Jon Miller, Author at Gemba Academy

8 Reasons to Love Kaizen Events

By Jon Miller - September 1st, 2010

Some people disparage the 5-day kaizen event as a driver for continuous improvement. When the kaizen even it the only way of putting creative ideas and lean systems into practice this can be a sign of fake lean. Roadmaps, tools and met

5 Ways the Obeya (Big Room) Increases Profit

By Jon Miller - August 28th, 2010

Walls. If you live in the modern world or work within a secondary or tertiary industry, look up and you will see a wall. Ahead, behind or to the side of you the wall is there. We walk along, past and through them every day but think no

Are People Your Greatest Asset?

By Jon Miller - August 26th, 2010

Scott contributed a comment to a recent article on how to motivate front line workers: I never liked the expression that “people are your greatest asset”. People should never be looked upon as an asset. An asset is defined

How to Design a Lean Operation at a One Day Takt

By Jon Miller - August 23rd, 2010

Steve C asked: I have just moved from a role where the takt was 55 seconds into a new role where the customer requirement is one part every day. Does anyone have experience running to this kind of timescale? This is a fairly common cha

What’s Next for Lean?

By Jon Miller - August 21st, 2010

Whether I am speaking about lean to an audience of one or one hundred if the conversation goes on long enough the question inevitably arises; what’s next for lean? I always manage an answer, typically tying it to the theme of the

The Pros and Cons of Paced Conveyor Lines

By Jon Miller - August 16th, 2010

Steve asked in an e-mail: What are the productivity advantages, specifically in terms of operator efficiency, with respect to a moving, paced conveyor line and a non-moving, non-paced line? We’re looking at three scenarios: 1) No

Toyota Production System and the Three Dharma Seals

By Jon Miller - August 15th, 2010

According to the Buddha there are three characteristics of existence: Impermanence Dissatisfaction Non-self Becoming deeply aware of these “Three Dharma Seals” (三法印) is said to bring about wisdom and an end to the cyc

Seven Success Secrets of Small Teams

By Jon Miller - August 12th, 2010

Photo credit: Anoopkn, Wikimedia Commons American football coaching legend Vince Lombardi said: Build for your team a sense of oneness, of dependence on another and of strength derived from unity. United we stand. Divided we fall. Or s

Management Improvement Carnival #106

By Jon Miller - August 10th, 2010

The Management Improvement Carnival is a roundup of recent articles of interest on that subject. John Hunter has invited me to host Carnival #106. Read all past episodes here at the Curious Cat blog. I’ve not been able to enjoy c

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

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

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

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

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

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

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