2010 | Page 10 of 20 | Gemba Academy

Visualizing the Water Level

By Jon Miller - July 8th, 2010

One of the simplest and most powerful visual controls is the horizontal line. Placed strategically above a stack of inventory, across a graph plotting daily quality performance or even to indicate a safe height clearance for vehicles,

Andon Systems in a Land Where Red Means Go

By Jon Miller - July 2nd, 2010

My daily walk to the office is filled with quiet danger. Much of Shanghai is a scene of too many people too eager to get to wherever they think they must go on streets that are too narrow. I have been to Shanghai perhaps 10 times. Duri

Free 7 Quality Control Tools Overview Training Video

By Ron Pereira - July 1st, 2010

Quality control can take a lifetime of learning to master, but Gemba Academy is here to help you get started with our free 7 quality control tools overview training video. Contrary to what some think, lean-thinking companies are very c

Ambiguous Visual Controls: Donut Shop Edition

By Jon Miller - June 30th, 2010

Always on the lookout for ambiguous visual controls, I spotted one today at the donut shop by our office during a stop for my morning coffee. These pastries which were clearly a tray of vintage 1970s Orange Shag Carpet donuts were misl

Red Flags in Ronak’s Kaizen Plan

By Jon Miller - June 28th, 2010

Ronak has successfully implemented 5S and plans to move on to implementing kaizen at his company. His plan for implementing kaizen is: 1. Train employees regarding kaizen, different kind of waste, etc. 2. Launch a tool, an Idea box in

5 Ways to Improve Your Teaching Skills

By Ron Pereira - June 28th, 2010

Have you ever been forced to listen to a monotone, boring, and oh so irritating instructor teach a class? I’m guessing most of you are nodding your head up and down. Well I have and can tell you one thing… it hurts. A lot! But it d

Summer Seminars in Shanghai

By Jon Miller - June 28th, 2010

This summer I am working from our Shanghai, China office. My team here has signed me up to lead some seminars. Our China team hosts lean discussion groups they call “salons” so I am looking forward to participating in one o

PDCA, Hoshin Planning and the Making of Ice Cream

By Jon Miller - June 26th, 2010

When I was young our family had a hand-cranked ice cream maker not unlike the one pictured above, although ours had an aluminum case and not wood. On winter days we would fill the inner cylinder with a mixture of milk, cream, vanilla,

The Power of Everyday Frontline Employee-Driven Innovation

By Jon Miller - June 23rd, 2010

By Andy Brophy The management of ideas is, in many organisations large and small, a huge untapped or poorly underutilised resource. Yet ideas are the prime source of improvement and innovation. Moreover, good Idea Management brings wit

The 12 Herculean Labors of Lean Leaders

By Jon Miller - June 17th, 2010

When we say that a task is Herculean, it means it is extremely difficult. Heracles was a Greek hero (Hercules in the Roman version) who got into some trouble for killing a member of his family in a fit of madness and was assigned a ser

Year: 2010