Jon Miller, Author at Gemba Academy

The 5W1H of 5 Why

By Jon Miller - July 30th, 2008

There is a wise saying that “Knowledge means nothing without wisdom to profit by it.” It’s not who we are, who we know, or what we know… it’s what we do with that knowledge. We all have tremendous power to

Ambiguous Visual Controls: Stop on Green

By Jon Miller - July 24th, 2008

One of the small remaining delights in foreign travel after 15 years of it is the discovery of yet another laughably ambiguous visual control. Something about them tickles the sense of humor that has been punished by jet lag and questi

The Lean Journey and the Long Path

By Jon Miller - July 22nd, 2008

A journey is used as a common metaphor for lean deployment. In fact many speak of the implementation of the Toyota Production System and its many non-production sub-processes as “the lean journey”. As a pursuit of zero waste, it is

Three Ways to Draw Future State Value Stream Maps

By Jon Miller - July 16th, 2008

A value stream map is a diagram showing the flow of the material, goods or services and also the supporting information flow. It is typically drawn in a clockwise fashion beginning at the customer in the two o’clock position, bac

We Do Not Make What We Do Not Sell: No More Trucks in Indiana

By Jon Miller - July 13th, 2008

It is no mistake to say that the people at the top of Toyota, the President, CEO, Chairman and other executives all thoroughly understand production control. How many CEOs in the world can say this? In a word we might say that in TPS t

Kaizen Song: Mr. Pareto

By Jon Miller - July 10th, 2008

This one was inspired by hearing Mr. Roboto on the radio shortly after helping a team make good use of Mr. Pareto’s chart and related 80-20 principle during a lean implementation planning session. What else rhymes with “kil

Is it Kaizen or Just Good Management?

By Jon Miller - July 9th, 2008

One of the risks, or should we say unintended consequences of a successful lean implementation is that people become unhappy when “there are no more problems to solve”. This seemed like an odd statement when it was first heard spok

The Leisure to do Kaizen

By Jon Miller - July 7th, 2008

The most difficult thing about sustaining a lean implementation to the point where it becomes an indelible part of the way of working is not about understanding the techniques and methods of the Toyota Production System, not about brin

Kaizen: Do What You Can Do Today

By Jon Miller - June 30th, 2008

Some of the best kaizen ideas can be truly very little things. It is the accumulation of small changes daily that give us the habit of coming up with creative ideas. If you don’t have on in your mind already, within the next few

Ambiguous Visual Controls: No Running in the Airplane

By Jon Miller - June 29th, 2008

The more you look the more you see ambiguous visual controls. Some are well-intentioned, while others appear to be half-hearted attempts to comply with some bureaucratic requirements. Others hint at hidden efficiencies or inefficiencie

Jedi Kaizen: Is the Force with You?

By Jon Miller - June 28th, 2008

The type of quick improvements or “just do it kaizen” is sometimes called JDI. Recently I heard it pronounced “jedi kaizen” in passing. The jedi are a group of monks in the Star Wars series. As monks, they live

Genjitsu: The Only Reality

By Jon Miller - June 24th, 2008

There are those moments when the right words come together in an a way that resonates deeply and inspires one to write them down and repeat them to others. The words by themselves are not profound, and one suspects that even rearranged

Continuous Improvement vs. Continual Improvement

By Jon Miller - June 8th, 2008

Most organizations implementing lean principles today do not in fact practice “continuous improvement”. What they practice would be better termed “continual improvement”. The distinction between continual improv

Definitely Not the Pull System: Anderson Cooper 360

By Jon Miller - May 26th, 2008

Not exactly breaking news, but highly amusing: video link How many wastes can you spot in this video? What are the causes of these wastes? How would you redesign this system? Despite the “push”, is this system better or wor

Toyota’s Secret to Kaizen Success: Unpaid OT?

By Jon Miller - May 24th, 2008

There was an interesting development at Toyota last week. Articles reported titles such as Toyota to raise overtime pay for ‘voluntary’ work. Titles included terms of interest, not often combined: kaizen, voluntary, overwor

What You Find on the Floor Tells You a Lot

By Jon Miller - May 15th, 2008

Look down and pay attention to what is on the floor you walk on, the next time you walk the floor. What you find on the floor tells you a lot about what kind of thinking you will find on the floor, carpeted or concrete. Most of us look

Overheard in Amsterdam: I Just Want the #$%@ to Clean Things Up

By Jon Miller - May 12th, 2008

It was midnight body time and 8AM in Amsterdam. Sitting in the KLM lounge waiting for a connection, the two men in the chairs next to me speak with American accents: “So I want to go over what they are doing. Hour by hour charts?

Calisthenics, Kaizen and Your Daily Stretch

By Jon Miller - May 7th, 2008

I was lucky enough to witness a shift start at a local distribution center today. Like most Japanese companies and too few American companies the shift leader instructed all 40 or so workers in about 5 minutes of calisthenics: simple s

Where does the time go?

By Jon Miller - May 5th, 2008

That’s what I wondered when seeing that it’s been nearly a week since the last post. It’s an idle question, until you start to think about it. Then you get dizzy, stop and look to those who came before us for insight.

Endless Meetings Speed Up the Pace of Change on the Gemba

By Jon Miller - April 30th, 2008

An article in the May 1, 2008 issue of Nikkei Business titled “Endless Meetings Speed Up the Pace of Change on the Gemba” (ダラダラ会議が現場のスピードアップを生む) interviewed the chairman and profiled

Lean Strategies for Workforce Development in Manufacturing

By Jon Miller - April 27th, 2008

A while back, I attended a meeting of CAMPS, the Center for Advanced Manufacturing in Puget Sound. Like many consortia around the U.S. and in other countries, a group of manufacturers, local government, academia, and service providers

Boeing Volunteers Helping Non-profits with Lean

By Jon Miller - April 23rd, 2008

An article in the April 18-12, 2008 issue of the Puget Sound Business Journal caught our eye. Titled Penguins will benefit from jet maker’s efficiency lessons it describes the efforts of Boeing employees as lean trainers who have

You Can’t Steal What is Shared Freely

By Jon Miller - April 22nd, 2008

Whoever got people started using the phrase “steal shamelessly” in regards to lean ideas and practices should be ashamed. I am quietly offended when people say this to me because it shows a certain lack of respect for the a

Built-In Quality Means Having Your Cake But Not Eating It

By Jon Miller - April 20th, 2008

There was an interesting bit of news from the BBC about a Honda factory in Swindon, England. Apparently the management there have placed restrictions on the sorts of cakes, fruit and chocolates the workers can eat in their break rooms.

Henry Ford Learned from Sears & Roebuck?

By Jon Miller - April 15th, 2008

I am reading a fascinating book called The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge. It traces the origin and development of the joint-stock company through the modern corporation and

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