March 2009 | Gemba Academy

Brain Rules

By Ron Pereira - March 30th, 2009

The human brain fascinates me. As such, I was very excited to finally read Brain Rules by John Medina. In this book Medina proposes 12 different rules, that once understood, may help us all to be happier and more productive individuals

Corporate Models of the Future (with bonus Ohno Circle exercise)

By Jon Miller - March 29th, 2009

How Crisis Shapes the Corporate Model is an interesting article in the March 28, 2009, New York Times. It gives some history of how past economic shifts have affected the structure and nature of corporations. The article speculates on

Happiness the Kaizen Way

By Jon Miller - March 26th, 2009

“There are two ways of being happy: We may either diminish our wants or augment our means – either will do – the result in the same; and it is for each man to decide for himself, and do that which happens to be the ea

The Ultimate “Sustain” Audit

By Ron Pereira - March 24th, 2009

So I have 5S on my mind since I’m wrapping up a 5S course for the Gemba Academy School of Lean. Anyhow, while finishing the “sustain” module I thought about one of the easiest ways to determine how far your organizati

How Do Lean Processes Prevent Human Error?

By Jon Miller - March 24th, 2009

Scott asked an important question on how lean processes can be used to prevent human errors. The good news is that lean processes not only support quality but they lean cannot function without a strong quality culture and organizationa

Kaizen Exercise: Stand in the Circle

By Jon Miller - March 23rd, 2009

Class dismissed. Your assignment for today is to go stand in the circle. Waste never sleeps. We have an hour. Let’s go see. The assignment is simple: find a spot to observe the process silently. Stand and observe for 30 min. Writ

Do We Even Need the 4th and 5th S?

By Ron Pereira - March 20th, 2009

Jon Miller – my friend, mentor, and now business partner – has asked his readers some extremely interesting questions regarding whether the 4th and 5th S, in 5S are even needed. Your feedback will be used by us as we finish

Ask Gemba: Do We Need the 4th and 5th S?

By Jon Miller - March 20th, 2009

Personally I don’t care a great deal for the 4th and 5th S. The team activity of throwing things out, rearranging and cleaning things up can be a blast. Once that’s done and the excitement wears off, the daily maintenance a

Sandwich Making Muda

By Ron Pereira - March 19th, 2009

I absolutely love to watch people. And I don’t mean watch in a creepy kind of way… I mean I love to watch people work and do their jobs. Well, today I was getting some lunch at a restaurant I often go to and I noticed they had impl

10 Things the Amish Can Teach Toyota Leadership

By Jon Miller - March 18th, 2009

Some of my friend have shared stories with me recently of the genchi genbutsu trips Toyota executives from Japan have been making by visiting factories overseas. On their next visit they should take a slight detour to to one of the Mid

Month: March 2009