Ron Pereira, Author at Gemba Academy | Page 15 of 31

Ron Pereira

Ron Pereira is a co-founder and the Managing Director of Gemba Academy and has more than 30 years of experience helping organizations improve performance through Lean, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement. Prior to starting Gemba Academy, Ron served in a variety of manufacturing, supply chain, and leadership roles, including process engineer, engineering manager, Master Black Belt, and director of manufacturing and continuous improvement. Today, Ron works with leaders around the world to develop problem-solving capabilities, strengthen leadership, and build cultures where continuous improvement thrives. Through his writing, podcast interviews, and educational programs, he shares practical insights that help organizations achieve lasting operational excellence.

758 Articles

Level 5 Leadership

By Ron Pereira - October 8th, 2009

In his classic business book Good to Great Jim Collins introduces what he refers to as Level 5 Leaders, our topic in this article. Humility To start with, Level 5 Leaders are humble. In other words, those that Collins and his team of r

Kaizen – FastCap Style

By Ron Pereira - September 28th, 2009

If you’d like to see kaizen in action, and I do mean real kaizen, you need to set aside around 23 minutes to watch this video of the FastCap team improving the way some items are packaged. As an aside, FastCap has been practicing

To Certify or Not…

By Ron Pereira - September 25th, 2009

Mark Graban wrote a relatively simple post a few days ago that has simply BLOWN up with comments. Mark, if I may be so bold, doesn’t really believe in certifications… especially if the words six sigma are involved! Me, well

New Lean Blog

By Ron Pereira - September 24th, 2009

Jamie Flinchbaugh is not really new to the lean blogosphere as he’s been writing over on the Lean Blog and most recently on Evolving Excellence… but I am excited to see him finally start his own blog. So, please be sure to

Free Quick Changeover / SMED Overview Training Video

By Ron Pereira - September 23rd, 2009

We continue to add new content over at Gemba Academy. So far we’ve covered the following topics: 5S Workplace Productivity. They say, “If you can’t do 5S, you can forget the rest.” Learn why 5S is far more tha

The Coffee Kaizen

By Ron Pereira - September 22nd, 2009

By Rick Foreman, Lean Development Manager Note from Ron: This is a guest post from my friend, frequent LSS Academy commenter, and most importantly Brother in Christ – Rick Foreman. Enjoy! We’ve heard of the phrase, “rose-co

The Seven Wastes & $10 Off Subscription to iSixSigma Magazine

By Ron Pereira - September 3rd, 2009

I recently wrote an article for the iSixSigma magazine focused on the 7 Deadly Wastes. And as it turns out the good folks over at iSixSigma have been nice enough to allow me to offer this article to LSS Academy readers in PDF form. So

Learning From You

By Ron Pereira - September 3rd, 2009

I’ve been reflecting on my earlier post this week about my “mini-kaizen” while placing labels onto CDs. As always, your comments were great. Some folks agreed with my approach. Nice work and you have a good looking sister in law!

Complexity and Love Songs

By Ron Pereira - August 31st, 2009

My family and I recently took a much needed vacation. One of our stops was in Chicago where my wife and daughters attended my sister-in-law’s wedding shower. One of the party favors for the ladies that attended the wedding shower was

Lean Thinker Interview with Former Toyota Quality Manager

By Ron Pereira - August 24th, 2009

We’ve recently added a new series of videos over at Gemba Academy called the “Lean Thinker Interviews.” During these interviews we’ll be talking to senior lean practitioners about their experiences and life less

The Versatile Leader – Part 3

By Ron Pereira - August 23rd, 2009

So far in this series we’ve discussed the directing and coaching leadership styles. In this article we’re going to move onto the last two leadership styles – encouraging and empowerment. The Encouraging Leadership Style The encou

The Versatile Leader – Part 2

By Ron Pereira - August 20th, 2009

“That’s what I do now: I lead and I teach. If we win basketball games from doing that, then that’s great, but I lead and teach. Those are the two things I concentrate on.” -Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University In part 1 of

The Versatile Leader – Part 1

By Ron Pereira - August 18th, 2009

There’s one thing I know for sure… being a leader of people is hard work. No matter if the “people” are those you work with or your children at home… knowing how to best inspire and move them to greatness is no easy task.

Free 7 Deadly Wastes Overview Video (Spanish Subtitles)

By Ron Pereira - August 11th, 2009

We’ve been unbelievably busy over at Gemba Academy the last few months. We continue to develop new content (we’re now up to 44 videos, 28 interactive quizzes, 28 PDF summary documents, and much more) and most recently our t

If Lean Is So Great, Why Is Toyota Struggling?

By Ron Pereira - August 9th, 2009

Balaji, a reader of LSS Academy, recently sent me the following question/comment via email: Toyota, GM, and Ford are experts in state of the art assembly technology and in implementing Lean and Six Sigma process improvement methods and

Do You Read Much Russian?

By Ron Pereira - August 4th, 2009

The LSS Academy Guide to Lean has been translated to Hungarian and most recently to Russian. If you’d like to download the Russian version please visit this site (free registration required). If you’d like to download the H

Oh Snap! We Sent Bad Product to Our Customer: Fun with the Hypergeometric Distribution

By Ron Pereira - August 3rd, 2009

If you enjoy statistics this is the perfect article for you! But even if hearing the words hypergeometric distribution makes you want to yack all over the floor at least give this article a quick skim as it could prove useful for you s

Lean Hackathons – Are You Using Them?

By Ron Pereira - July 27th, 2009

Are you on Facebook? I am but that’s not the point of this article. No, the point of this article is that I just watched a short video about how the Facebook development team uses what they refer to as “Hackathons” to quickly bri

It’s Always Day 1

By Ron Pereira - July 23rd, 2009

I just got done watching this video of Jeff Bezos, of Amazon, where he announced that Amazon has snatched up Zappos. I first saw this over on John Hunter’s blog. And while this is big news for sure… the thing that I loved a

Dream Big… Start Small

By Ron Pereira - July 19th, 2009

My youngest daughter, who turns 1 this coming weekend, recently took her first steps and is a much happier little girl as a result. My wife and I think she just wanted to go, go, go as she watched her older brother and sisters run arou

5 Practical Ways to Climb out of Any Slump

By Ron Pereira - July 14th, 2009

Are you, or have you ever been, in a slump? Do you ever find yourself feeling unmotivated, uninspired, and just flat out crappy? Or maybe you feel a little overwhelmed as there is so much to do and you’re not sure where to start? Sou

Inexpensive (But Powerful) Visual Controls

By Ron Pereira - July 5th, 2009

I love simple visual controls. And I love them even more when they don’t cost a lot of money! Thus the smile that came across my face when watching the “Lean Leadership” interview we recently did with a cell leader from a Washing

Your Valuable “Lean Feedback” Is Requested

By Ron Pereira - June 29th, 2009

I am helping some fellow lean thinkers out with a short lean related survey. This survey appeals to me for a few reasons. First, it’s all about lean and second this survey is SHORT! You’ll be done in a few minutes. Th

How clean is clean enough?

By Ron Pereira - June 28th, 2009

Here’s a question for you. When practicing the 3rd step of 5S – often referred to as shine or sweep – how clean is clean enough? Should the area you’re working in shine as bright as the Texas sun? Should the floor be clean enou

45 Inches and Sizers

By Ron Pereira - June 18th, 2009

I recently got an email from American Airlines titled, “Important Reminders About Carry-On Baggage.” Normally I delete these kinds of emails but for some reason I decided to give this one a quick read. Click the image thumbnail to

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