June 2009 | Gemba Academy

Saluting NUMMI

By Jon Miller - June 30th, 2009

The New United Motor Manufacturing factory in Fremont, California was originally a General Motors plant opened in 1962. For the past 25 years it has been a successful joint venture between GM and Toyota. Bloomberg reports their uncerta

Your Valuable “Lean Feedback” Is Requested

By Ron Pereira - June 29th, 2009

I am helping some fellow lean thinkers out with a short lean related survey. This survey appeals to me for a few reasons. First, it’s all about lean and second this survey is SHORT! You’ll be done in a few minutes. Th

Agile Kanban Journal Day 8: Do We Need a “Done” Column?

By Jon Miller - June 29th, 2009

I continue to benefit from the use of my Agile kanban board, if nothing else to keep my supposedly most important tasks in front of me (or behind me as it were, per layout of the office). I have faith and confidence that using this met

How clean is clean enough?

By Ron Pereira - June 28th, 2009

Here’s a question for you. When practicing the 3rd step of 5S – often referred to as shine or sweep – how clean is clean enough? Should the area you’re working in shine as bright as the Texas sun? Should the floor be clean enou

Seeking: Checklist for a Sense of Urgency

By Jon Miller - June 25th, 2009

“The most important factors for success are patience, a focus on long term rather than short-term results, reinvestment in people, product, and plant, and an unforgiving commitment to quality.” This is a quote from R

The Funny Thing About Waste

By Jon Miller - June 23rd, 2009

The funny thing about waste is that it’s all relative to your sense of scarcity. At least that’s how a Wired magazine article by Chris Anderson titled Tech Is Too Cheap to Meter: It’s Time to Manage for Abundance, Not

Agile Kanban Journal: Kaizens on Day 1

By Jon Miller - June 22nd, 2009

Kaizen emphasizes making small changes every day and retaining the ones that bring positive outcomes. With the help of friends, my agile kanban board evolved on its first day of use. After organizing my projects and tasks on an erasabl

Trying Out My Agile Kanban Board

By Jon Miller - June 19th, 2009

One of the biggest challenges of doing kaizen in office work is to make the work itself visible so that waste can be clearly identified. Much of the time spent in office work is finding files or information, switching between tasks, fi

45 Inches and Sizers

By Ron Pereira - June 18th, 2009

I recently got an email from American Airlines titled, “Important Reminders About Carry-On Baggage.” Normally I delete these kinds of emails but for some reason I decided to give this one a quick read. Click the image thumbnail to

The Amazing Adventures of Kanban

By Jon Miller - June 17th, 2009

Kanban was born nearly 60 years ago. It’s creator, Taiichi Ohno, intended kanban to combat the evil overlord Overproduction, Mother of All Wastes and her Minions of WIP. The battle is far from won. During those six decades kanban

Month: June 2009