March 2008 | Page 2 of 3

Respect for People: Japanese Style

By Ron Pereira - March 18th, 2008

During my recent travels through Japan I was paying close attention to the words and actions of the Japanese leaders we met. One of my trip goals was to gain a better understanding of how the Japanese practiced the concept of “respec

101 Kaizen Templates: PWINT Kaizen Worksheet

By Jon Miller - March 18th, 2008

The idea of PWINT kaizen is to look for kaizen ideas that are within a narrowly defined process band, with a particular perspective of observation. The letters PWINT stand for Processing, Waiting, Inspection and Transportation. It̵

How you can help a child in need

By Ron Pereira - March 17th, 2008

My friend, and fellow blogger, Mark Graban of the Lean Blog is asking us to help a child in need. Specifically, he has a launched a virtual toy drive for children staying in a hospital. I don’t ask much of my blog readers ̵

Improving Healthcare Delivery by Studying Toyota

By Jon Miller - March 17th, 2008

The Seattle Post Intelligencer has a good article giving an update on the lean journey at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, titled To build a better hospital, Virginia Mason takes lessons from Toyota plants When you think of a

The Week in Lean Blogging: Wk. 11, 2008

By Jon Miller - March 16th, 2008

It seems like this was “back to basics week” in many ways, from my reading of various blogs. First there was Mike Wroblewski’s excellent post based on his experience from a recent kaizen event, about how a good layout

Toyota: 97% Efficient

By Ron Pereira - March 16th, 2008

Sitting on an airplane for 12 hours and dealing with a 14 hour time difference will definitely take it out of a person. But after a day of rest (if playing and chasing my 3 kids can be called rest) I am beginning to feel a little mor

JKE Update: Reflection and 122 Degree Sand!

By Ron Pereira - March 14th, 2008

The final exam for those of us on the Japanese Kaikaku Experience was like none other I have ever taken. We were buried in 122 degree Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) sand and asked to recite the 10 kaizen commandments wearing nothing b

101 Kaizen Templates: Production Control Board

By Jon Miller - March 13th, 2008

The hourly production control board, otherwise known as the hour by hour chart, is used to monitor the progress or output of a process against plan. The advantage of this kaizen template is in its simplicity, near real time performance

JKE Update: One Million Spark Plugs per Day

By Ron Pereira - March 13th, 2008

Today, on day 4 of my Japanese Kaikaku Experience, we visited the NGK spark plug factory where they produce approximately 1.1 million spark plugs per day. On our first day Brad, our guide, told us to focus on the good. He challenged

Fixed Position Stop System

By Jon Miller - March 12th, 2008

Brandon posted a question in the comment section of an article about hourly production control boards, asking: “I have an automotive assembly line and it contains six different stations. The vehicles are on a automated line that

Month: March 2008