July 2008 | Gemba Academy

The 5W1H of 5 Why

By Jon Miller - July 30th, 2008

There is a wise saying that “Knowledge means nothing without wisdom to profit by it.” It’s not who we are, who we know, or what we know… it’s what we do with that knowledge. We all have tremendous power to

It’s a Girl!

By Ron Pereira - July 27th, 2008

“Children too are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward.” ~Psalm 127:3 Yesterday my family was blessed with the arrival of our 4th child, a baby girl. While the births of all my children have been amazing, this one

Ambiguous Visual Controls: Stop on Green

By Jon Miller - July 24th, 2008

One of the small remaining delights in foreign travel after 15 years of it is the discovery of yet another laughably ambiguous visual control. Something about them tickles the sense of humor that has been punished by jet lag and questi

Alice in Chains and The Soft Zone

By Ron Pereira - July 22nd, 2008

A few weeks ago I was hanging out with some of my neighbors. The kids were playing, the wives were talking, and the men were drinking a few beers while playing the bean bag game. You know the one… where you try to toss bean bags onto

The Lean Journey and the Long Path

By Jon Miller - July 22nd, 2008

A journey is used as a common metaphor for lean deployment. In fact many speak of the implementation of the Toyota Production System and its many non-production sub-processes as “the lean journey”. As a pursuit of zero waste, it is

Should we Keep to the Middle?

By Ron Pereira - July 20th, 2008

Here’s a list of principles worthy of our attention as we start the week. Carefully observe oneself and one’s situation, carefully observe others, and carefully observe one’s environment. Seize the initiative in whatever you unde

Three Ways to Draw Future State Value Stream Maps

By Jon Miller - July 16th, 2008

A value stream map is a diagram showing the flow of the material, goods or services and also the supporting information flow. It is typically drawn in a clockwise fashion beginning at the customer in the two o’clock position, bac

Laying the Foundation: Part 2

By Ron Pereira - July 15th, 2008

Tonight we’ll wrap up our series on how to lay down a strong foundation such that your continuous improvement initiatives not only survive… but flourish. In part 1 of the series we talked about creating tension, ensuring our effort

Laying the Foundation: Part 1

By Ron Pereira - July 14th, 2008

Tonight, I’d like to share some tips for how we might all go about laying down a rock solid foundation in an effort to ensure our continuous improvement bear real fruit. The most obvious foundational tip I can offer is to respect peo

Planting Seeds

By Ron Pereira - July 13th, 2008

What can we learn about continuous improvement from the person Christian’s call the King of King’s, Lord of Lord’s, and The Great I AM? Lots. Let’s start in the book of Matthew. And he spoke to them at length in parable

Month: July 2008