IBM Nonsense

By Ron Pereira - June 1st, 2007

Here is a doozy related to more IBM “Lean” blabber.  I am pretty sure the only quote I need to share is this.  “Lean is a collection of Six Sigma business processes used by a number of leading companies to improve

All the Surveys are Beginning to Whip Me

By Ron Pereira - June 1st, 2007

OK, I need to pick on some Lean friends of mine.  Well actually they may not even know I exist… but I digress. Anyhow, I was reading an article over at Industry Week (IW), Just-In-Time Remains Justifiable.  It’s a good article an

5 Steps to Data Collection

By Ron Pereira - May 31st, 2007

In most Six Sigma training programs and text books  you will hear about a 5 step data collection process.  However, what they don’t tell you is that collecting data is tricky.  Many people think they can simply run off and gra

Lean in Japan, Or Not

By Jon Miller - May 30th, 2007

The YouTube video titled Lean in Japan is a bit bizarre. It’s probably strange enough to most people as a window into modern Japan, but overlaid with Lean lingo it’s just weird. It’s not clear if this video is tongue-

Calling all Bloggers!

By Ron Pereira - May 30th, 2007

One of the ideas I have been tossing around is inviting others interested in Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement in general to “guest blog” here at LSS Academy.  So if you are a Blogger wanting to co

WordPress Rocks!

By Ron Pereira - May 30th, 2007

When I first transitioned this blog over to WordPress (WP) I wondered if I had made a terribe mistake.  Blogger was so easy to use and format.  You can drag and drop things to your hearts desire.  This was gone when I went to a sel

5S Simulation

By Ron Pereira - May 29th, 2007

I received my prize for my hard fought victory in the recent Gemba blog 5S competition. The prize was a 5S simulation game.  My 4 year old daughter has been after me to let her have a shot at it.  Yesterday was her lucky day! I do

How to Get Your Time Back

By Jon Miller - May 29th, 2007

They say time is the only resource you can’t get any more of. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get your time back? All of that time that was lost, wasted or simply misplaced – if we could only get it back, we would p

Tsurube System

By Ron Pereira - May 29th, 2007

After reading some Lean textbooks and possibly attending a conference or two many “Lean Dreams” are crushed when the practitioner is told, “Friend, there ain’t no way we are converting that $4 million paint line into some fancy

Stop Moving and Start Working

By Ron Pereira - May 28th, 2007

In Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management we read about the difference between animal-like-motion and human work.  Simply put many people confuse moving around with working.  This is to say that we can work up a sweat and look as

Kaizen of the Month for May 2007: Windows Hack *or* Chopping Away at the Six Big Losses

By Jon Miller - May 27th, 2007

Improving OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) by eliminating the six big losses is the focus of TPM (Total Productive Maintenance). Just as most industrial machinery is only 13% to 40% effective prior to TPM implementation, the same

Free TPS Video

By Ron Pereira - May 26th, 2007

Click here to watch a free video of Dr. Shankar Basu, president and CEO of Toyota Material Handling, USA.  This is NOT a sales pitch so don’t worry. Dr. Basu even speaks about reducing transportation, which he half jokes will

Habituation , Sensitization and Being Yelled At By Taiichi Ohno

By Jon Miller - May 25th, 2007

Neuroplasticitiy is the ability of the human brain to rearrange its synaptic networks based on experience. This primarily affects the hippocampus, the region of the brain playing a key role in memory. In turn, memory affects behavior.

DOE use in the health care industry

By Ron Pereira - May 25th, 2007

We hear a lot about Lean in the health care world but not so much about Six Sigma.  This fact made this story about how Design of Experiments is being used to make things better all the more intriguing to me.  We read in a May 2007 S

I Plead Guilty

By Ron Pereira - May 25th, 2007

My friend Mark Graban of Lean Blog fame nailed me today… and I deserved it.  Mark commented on my recent post about Lowes missing their numbers. I was actually as guilty as the folks at Qualpro in how I was trying to assign caus

How Does Lean Thinking Apply to Strategy?

By Jon Miller - May 24th, 2007

How does Lean thinking apply to strategy? This was a good question that made me think. One way of answering this question might refer to hoshin kanri (policy deployment) but in fact this is more about policy than strategy. If hoshin ka

Lowes Misses the Mark

By Ron Pereira - May 23rd, 2007

A few months ago I blogged about how a company called Qualpro was (and is) claiming its MVT methodology was far superior to Six Sigma.  One of their success stories was Lowes.  Their angle was that since Home Depot is a “Six

Medicare May Stop Paying for Hospital Errors

By Jon Miller - May 23rd, 2007

Medicare may stop paying for hospital errors in 2008, according to a May 22, 2007 article from IndyStar.com titled Hospital-borne ailments face Medicare budget ax. According to the article: Medical mistakes are deadly and expensive. In

Does Toyota need Six Sigma?

By Ron Pereira - May 23rd, 2007

I bet the title of this post caught some of my Lean friends off guard.  Fear not I am not going to talk about how Lean is about eliminating waste and Six Sigma is about reducing variation.  I have said this before and regret it.  T

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