Jon Miller, Author at Gemba Academy

100% Dissatisfaction is Our Goal

By Jon Miller - May 4th, 2007

A May 4, 2007 USA Today article titled Toyota’s success pleases proponents of ‘lean’ looks at the story of Toyota surpassing GM by volume of cars sold and from the angle that the Lean consulting industry benefits. The

Standards, Abnormality and the Ideal

By Jon Miller - May 3rd, 2007

The topic of warusa kagen led to some interesting further thought. The following statements are all true: 1. When work is performed in the absence of a standard, this is an abnormality 2. When standards exist but are not being followed

Warusa Kagen is a Revolution of Awareness

By Jon Miller - May 2nd, 2007

There is a Japanese term that I like but is sadly not used as often as others in the Lean community, and may be indicative of a lack of focus in this key area of awareness. It is warusa kagen (悪さかげん) and means “conditio

We Are Now Shipping Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management

By Jon Miller - April 30th, 2007

Sweet relief, the books have arrived. Thanks for your patience. We’ve set up a flow line to pack and ship, paced at about 90 seconds per order. Now don’t everybody order at once. We value heijunka around here.

Seek the Simple Solution from Many People

By Jon Miller - April 29th, 2007

There is an apparent conflict between two of the ten commandments of improvement that has been bothering me for a while. It is the kind of problem that goes away as soon as you stop thinking about it. But I think it may represent somet

How to Use a Kaizen Newspaper

By Jon Miller - April 26th, 2007

Chris asked: Are there rules for what goes on a kaizen newspaper so it does not become a massive action item list? A “massive action item list” should be cause for celebration. A full kaizen newspaper is a good thing. The f

Lean Sourcing: The Top Three

By Jon Miller - April 25th, 2007

We’re writing today as part of a score of bloggers on the topic of The Top Three issues in sourcing. Here’s is our Top Three: 3. Slow is the New Fast When faced with the hard way and the easy way, always take the hard way. This is

Theme Blogging Week: Lean Sourcing

By Jon Miller - April 24th, 2007

The Sourcing Innovation blog has organized a group of fellow bloggers in a series of posts on the topic of sourcing over the next week. Each of our 20 or so blogs will raise their Top Three issues in sourcing. What can a kaizen blog of

Ten Reasons Why One Piece Flow Will Not Work

By Jon Miller - April 21st, 2007

Rather than insisting that one piece flow will work, we like to ask people why one piece flow will not work for them. Here are some of the most common reasons we hear, and some ways we respond: 1. We can’t get needed materials in

What Would You Do If You Had No __?

By Jon Miller - April 19th, 2007

One my favorite phrases used by my Japanese teachers’ was “__ ga nakattara dosuru?” or “What would you do if you had no__?” When I heard this I knew we were in for some fun – of watching someone stretch their mind. R

The Best Visual Control in the World

By Jon Miller - April 17th, 2007

Day two of kaizen instruction on the shop floor, I came across the best visual control in the world. All of these years it’s been right in front of me. It’s the change in the human face known as the smile. The people that I

A3 Report Title: PICK UP YOUR TOYS!!

By Jon Miller - April 16th, 2007

I need some parenting help. As the A3 report below will show, our young kids are slow at picking up their toys. The older one is old enough to slow down on purpose and play games with us, and the younger one is young enough or has the

Review of The Elegant Solution by Matthew E. May

By Jon Miller - April 11th, 2007

The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation by Matthew E. May is a book about many good ideas. It adds relevant and interesting accounts of the author’s eight years working closely alongside Toyota peopl

What I Learned Today of Value

By Jon Miller - April 10th, 2007

See it through. Delay if you must, but don’t retreat. Follow up until you get an answer, good or bad. Check again. Get it done. Only then, start the next thing.

A Fairly Lean Healthcare Experience

By Jon Miller - April 9th, 2007

I hope everyone who celebrates Easter had a good Easter Sunday, and those of you who don’t also had a good weekend. Thanks to a culture change in my throat brought on by some visiting Streptococcus, I didn’t have a good wee

Layoffs, Strategy and the Bimodal Hump

By Jon Miller - April 6th, 2007

If you haven’t exercised your neck muscles lately, read the first few paragraphs of the article Short-Circuited: Cutting Jobs as Corporate Strategy and shake your head in disbelief as you scratch Circuit City off of your shopping

How to Get What You Want in Four Easy Steps

By Jon Miller - April 5th, 2007

About 20 years ago in a catchy pop song Joe Jackson said “You can’t get what you want till you know what you want.” I didn’t think much about those words at the time, but these words seem to contain deeper wisdom as the years g

Skill Matrix Tutorial, Part 1

By Jon Miller - April 2nd, 2007

We receive a lot of questions on this blog about something called the Skill Matrix and how to use it. It seems to be an area of high interest so I will write about it more regularly. The Skill Matrix is a very useful visual management

Is Zero Defects Possible?

By Jon Miller - April 1st, 2007

Sonu asked: “Is zero defects possible? If so, what are the steps. We are dealing with around 300 parameters each having minimum 25 to 30 parameters to be met. We find it difficult to maintain zero defect for all parameters. Any t

The Largest Room in the World

By Jon Miller - March 29th, 2007

What is the largest room in the world? I just heard this yesterday. Any guesses? Think about it. Or give a hint to other readers if you know the answer. I’m not telling.

Why So Much Confusion About Kanban?

By Jon Miller - March 28th, 2007

I had a very interesting conversation today with a friend who is a manager spearheading a Lean effort at a local facotry. His latest focus is on connecting the metal forming operations with the assembly operations using kanban. He obse

The Value of Figuring It Out for Yourself

By Jon Miller - March 27th, 2007

There is a curious mention of Nissan purchasing an American automobile factory before World War II and moving it to Japan in chapter 21 of Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management: Before the war Nissan had purchased an American facto

White Space Muda

By Jon Miller - March 26th, 2007

I heard a story about a Toyota employee. This was years ago when Toyota Motor Sales merged with Toyota Motor Company to form Toyota Motor Corporation. The employee from Motor Sales asked for paper to write a report. A woman in the offi

The Art of Nemawashi

By Jon Miller - March 25th, 2007

Nemawashi is the building of support for a project through advance communication and consensus. The Japanese term nemawashi (根回し) comes from “to dig around the roots” in order to prepare a plant for transplant. Withou

Twelve Reasons to Tell Customers About Your Lean Manufacturing Efforts

By Jon Miller - March 24th, 2007

Here is a follow up to reason #3 from of the post Here are 4.5 Signs that Your Lean May be L.A.M.E. from earlier this week. I could think of 12 reasons to tell customers about your Lean manufacturing efforts. 1. Customer behavior is th

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