February 2019 | Gemba Academy

GA 256 | Reflecting on a Career in Continuous Improvement with Jon Miller

By Jessica Bush - February 28th, 2019

This episode is Part 2 of last week’s conversation with GA Co-Founder Jon Miller. Jon discussed his career thus far, sharing some of the valuable lessons he’s learned along the way. An MP3 version of this episode is availab

What is the Right Amount of Slack?

By Jon Miller - February 25th, 2019

The Kraft Heinz company reported poor financial performance this past week, causing its stock price to dive more than 20%. It has lost nearly half of its value over the past year. A Wall Street Journal article said of Kraft’s man

GA 255 | The Elements of a Sustainable Lean System with Jon Miller

By Jessica Bush - February 21st, 2019

This week’s guest is GA Co-Founder Jon Miller. Jon has been a guest of the podcast many times, and in this episode he describes the various elements he believes are necessary for creating a successful, sustainable lean system. An

Vision, Values, and Principles

By Steve Kane - February 20th, 2019

Labor and work environments have continually changed since the dawn of employment. These topics are like just about any other aspect of the human experience in that they have changed more rapidly over the past century than any other pe

Words of Taiichi Ohno: Build a System that Loses Money

By Jon Miller - February 18th, 2019

At one level, a lean transformation means improving existing systems and building new systems where required. People and organizations cannot avoid systems. We all work within systems, be they regulatory, financial, logistical, politic

GA 254 | Discovering Lean with Ryan and Louise Tierney

By Jessica Bush - February 14th, 2019

This week’s guests are Ryan and Louise Tierney. We recently went to Northern Ireland to tour and film at their company, Seating Matters. In this episode, they share how they learned about lean, and why they decided to embark on a

Not All Costs Exist To Be Reduced

By Jon Miller - February 11th, 2019

Taiichi Ohno declared, “Costs don’t exist to be calculated, costs exist to be reduced.” His point was that traditional accounting can fool us into justifying inefficient operations, building up inventory or acquiring

Teaching Thinking

By Kevin Meyer - February 8th, 2019

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few. – Shunryu Suzuki A couple of recent Harvard Business Review articles have discussed how higher education isn’t preparing g

GA 253 | Building a Strong Lean Foundation with Mohamed Saleh

By Jessica Bush - February 7th, 2019

This week’s guest is Mohamed Saleh of Hartford HealthCare. Mohamed shared the details of their lean journey, including the dynamic approach they use and how their department is organized. An MP3 version of this episode is avail

The Life-Affirming Science of Tidying Up

By Jon Miller - February 4th, 2019

When book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up was published a few years ago, I read it with interest. It describes an unintentional application of 2S principles in the home (sort & straightening / set in order). Author and consu

Month: February 2019