October 2018 | Gemba Academy

Five Questions to Reflect on Both Process and Results of Problem Solving

By Jon Miller - October 29th, 2018

When an organization’s culture is results-driven it is easy for people to receive the signal that it is okay to get results at any cost. This can lead to hiding poor results or problems. It can lead to false or shallow problem so

Disrupt Your Thinking

By Steve Kane - October 26th, 2018

Learn Something New Autumn seems to be conference season in the Lean community. I’ve attended events hosted by the Colorado Lean Network and the Michigan Lean Consortium in the past few weeks. Conferences are great opportunitie

GA 238 | How to Change Your Culture with Toyota Kata with Emiel van Est

By Jessica Bush - October 25th, 2018

This week’s guest is Emiel van Est. Ron and Emiel discussed the vital role that culture plays in continuous improvement, and how methodologies like Toyota Kata can help sustain your success. An MP3 version of this episode is avai

Three Core Beliefs Fundamental to Standard Work

By Jon Miller - October 22nd, 2018

Standard work and kaizen are often described the two cornerstones of the Toyota Production System house, a.k.a. lean management. The various systems, methods and tools that make up the lean way of working rely on setting provisional st

GA 237 | How to Incorporate and Leverage Sustainability with Brion Hurley

By Jessica Bush - October 18th, 2018

This week’s guest is Brion Hurley. A Lean and Six Sigma consultant with a true passion for sustainability, Brion shared some advice on the “Triple Bottom Line,” going paperless, and more. An MP3 version of this episod

Review of Four Types of Problems by Art Smalley

By Jon Miller - October 15th, 2018

The new book by leading lean thinker Art Smalley titled Four Types of Problems is available from the Lean Enterprise Institute. Problem solving is one of my favorite topics. I found myself both delighted by and disagreeing with parts

Treating Lean Psychosis

By Kevin Meyer - October 12th, 2018

The treatment of people with severe mental illness often means locking them away in large, impersonal facilities or letting them bounce between short stays at in-patient units at major hospitals, followed by a rapid decline of function

GA 236 | How to Develop Strong Effective Leaders with Cheryl Jekiel

By Jessica Bush - October 11th, 2018

This week’s guest is Cheryl Jekiel, CEO of the Lean Leadership Center. Based on her background in operations and human resources, Cheryl explained what she believes it takes to develop great lean leaders. An MP3 version of this e

What’s the Best Way to Deploy Lean? TPS? DBS? HOS? Other..?

By Jon Miller - October 8th, 2018

The General Electric company has had a rough year. They were removed from the Dow Jones list after more than 100 years. Their stock price has dropped to half. This week they abruptly fired their CEO. On the bright side, Larry Culp, a G

Kata in the Classroom

By Ron Pereira - October 5th, 2018

I recently conducted a complimentary “Kata in the Classroom” workshop for a group of 15 students ranging in age from 7 to 13. I wasn’t sure what to expect… especially since the age range was quite large. But,

Month: October 2018