2010 | Page 4 of 8 | Gemba Academy

How to Motivate Front Line Workers

By Jon Miller - August 9th, 2010

We are often asked the million dollar question, “How do we motivate the front line workers?” This is a high value question because people are any organization’s greatest yet often worst utilized asset. Understanding h

Wrong on So Many Levels

By Jon Miller - August 6th, 2010

Even as Apple’s stock price rises thanks to their star products and skill at supply chain cost control, chief supplier Foxconn Installs Antijumping Nets at Hebei Plants. Anti-jumping nets? Having built safety nets along its emplo

5S or 6S… which should it be?

By Ron Pereira - August 4th, 2010

I was recently asked the following question by a continuous improvement practitioner: “Should we make safety the 6th S, thus calling it 6S instead of 5S?” I offered my two cents but rather than sharing my thoughts at this time I am

Quadrillions of Dollars in Savings?

By Jon Miller - August 2nd, 2010

Here’s a very encouraging article about using GE’s continuous improvement expertise, specifically the Energy Treasure Hunt, to reduce wasted resource, environmental impact and cost: GE and EDF Partner on “Treasure Hun

Gettin’ Jiggy With It

By Ron Pereira - August 2nd, 2010

I’ve been doing a tremendous amount of classroom training the last few weeks. To be more precise, over the last 14 days I’ve taught more than 40 people everything from hypothesis testing to the different types of pull systems used

The Purpose of Lean

By Jon Miller - July 31st, 2010

I think the purpose of lean is to get better at choosing good over evil. Most of us understand that lean requires us to choose value over waste, good over bad, and better over good. But to what end? How do we judge what is value and wh

The Importance of the Storefront in Lean Manufacturing

By Jon Miller - July 25th, 2010

A little while ago P Cunningham asked: “What is a storefront and how can it help my lean manufacturing system be more flexible?” I haven’t found a reference to a “storefront” as such in any lean sources. S

What Motivates?

By Ron Pereira - July 23rd, 2010

If you are reading this via email or RSS, you may need to click through to the website to see the video.

How to Determine Cycle Time, Takt Time, Lead Time

By Ron Pereira - July 20th, 2010

Vaibhav, a reader of Gemba Academy’s blog, emailed us the following question. Can you please help me understand the definitions for the following terms? Cycle Time Manufacturing Lead Time TAKT Time Inventory Turns Your help to c

Multiple Grey spheres with one red sphere in the cluster representing an abnormality

5S Isn’t About Cleaning, Straightening, or Standardization

By Ron Pereira - July 19th, 2010

Quick question for you… what’s the true purpose of 5S (or 6S)? Go ahead and answer in your head or out loud. Now, if you’re close enough to some colleagues ask them the same question. Go on, I’ll wait. Great. Now that we have s

New Video Training for the 7 QC (Quality Control) Tools

By Jon Miller - July 17th, 2010

Some say “lean reduces waste, six sigma reduces variation” but this is a misconception. Both aim to reduce waste and both rely on a variety of common sense tools and sophisticated statistical methods to improve quality and

Kaizen Song: (SWIP Can’t Be) Zero

By Jon Miller - July 13th, 2010

Tony asked in a comment to an article about how to calculate standard work in process (standard WIP): Can I ask you a question: Standard WIP = One piece flow? No Tony, the two are not the same. The minimum necessary amount of stock to

Igor Stravinsky Agrees: Standards Enable Creativity

By Jon Miller - July 12th, 2010

There is a stereotype of the creative person who chafes at standards related to how their work is performed, to the point of eschewing any sort of process-driven continuous improvement approach. This creative person can be a designer,

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

Toyota to Reduce Span of Control in Engineering

By Jon Miller - June 14th, 2010

The Nikkei reported on June 11, 2010 that Toyota is bringing back front line supervisors, adding a layer of management to staff positions that has been missing since 1989. This is an admission by Toyota, the world’s greatest lean

How to Radically Increase Personal Productivity

By Ron Pereira - June 9th, 2010

Think back to the last meeting you attended. How many people were there? How long was the meeting? Let’s assume – for sake of example – that there were 8 people in your meeting. Let’s also assume the meeting lasted 1 hour. This

Year: 2010