Kaizen Songs Archives | Gemba Academy

Kaizen Song: Writing Solid Problem Statements

By Jon Miller - September 17th, 2012

This kaizen song about 99 problems was inspired by an ingenious contest to mash-up Lean memes and American pop culture by author, blogger and consultant Mark Graban. Here is… Writing Solid Problem Statements (melody – ̶

Kaizen Song: So What

By Jon Miller - March 11th, 2011

Who knew there were lyrics to this Miles Davis jazz standard from his classic Kind of Blue album. Here is the kaizen song version of these lyrics from So What. Put on the CD, lay down an A3, and sing along… So What (to the tune o

Kaizen Song: (SWIP Can’t Be) Zero

By Jon Miller - July 13th, 2010

Tony asked in a comment to an article about how to calculate standard work in process (standard WIP): Can I ask you a question: Standard WIP = One piece flow? No Tony, the two are not the same. The minimum necessary amount of stock to

Kaizen Song: Change Agents

By Jon Miller - March 18th, 2010

This kaizen song is inspired by and dedicated to each of the men and women, young and old, with whom I have been fortunate to learn about what it takes to make change happen. Change Agents (to the music of Changes by David Bowie) I did

Kaizen Song: Hold On ‘Til You See (the Downstream Pull)

By Jon Miller - July 26th, 2009

Late last night after dropping a couple of friends off at the airport, “Hold On Loosely” by 38 Special came on the radio. It’s simple but lovely song that holds on loosely to a timeless truth. Those wild-eyed southern

Kaizen Song: Mr. Pareto

By Jon Miller - July 10th, 2008

This one was inspired by hearing Mr. Roboto on the radio shortly after helping a team make good use of Mr. Pareto’s chart and related 80-20 principle during a lean implementation planning session. What else rhymes with “kil

Kaizen Song: Kits

By Jon Miller - October 6th, 2007

It seems like many of the kaizen songs end up being about material flow and Lean logistics. At the risk of being campy, here is a lesson in Lean from musical royalty… Kits (To the melody of “Kiss” by Prince) U don’t have 2

Kaizen Song: It’s a Long Way to the Top (Teaching Takt, Flow, Pull)

By Jon Miller - September 5th, 2007

By Brad Schmidt Here’s a little back-to-school rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a Long Way to the Top (Teaching Takt, Flow, Pull) [To the tune of It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll) by A

Kaizen Song: We Demand Visual Controls

By Jon Miller - August 22nd, 2007

We Demand Visual Controls (to the music of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”) A fax was on my desk, it spoke of promises “My order isn’t there, hey when was it sent?” Which came as some surprise, logged in and

Kaizen Song: Downstream Pull

By Jon Miller - July 19th, 2007

This kaizen song is dedicated to all of you materials managers and planners out there working to establish pull systems… Downstream Pull (to the melody of “Downtown Train” by Tom Waits) Line side another yellow andon

Kaizen Songs

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