June 2016 | Gemba Academy

GA 117 | How to Stay Motivated on Your Lean Journey with Dale Crownover

By Jessica Bush - June 30th, 2016

Today’s guest is Dale Crownover, the CEO of Texas Nameplate. Dale is one of the keynote speakers for the upcoming AME Conference in Dallas. He and Ron had a great conversation about his experience with continuous improvement, i

So You Think You Need an A3 Template

By Jon Miller - June 27th, 2016

Problem-solving is a core part of continuous improvement and lean management. The so-called A3 problem-solving method has become mainstream popular. I’m often asked to recommend a template by the people that I coach. I’m re

GA 116 | How to Use Storytelling with Jacob Stoller

By Jessica Bush - June 23rd, 2016

Today we are excited to have Jacob Stoller back on the podcast. Jacob and Ron discussed storytelling and how it can be extra powerful in a continuous improvement context. An MP3 version of this episode is available for download here. I

No Overburden, No Gain?

By Jon Miller - June 20th, 2016

In lean thinking we say there are three undesirable conditions related to any work: waste, variability and overburden. In Japanese they are muda, mura and muri. Of the three, waste is often the main focus of continuous improvement act

Safety In Numbers: What Message Are We Sending?

By Steve Kane - June 17th, 2016

Guest contribution by Jamie Parker “Don’t tell the team. I don’t want to be the reason our number goes back to zero.” These are the words a front-line team member shared with her plant manager after sustaining an injury. You se

GA 115 | Mastering Puppets with Filipe Marques

By Jessica Bush - June 16th, 2016

Today’s guest is Filipe Marques. Filipe has a very unique perspective on continuous improvement, and he shared some great examples of what he and his team do to stay on track. He even connected Metallica and lean. Don’t miss this o

How to Start a Fire

By Jon Miller - June 13th, 2016

Humanity’s ability to use fire at will has transformed the quality of life for our species. Fire provides warmth, light, protection from animals, slash-and-burn agriculture, and the ability to make our food tastier and easier to dig

Performance, Not Policy

By Kevin Meyer - June 10th, 2016

Few people realize how employee policy manuals, usually given to you on your first day and then mostly forgotten, shape an organization’s culture and thereby its fundamental performance. To give you a reference point, one company I

GA 114 | How to Apply Lean to Healthcare with Mark Graban

By Jessica Bush - June 9th, 2016

Today’s episode features Mark Graban, a recurring podcast guest and good friend of Gemba Academy. Ron and Mark discussed lean healthcare, the third revision of Mark’s book Lean Hospitals, and some of the main misconceptio

“Be Yourself” or Be Who the Customer Needs You to Be?

By Jon Miller - June 6th, 2016

Whether we are trying to be a better leader, team member, or individual performer “be yourself” is a common piece of advice these days. This can be good advice if one is trying too hard to do or be something that they are

Month: June 2016