Kevin Meyer, Author at Gemba Academy

Kevin Meyer

Kevin has over 35 years of manufacturing leadership experience in the automotive lighting, telecom electronics, and medical device industries. He has been responsible for lean transformations at Sylvania, Abbott Laboratories, Newport Corporation, and most recently as President of Specialty Silicone Fabricators. He guest lectures on business, manufacturing, and leadership topics at his alma mater Rensselaer as well as CalPoly.

101 Articles

The Pursuit of Perfection

By Kevin Meyer - November 11th, 2016

Five months ago I called my painter, who happens to live all of three doors away, to see if he had time to do some touchup on the house. He was able to fit me into his schedule starting a couple weeks ago. I knew I was going to ha

New Videos: Workplace Visualization Course

By Kevin Meyer - November 1st, 2016

In this new School of Lean course we explore what visualization is and why it’s such an important aspect of lean management. Also, we will discover how to go about bringing the concept of visuality to the workplace. Finally, we&#

New Videos: Lean at the City of Grand Rapids

By Kevin Meyer - October 20th, 2016

Steve Kane, Director of Customer Success at Gemba Academy, visits a Gemba Academy customer, the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Steve had the opportunity to talk with decision makers, city executives, as well as as other city employees

Designing a Lean Home

By Kevin Meyer - October 14th, 2016

I’ve received several comments on The Simple Leader, with some of the most unexpected having to do with the section where I discuss my desire to design and build a home with Lean principles in mind. If I hadn’t studied chem

New Gemba Academy Videos: Seven Wastes in Spanish

By Kevin Meyer - September 13th, 2016

We recently announced the launch of Gemba Academy Español. We began with 5S and now we are very excited to announce the release of the next course, The Seven Deadly Wastes (Los 7 Desperdicios de la Producción)! As a reminder, anyo

The Value of Depth and Detail

By Kevin Meyer - September 9th, 2016

Nearly three decades ago one of my first bosses pulled me aside – I forget the underlying incident except that I had somehow screwed up – and bluntly told me to “sweat the details.” I clearly remember it to this day, and it bec

Respect by Sharing Knowledge

By Kevin Meyer - August 12th, 2016

Gaining knowledge is the first step to wisdom. Sharing knowledge is the first step to humanity. – Unknown Well over a decade ago when I became president of a medical device company, I already had many years of Lean experience. I kn

New Gemba Academy Videos: In the Ditch Towing Products

By Kevin Meyer - August 9th, 2016

Ron and the Gemba Academy team make their way to Mountain Home, Idaho, to meet with Chuck Ceccarelli and his team at In The Ditch Towing Products. In the Ditch has been on their lean journey for several years, and this 23 video serie

Back to the Beginning with Ohno, Suzuki, and Yoda

By Kevin Meyer - July 8th, 2016

As I was researching the remarkable similarities between Lean and Zen for my book, The Simple Leader, one of the most interesting – and meaningful – was the concept of the beginner’s mind. Taiichi Ohno said, “Ob

Performance, Not Policy

By Kevin Meyer - June 10th, 2016

Few people realize how employee policy manuals, usually given to you on your first day and then mostly forgotten, shape an organization’s culture and thereby its fundamental performance. To give you a reference point, one company I

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