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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.

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758 Articles

5 Why’s Survey

By Ron Pereira - July 28th, 2007

My fellow Keller, Texas lean blogging pal Mark, of Lean Blog fame, is running a survey. Following up on the LEI survey that was released and discussed here, I’ve been talking with a few folks offline about what the “root ca

Kaizen Rules – 9 & 10

By Ron Pereira - July 26th, 2007

This week has been about all things kaizen. I have to come clean and admit I wrote this entire series last weekend as I was preparing to take off on vacation with my family. Thanks to the greatness of WordPress I was able to delay the

Kaizen Rules – 7 & 8

By Ron Pereira - July 25th, 2007

Want to win $50? Read this entire article to find out how. We have officially rounded the corner on our kaizen rules series. If you are just joining us you can catch up by checking these posts out: Rules 1 & 2 Rules 3 & 4 Rules

Kaizen Rules – 5 & 6

By Ron Pereira - July 24th, 2007

Tonight we continue with our multi-part kaizen rules series. For a recap of previous kaizen rules please check out: Rules 1 & 2 Rules 3 & 4 Rule 5: Correct mistakes at once If you are walking through your office, factory, or ev

Kaizen Rules – 3 & 4

By Ron Pereira - July 23rd, 2007

Yesterday we discussed the first two rules of kaizen. Tonight we will discuss excuses and perfection. Rule 3: Stop making excuses. Start questioning current practices. When we encounter a defect or failure we should not make excuses

Kaizen Rules – 1 & 2

By Ron Pereira - July 22nd, 2007

This week my plan is to blog about all things kaizen. I personally believe kaizen is the key to long term success – both professionally and personally. Often times we associate the word kaizen with “kaizen events” which are short

True Essence of Continuous Improvement

By Ron Pereira - July 22nd, 2007

If you have not visited the shmula blog today please do.  Pete’s article on Hansei – What is Really Important? inspired me. I hope it does you as well.

The problem with that is…

By Ron Pereira - July 19th, 2007

For some reason some folks seem dead against making things better.  One of the easiest ways I can tell if I am dealing with a concrete head is by simply listening to the words they use. For example, whenever I hear someone say (after

Final Thoughts of The 4-Hour Workweek

By Ron Pereira - July 18th, 2007

I finally finished “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferris.  This book was quite the emotional journey. Before I even read it I was both skeptical and encouraged at the same time.  I then came across an interesting concep

Explaining the Central Limit Theorem

By Ron Pereira - July 16th, 2007

If you hate statistics this post is for you. Why? Because it’s my intention to have you understand AND be in position to teach others one of the more complicated and misunderstood statistical concepts of our time – the central

Cummins Chief Snags Award

By Ron Pereira - July 15th, 2007

Tim Solso, CEO of Cummins, has won the WCBF Six Sigma CEO of the Year award. “Six Sigma is one of the best things we have ever done. Last year we saved $340 million and completed 2,200 projects. Since the inception of the program in

Just Throw it Away

By Ron Pereira - July 15th, 2007

Originally published on July 15, 2007 I sometimes feel like a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to teaching people about 5S. For those not familiar with it, 5S is a philosophy and a way of organizing and managing our workspace, wherever

My Latest Invention Idea

By Ron Pereira - July 13th, 2007

I often come up with some great invention ideas only to find out someone already thought of it. Well, this morning when I was filling my car up with gas I thought of one I am almost sure no one has thought of. Introducing Vacuum while

5 Tips to Success

By Ron Pereira - July 12th, 2007

There are a plethora of books on leadership and how to succeed in life.  However, in my opinion there is a very simple formula that, if followed, will enable you to succeed at whatever it is you are called to do. Here is my list (no b

Say it ain’t so! Toyota lay people off?

By Ron Pereira - July 11th, 2007

My friend Mark over at the Lean Blog posted a respect for people question from a question he saw on the Lean Insider blog. For those new to this blog, respect for people is an extremely important aspect of lean.  In fact many would

Manufacturing Lost 18,000 Jobs In June

By Ron Pereira - July 10th, 2007

If you are American and want a feel good story this ain’t the one… so please come back tomorrow and I will try to do better.  Anyhow, I saw this article the other day and didn’t have time to comment on it until tonig

8 Tips to Better Meetings

By Ron Pereira - July 9th, 2007

Most of us have sat in a meeting or two that, well, was a complete waste of time. Often times the facilitator is to blame for these mind numbing experiences. That is the bad news. The good news is it doesn’t have to be like this. Ton

Lean Problem Solving

By Ron Pereira - July 8th, 2007

I was over on iSixSigma and saw this question from Chris on their forum. I have a process that involves 3 seperate work cells. The first cell has an avg. cycle time of 2 hours and so does the third cell. My problem is that the second

Becoming Annoyed with the 4-Hour Workweek

By Ron Pereira - July 7th, 2007

As regular readers of this blog know I am reading the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.  I am still not done with it but wanted to officially declare this book is beginning to annoy me. The New Rich Early in the book Ferriss introduces

David (Toyota) vs. Goliath (Big 3)

By Ron Pereira - July 5th, 2007

Guy Kawasaki had an interesting post today in reference to the types of stories people like to talk about.  There were nine types discussed… but one immediately caught my eye. David vs. Goliath. In the story of David and Goliath, th

3 Easy Steps to Becoming More Effective

By Ron Pereira - July 2nd, 2007

No matter what you do for a living or vocation, you will be in a position to double, possibly triple, your effectiveness after reading this post.  I am so confident you will be successful if you follow my advice I offer a complete, mo

Parkinson’s Law

By Ron Pereira - July 1st, 2007

I am on page 75 of “The 4-Hour Workweek.”  The jury is still out on whether this book is total bull pucky or border line genius.  Here is an excerpt explaining an interesting time management concept. Parkinson’s Law

My Top 5 Blogging Mistakes

By Ron Pereira - July 1st, 2007

I have been blogging for around 6 months now.  It’s safe to say I am hooked.  With this said, after some hansei, I have formulated the top 5 blogging mistakes I have made thus far.  If you are thinking of blogging, or are ve

Cabinet Maker Applies Lean

By Ron Pereira - June 30th, 2007

Interesting story about an outdoor cabinet maker (for telecom) applying lean.  There were a few comments I don’t completely agree with but overall seems like a pretty solid company. Purcell Systems Inc., a maker of outdoor ca

Is the Drive-Thru Really Faster?

By Ron Pereira - June 29th, 2007

OK, I ate way too much fast food this week as I went to both Wendy’s and McDonald’s for lunch.  Both times I went around noon.  I was also in a rush on both occasions. Both times I pulled up and noticed that the drive-th

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