Ron Pereira, Author at Gemba Academy | Page 19 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.

755 Articles

Don’t Forget about Marketing!

By Ron Pereira - October 14th, 2008

Guest Post by Jason Stokes As practitioners of lean, we’re all in favor of using this powerful methodology to ensure we efficiently manufacture to customer demand while increasing throughput at the lowest possible cost. However, ofte

The Deadly Sin of Perfectionism

By Ron Pereira - October 13th, 2008

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison When it comes to my work I probably land more towards the perfectionist side of the spectrum. Of course I’m far from perfect… b

Authentic Continuous Improvement

By Ron Pereira - October 8th, 2008

From time to time a blog article absolutely knocks me out of my chair. This morning was one of those occasions. One of the blogs I always, without fail, read is Evolving Excellence which is written by my friend Kevin Meyer. Today, Kevi

4 Easy Ways to Learn New Things

By Ron Pereira - October 7th, 2008

I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. ~Abraham Lincoln I’m severely addicted to learning new things. I haven’t always been like this. As a young boy school stressed me out. This probably ex

4 Hour Workweek versus Working Your Face Off

By Ron Pereira - October 5th, 2008

With all the news of our struggling economy (in America) and massive bail outs I couldn’t help but think of two people – Tim Ferris, author of The Four Hour Workweek and Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV fame. Four Hour Dream is B

Free Takt Time Video and Calculator

By Ron Pereira - September 28th, 2008

In this video, I demonstrate how to use this free Takt Time Calculator. Feel free to download the calculator and use it however you see fit. And if you’d like to learn more about what takt time is be sure to check out our Tra

Kaizen – American Airlines Style

By Ron Pereira - September 22nd, 2008

Since I live in the DFW area and travel a lot… I’ve gotten pretty familiar with American Airlines. I should eclipse the magical “Executive Platinum” status within the next month – something that makes me feel sort of sad if y

The Right Way to Calculate Optimal Crew Size

By Ron Pereira - September 17th, 2008

Here’s the situation… the cycle time to produce one unit in our widget making factory is 300 seconds and the takt time for this product is 50 seconds per piece. In other words, in order to satisfy customer demand we need to produce

Real Life SMED

By Ron Pereira - September 15th, 2008

One of the best ways I’ve found to explain various lean and six sigma topics to others is to use examples from real life. After all, not everyone makes cars or the mirrors that go on cars… so many of the examples we read about in t

Small "Thinker" statue

I am, therefore I think

By Ron Pereira - September 10th, 2008

I believe René Descartes may have gotten it backward when he said, in Latin, “Cogito, ergo sum.” When translated this famous saying means: “I think, therefore I am.” I contend he should have said, “I am, therefore I think.�

Are You Ready For Lean?

By Ron Pereira - September 8th, 2008

I just skimmed through a short white paper that attempted to provide a checklist to help an organization decide if they were ready for lean. It was written by a person who works for a “human capital management solutions” company. Y

Step Away From the Dashboard!

By Ron Pereira - September 2nd, 2008

Here’s a question for you. Is the mission control center of your organization centered on a set of dashboards or balanced scorecards? In other words, when a crisis is about to hit (or has already hit) how do you react? Do you run to

Womack’s Lean versus Ohno’s TPS

By Ron Pereira - September 1st, 2008

Harish, a reader of LSS Academy, recently sent the following question via email. Dear Mr. Pereira, I have been reading your insightful posts on TPS. I also came across your post on VSM. I have a quick question, of all the books I have

Rat Racing and Lean Thinking

By Ron Pereira - August 20th, 2008

The recent post about my credit card issues has created quite a conversation. One of the main themes being commented on is whether or not we, in America where we don’t have the chip like they do in the UK, should have to show an ID w

Walmart, You are Killing Me!

By Ron Pereira - August 18th, 2008

So check it out. A few months ago my wife noticed some suspicious charges on our Washington Mutual debit card at a Walmart in the Fort Worth area. After discussing it we realized someone had swiped our information and made two separate

Inspired by Phelps

By Ron Pereira - August 17th, 2008

Where were you when history was being made? I was pacing in front of my TV while holding my new born baby and screaming at the top of my lungs as Jason Lezak held off his Australian competitor in the 4x100m Medley Relay. Once it was fi

How to Fold a T-Shirt in Two Motions

By Ron Pereira - August 14th, 2008

I recently wrote a post about laundry kaizen… I now have the knowledge needed to take things to the next level. Check it out! Question for Jon Miller: Can you please help us translate a little Japanese? At least I think it’

Do you Use VSM Software?

By Ron Pereira - August 13th, 2008

There are at least two schools of thought related to the use of software when drawing value stream maps. Some lean purists claim the use of value stream mapping software is heretical while others have no problem with it. My Opinion My

Must Read Article about Top Toyota Engineer

By Ron Pereira - August 5th, 2008

If you don’t already read Jon Miller’s excellent blog you’ll want to pay a visit and read his most recent article “Toyota’s Top Engineer on How to Develop Thinking People.” The original article Jon r

Laundry Kaizen

By Ron Pereira - August 2nd, 2008

With my wife trying to focus on our newest family member I decided to do the laundry this past week. It’s been awhile since I’ve done the laundry and some things have definitely changed. Before Kaizen Before, what I’m calling

It’s a Girl!

By Ron Pereira - July 27th, 2008

“Children too are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward.” ~Psalm 127:3 Yesterday my family was blessed with the arrival of our 4th child, a baby girl. While the births of all my children have been amazing, this one

Alice in Chains and The Soft Zone

By Ron Pereira - July 22nd, 2008

A few weeks ago I was hanging out with some of my neighbors. The kids were playing, the wives were talking, and the men were drinking a few beers while playing the bean bag game. You know the one… where you try to toss bean bags onto

Should we Keep to the Middle?

By Ron Pereira - July 20th, 2008

Here’s a list of principles worthy of our attention as we start the week. Carefully observe oneself and one’s situation, carefully observe others, and carefully observe one’s environment. Seize the initiative in whatever you unde

Laying the Foundation: Part 2

By Ron Pereira - July 15th, 2008

Tonight we’ll wrap up our series on how to lay down a strong foundation such that your continuous improvement initiatives not only survive… but flourish. In part 1 of the series we talked about creating tension, ensuring our effort

Laying the Foundation: Part 1

By Ron Pereira - July 14th, 2008

Tonight, I’d like to share some tips for how we might all go about laying down a rock solid foundation in an effort to ensure our continuous improvement bear real fruit. The most obvious foundational tip I can offer is to respect peo

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