Jon Miller, Author at Gemba Academy

TPS from the Horse’s Mouth: View the Videos & Take the Quiz!

By Jon Miller - March 30th, 2006

Toyota has recently updated its website area for explaining the Toyota Production System (TPS), which includes the thinking and origins behind TPS, such as kanban, just in time, and judoka. The website offers simple explanations using

You’ve Gotta Go to Gemba More Often Than That!

By Jon Miller - March 28th, 2006

True story. Not too long ago I was with another one of our consultants teaching Just in Time principles to a group of newly minted Lean facilitators at one of our client’s factories. During one of the breaks one of the engineers

Toyota Seeking Top Talent: Tightwads Only Need Apply

By Jon Miller - March 26th, 2006

There have been several articles over the last year pointing out the challenge Toyota is facing as they expand overseas to find good people. The report Toyota’s Challenge: Growing the Talent points out that Toyota is growing faster t

Gemba Keiei Chapter 16: Grandpa Sakichi’s Jidoka Idea

By Jon Miller - March 23rd, 2006

I really enjoyed this chapter for a couple of reasons. First, Ohno uses the old-fashioned honorific for “grandpa” or “old man” when referring to Sakichi Toyoda in the title. There’s a certain warmth there and a reminder that

5S Your Desk: And Other Tips for Office Productivity

By Jon Miller - March 21st, 2006

“I know where everything is.” How many times have you heard (or given) this rejoinder to “please 5S your desk“? It’s hard to argue the logic of “cluttered desk, cluttered mind” when a desk is a

The Problem of Excessive Executive Compensation for Lean Manufacturing

By Jon Miller - March 20th, 2006

A Wall Street Journal article today titled Snow Defends Presidents’ Handling of the Economy got me thinking again about the problem of excessive executive compensation for Lean manufacturing. The problem of excessive executive compen

Gemba Keiei Chapter 15: Just In Time

By Jon Miller - March 16th, 2006

In this chapter, Taiichi Ohno talks about “just in time” but does not focus much on the material and information flow within TPS. Instead, he spends most of his time contemplating the English phrase’s origin. The Orig

Herman Miller NT Furniture is NoT Lean

By Jon Miller - March 14th, 2006

At Gemba we advocate something called the “open office” both for ourselves and to support the Lean transaction efforts of our clients. The open office is exactly what it sounds like, a Lean office area with as few walls as possible

College Dean Concludes: Kaizen Best Learned by Doing

By Jon Miller - March 13th, 2006

E. Alan Hartman, Dean of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh College of Business, has been rolling up his sleeves and doing gemba kaizen. He first wrote about his experience with kaizen at the Ariens Co. in the Appleton Post-Crescent i

The Link Between Gemba Kaizen and Human Resource Development

By Jon Miller - March 9th, 2006

Nidhi Shah recently posted a question on this blog “Is there a link between Gemba kaizen and HRD personnel in an organisation?” Thanks for your question Nidhi. Kaizen and Lean manufacturing can sometimes be seen as technica

Gemba Keiei Chapter 14: Do Kaizen When Times Are Good

By Jon Miller - March 8th, 2006

In this brief chapter Taiichi Ohno emphasizes the need to do kaizen in order to be ready to compete with lowest cost production. When production volumes decrease, one strategy is to produce products with higher value added and higher m

For Built-In Quality, Simple Is Best

By Jon Miller - March 7th, 2006

As part of our Lean manufacturing benchmarking trip we visited a bus manufacturing plant in Japan with a group of aerospace executives on February 27, 2006. We spent 6 hours observing their Lean manufacturing operation in action. We as

The Takt Time for Your Question is 42 Seconds

By Jon Miller - March 5th, 2006

An interesting blurb in The Detroit News today titled For Toyota Briefing, Timing’s Everything gives an example how at Toyota “… the renowned Toyota Production System is not limited to making production leaner and mor

How Exactly Does Toyota Put People on the Balance Sheet as Assets?

By Jon Miller - March 2nd, 2006

Toyota executives are heard to say that “we put people on the balance sheet as assets” but I had taken this figuratively not literally (philosophy rather than accounting practice). At the moment I have no concrete evidence

Put People on the Balance Sheet

By Jon Miller - February 28th, 2006

According to a Trackback at the end of Bill Waddell’s latest inspiring post full of big ideas, there are only 27 hits on Google for the phrase Put People on the Balance Sheet. We’ll I’m adding #28. Thanks to the Flyin

Gemba Keiei Chapter 13: Improve Productivity Even with Reduced Volumes

By Jon Miller - February 24th, 2006

Taiichi Ohno pulls a lesson for Lean manufacturing out of the rice farming situation in the early 1980s in Japan. The government of Japan paid farmers to decrease the area used to cultivate rice in order to limit overproduction of rice

Work Hard, Complain, and Do Kaizen

By Jon Miller - February 23rd, 2006

The Director of Human Resources for one of our clients had an “ah-ha” moment about her role in supporting Lean manufacturing and how to combine kaizen with respect for people. After we benchmarked a company effectively involving ev

Better Safety and Ergonomics through Kaizen

By Jon Miller - February 22nd, 2006

How does kaizen improve safety and ergonomics? A February 21, 2006 article in Occupational Hazards titled Using Kaizen to Improve Safety and Ergonomics gives a good illustration. Citing a need for speedy resolution of safety issues and

Why GM and Ford Can’t Embrace the Toyota Way

By Jon Miller - February 16th, 2006

Who says they can’t? Dr. James Womack that’s who, in his Wall Street Journal article this week, titled Why Toyota Won. I enjoyed the article. The kaizen mindset I’ve been trained in forced me to think, “Very goo

Experience Kaikaku, Day 5: What I Learned about Kaizen

By Jon Miller - February 10th, 2006

The reason we call this trip the Japan Kaikaku Experience is because this learning experience takes place in Japan and because a “kaikaku” or “transformation” happens in people’s heads by the end of the we

Experience Kaikaku, Day 4: The KTC Way

By Jon Miller - February 9th, 2006

One of the highlights of this Japan Kaikaku Experience trip was the visit to KTC. This company has more than 40 years of history making strong, high quality hand tools. They supply tire wrenches for new Toyota cars and they also make t

Experience Kaikaku, Day 3: The Thinking Behind TPS

By Jon Miller - February 8th, 2006

Toyota posted a 34% rise in third-quarter net profit, clearing $3.34 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2005. This hit the news just about as we were finishing our tours of Toyota Kamigo and Tsutsumi plants. It’s easy to copy what

Experience Kaikaku, Day 2: Fun with Pipes & Joints

By Jon Miller - February 7th, 2006

In the Japan Kaikaku Experience, we emphasize practical fun! We delve into the types of pipes and joints used in construction. As an example, we showcase a parts-picking station with sensors, demonstrating pokayoke (mistake-proofing) i

Experience Kaikaku, Day 1: The Airport

By Jon Miller - February 5th, 2006

This week I will be blogging from Japan. Internet access providing, I hope to be sharing bits of wisdom we gain each day with you on what is now our 17th Japan Kaikaku Experience trip. So far I have mostly spent time between the airpor

Minding the Length of a Toy Duck’s Neck

By Jon Miller - January 28th, 2006

On the front page of the January 27, 2006 Wall Street Journal there was an article titled In Tot TV Shows, Money is in the Toys. I’m always delighted to find lessons about Lean manufacturing in unexpected places. The article told

Jon Miller

Find Jon Elsewhere

Start your improvement training today.