Jon Miller, Author at Gemba Academy

If Blame Helped Solve Problems…

By Jon Miller - December 5th, 2008

…the interview with Newt Gingrich on Fox News would be a brilliant way to get the Detroit automotive companies out of the trouble they are in. Here is Newt Gingrich taking the bait and laying the blame, making a troubling and com

$34,000,000,000

By Jon Miller - December 2nd, 2008

Sigh. Chrysler wants $7 billion. They asked Congress for this taxpayer money in a 14-page document. I bet they could do it for $500 million if they only took the time to give the PDCA wheel a few turns and put their proposal on a singl

PDCA is About Not Telling Lies

By Jon Miller - December 1st, 2008

This circle doesn’t lie. In fact one could say that used properly, it is a truth-generator. In a section discussing problem solving, experimentation and PDCA, the book Extreme Toyota by Emi Osono, Norihiko Shimizu and Hirotaka Ta

With Competitors Like These, Who Needs a Winning Business Strategy?

By Jon Miller - November 27th, 2008

Larry, Curly and Moe go to Washington image credit: Wall Street Journal As we are grateful this Thanksgiving holiday for all hard diligent public servants, executives and working men and working women who do their best to keep our econ

It’s a Lousy Time to Implement Lean

By Jon Miller - November 25th, 2008

Author, teacher and our friend Bob Emiliani from the Center for Lean Business Management pointed pointed out an inaccuracy in my post from Sunday on how the Big 3 automotive companies should follow Toyota’s path through bankruptc

The Big 3 Must Follow in Toyota’s Footsteps to Survive

By Jon Miller - November 23rd, 2008

The Big 3 automotive companies must follow in Toyota’s footsteps to survive. There are three things that need to happen for General Motors, the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler to avoid becoming case studies in how not to run glob

Ambiguous Visual Controls: This Way is Up

By Jon Miller - November 12th, 2008

This makes it three for three on scoring photos of ambiguous visual controls during visits to this European country. What could this sign possible mean? A reminder to vertigo sufferers of which way is up? A public service campaign in a

Pyramid Inspire our Lean Transformations

By Jon Miller - November 11th, 2008

It’s not every day that the commute to the shop floor takes you past one of these. What the ancients knew in building pyramids, we can learn from and be inspired by them when undergoing lean transformations and when making major

Goat Karma: Today's Most Unexpected Thing

By Jon Miller - November 10th, 2008

An artists rendition of goats crossing the highway over a sky bridge: Didn’t have a camera, unfortunately. The funny thing about bridges is that if you build them, people will tend to cross them, once they have the need to get to

The Future of Kaizen at Toyota is Epic

By Jon Miller - November 7th, 2008

Despite is vaunted Toyota Production System, culture of kaizen and a line up of fuel-efficient vehicles Toyota Motors is being hit hard by the crisis affecting the automotive manufacturers. In addition to slowing demand due to high gas

Workforce Training is Not a Quality Management System

By Jon Miller - November 4th, 2008

There are many reasons to love the Boeing Company. They are a pillar of the community, a significant local employer, an innovator in bringing lean to the aircraft industry as well as to local non-profits, and they enable global consult

7 Leadership Lessons from a Mountain Goat

By Jon Miller - November 2nd, 2008

What can we learn from a mountain goat? You can learn something useful from practically any picture, scene or situation if you are observant. Here are seven leadership lessons from a mountain goat. 1. Stay fit. These 200 lb beasts sure

Act Small, Think Big

By Jon Miller - October 29th, 2008

Act small, think big: this is a borrowed phrase from a recent post on Seth Godin’s blog article titled Too Small to Fail. In this article he shares a profound common sense insight on the effect of size of thoughts and actions on

Office 5S Video: Too Much or Too Little?

By Jon Miller - October 27th, 2008

Cheers jeersfrom across the internets as the Wall Street Journal gives prime time coverage to our beloved lean management principles sort, straighten, sweep, standardize and sustain, otherwise known as 5S. Kyocera’s North America

The Spooky Resemblance of GM, Ford and Chrysler to Zombies

By Jon Miller - October 25th, 2008

This week families across the United States celebrate the pagan festival of the harvest and visitation by the dead. They place hollowed-out and glowing gourds and gruesome decorations in their homes. Their children go out to harvest sw

What Tool of Lean Manufacturing Do You Use First?

By Jon Miller - October 23rd, 2008

Today we received a question from Konrad, one of our readers, on how to implement lean manufacturing (LM). He asked: I tried to find if there is a particular way to implement LM. I found only this: 1. Factory tour & meeting with m

System Toyota Of Production: TPS or STOP?

By Jon Miller - October 21st, 2008

Another way to think about lean manufacturing is that it is a system of stopping: no more waste, variation or overburden, just the value the customer wants at the right speed, quality and cost. The classic TPS house comprised of the pi

Is Mean Lean Better than No Lean?

By Jon Miller - October 19th, 2008

Often lean implementations are begun not after great thought and deliberation but because of a conviction that waste is evil and there is no time like the present. Is mean lean better than no lean? I thought this was a rhetorical quest

Asking for Change

By Jon Miller - October 15th, 2008

Today we are joining over 11,000 people all across the world in writing about poverty as part of something called Blog Action Day 2008. The aim is to raise awareness, initiate action and to make a positive change in the are of poverty.

13 Lean Leadership Lessons from Dwight D. Eisenhower

By Jon Miller - October 14th, 2008

Dwight D. Eisenhower served as the 34th President of the United States of America, from 1953 to 1961. He was born on October 14, 1890. Today is the 108th anniversary of his birth. Eisenhower was a man of great insight gained through ac

Winners of Lean Hospital Books

By Jon Miller - October 10th, 2008

Many thanks to everyone who commented and contributed to the conversation this week about lean healthcare through the Q&A series with Mark Graban, author of Lean Hospitals. I hope soon others will publish similar books on lean gov

Part 3 of Q&A with Mark Graban, Author of Lean Hospitals

By Jon Miller - October 8th, 2008

We would like to express our gratitude to Mark Graban for taking the time to provide in-depth answers to questions regarding his experience in lean healthcare as well as expounding on ideas and examples from his book Lean Hospitals. Th

Part 2 of Q&A with Mark Graban, Author of Lean Hospitals

By Jon Miller - October 8th, 2008

We continue our question and answer session on the topic of lean healthcare with Mark Graban, author of Lean Hospitals: Q9: You wrote in Lean Hospitals that it takes courage to point out that something is a waste. How have you been abl

Defragmentation, Lean Systems and Putting Back Things Where They Belong

By Jon Miller - October 7th, 2008

Defragmentation: correcting existing fragmentation by reorganizing files and free space back into contiguous areas. Most of us have run the defragmentation tool on our computer hard drives. If you never have, you may want to do it now.

Part 1 of Q&A with Mark Graban, Author of Lean Hospitals

By Jon Miller - October 6th, 2008

This is the first part of our question & answer session with Mark Graban, author of Lean Hospitals. Mark has been kind enough to take the time to give us thoughtful and in-depth answers. Here is the first installment of 8, with 12

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