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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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751 Articles

The Secret to Your Success in 2018

By Ron Pereira - January 5th, 2018

Did you make a New Year’s resolution?  Come clean.  Did you?  If so, I’m sad to say, you’re probably going to fail.  In fact, University of Scranton research suggests that just 9% of people achieve their New Year&

Top 10 Gemba Academy Blog Articles in 2017

By Ron Pereira - December 1st, 2017

As another year winds down it’s always fun to reflect back on the year that was.  So, in this article, I want to look back on the top Gemba Academy blog articles from 2017.  Perhaps we’ll look at the top podcasts in anoth

Do This and Lean Success Is Far More Likely

By Ron Pereira - November 3rd, 2017

Getting started with continuous improvement is hard.  But, I think it’s safe to say that sustaining continuous improvement over the long run is even harder. At Gemba Academy we mentor and coach hundreds of lean and six sigma pra

The Dangers of Benchmarking Lean Exemplars

By Ron Pereira - October 6th, 2017

A common practice for folks getting started with lean is to benchmark lean exemplars in order to see what “good” looks like.  In fact, there are benchmarking tours to Japan where you can visit companies like Toyota.  I ac

The SELF Journal

By Ron Pereira - August 4th, 2017

I, along with several of my Gemba Academy colleagues, have started to experiment with something called the SELF Journal. Upon first glance the SELF Journal looks like your normal day planner.  And it does a great job of helping you pl

Drive Out Fear

By Ron Pereira - July 7th, 2017

Drive out fear.  Dr. Deming told us this many years ago when he published his famous 14 Principles. Most of us have heard these words. Most of us probably think we understand these words. And, I bet, most “actively practicing

Get the Facts

By Ron Pereira - June 2nd, 2017

Without sounding overly dramatic I’m fairly certain my content development team and I are working on the most important Gemba Academy course we’ve ever produced. This new course will be focused on the Job Relations (JR) as

Will Gemba Academy Put You Out of a Job?

By Ron Pereira - May 5th, 2017

Over the years we’ve been fortunate enough to talk to a lot of people about how Gemba Academy could add value to their organization’s lean and/or six sigma journey.  Many times these conversations start as sales calls. Fol

When Opportunity & Job Instruction Meet

By Ron Pereira - April 7th, 2017

We’re just finishing up another awesome week of TWI Training here in the lovely state of Virginia. Specifically, we’re completing live Job Relations (JR) and Job Methods (JM) training with a room full of Gemba Academy students.

Our Job Instruction Course is Available!

By Ron Pereira - March 10th, 2017

We’re really excited to announce that our Job Instruction (JI) course was soft launched this week.  I say “soft launch” because we’re still adding the course to our Learning System platform, but our Learning Li

TWI Job Instruction Course – Behind the Scenes

By Ron Pereira - February 3rd, 2017

We’re breaking new ground at Gemba Academy this week as we run our first “live” training class.  Specifically, 10 students (9 after the flu took one out of commission on Tuesday) have come together here in the DFW ar

The Obstacle is the Way

By Ron Pereira - January 6th, 2017

Our actions may be impeded, but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advanc

Two Productivity Hacks Worth Trying Today

By Ron Pereira - November 4th, 2016

Producing a weekly podcast takes a lot of work.  We have to find guests, figure out what we’ll talk about, schedule the interview, do the interview, edit the episode, write up the show notes for the episode before, finally, rele

If Not You, Who?

By Ron Pereira - October 7th, 2016

I was fortunate enough to speak at a FedEx leadership team meeting yesterday which was a ton of fun! Before I spoke I was able to hear a few presentations including an awesome talk by our great friend and fellow lean thinker, Jamie Pa

Lean Thinker Challenge #9

By Ron Pereira - September 2nd, 2016

Welcome to another edition of the Lean Thinker Challenge! It’s been awhile since we’ve done one of these and I’m excited to hear what you think! The Situation You’ve worked at the same company for 4 years as a Lean Specialist.

My Ideal Day

By Ron Pereira - August 5th, 2016

It was around 11:30 PM on a Thursday night a little more than 7 years ago. I was sitting at my home office desk working late into the night. What was I working on? Two words – Gemba Academy. You see, when we first started Gemba A

How to Become a More Passionate Leader & Person

By Ron Pereira - June 3rd, 2016

Do you want to be part of an incredible culture at work? What about your personal life?  Well, in this article I’d like to explore a characteristic I believe to be extremely important for any person, or organization, seeking excelle

2 Apps That Have Changed My Life for the Better

By Ron Pereira - May 6th, 2016

I’ve recently started to use two different iPhone apps that have made a dramatic impact on my life. And, don’t worry, if you’re an Android user you’re also in luck since there are apps available for you too. Sleep Cycle Alarm C

Looking Back on All My Children Have Taught Me

By Ron Pereira - March 11th, 2016

I’ve been blogging since 2007 and have written hundreds of articles.  And while I definitely have some favorite lean thinking articles like the value stream mapping series I wrote back in 2008… the articles I cherish the m

Learn How to Present Like Steve Jobs & Simon Sinek

By Ron Pereira - February 12th, 2016

Over the last few years I’ve started to do more and more keynote presentations in front of live audiences. And, while I love doing these live talks it’s much different than shooting a video in our studio or on the road during a

How Applesauce Saves a Hospital $30,000 per Year

By Ron Pereira - January 8th, 2016

2016 definitely started with a bang for the Gemba Academy video production team! We just recorded another Gemba Academy Live! episode at Franciscan Health in Indianapolis.  It was the first time we’ve visited a hospital and let

6 Steps to Leading (and Improving) Yourself

By Ron Pereira - December 4th, 2015

By Ron Pereira “You must manage yourself before you can lead someone else.” – Zig Ziglar We concluded our Culture of Kaizen course with a module on the importance of taking care of yourself since you’re not going to be effectiv

How to Problem Solve with a Virtual Team

By Ron Pereira - November 6th, 2015

By Ron Pereira Brainstorming, done correctly, can be extremely powerful. In a traditional brainstorming session a group of people normally come together with a bunch of Post-It notes and/or a white board. Folks often log their ideas on

Ron’s Favorite Gemba Academy Podcast Episodes

By Ron Pereira - October 2nd, 2015

On April 30, 2014 we released the first two Gemba Academy podcasts. To be 100% transparent, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. When we started the download “numbers” weren’t huge but, as you can see in the graph, we’ve see

Derek’s Lean Story

By Ron Pereira - September 4th, 2015

It was a Monday morning around 7:30 AM. I walked into the training room and glanced around. I’d been in this training room many times before but something felt different… I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I carried on

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