Kaizen Archives - Gemba Academy

A Simple Plan for Starting Your Lean Journey

By Steve Kane - September 23rd, 2022

There are many ways to lead a continuous improvement journey in an organization. A frequent question we get at Gemba Academy is, “Where do I start?” One strategy is to simply start eliminating paint points in processes.

Root Cause to Solution Identification Simplified

By John Knotts - August 19th, 2022

The one thing that differentiates process improvement projects from regular projects and project management is the methodical way a process improvement practitioner arrives at the root cause and then devises solutions or countermeasure

GA 436 | Work Design and Intrinsic Motivation with Thomas Bertels

By Jessica Bush - August 11th, 2022

This week’s guest is Thomas Bertels. Ron and Thomas discussed how Thomas got into work design, how it relates to lean, and why intrinsic motivation is so critical. An MP3 audio version of this episode is available for download he

Three Most Important Metrics in a Continuous Improvement Culture

By John Knotts - June 17th, 2022

How many things do you measure in order to tell you how you are doing in business? I have seen organizations that measure everything and anything. Many times, what is being measured is not something the business can do anything abo

Speed Will Come

By Steve Kane - May 27th, 2022

The US Navy SEALs are credited by many with coining the expression “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” The idea here comes from training people to perform technical tasks correctly in an environment where there is no room

GA 424 | When Things Go Wrong: The Spirit of Kaizen with Adam Lawrence

By Jessica Bush - May 19th, 2022

This week’s guest is Adam Lawrence. Adam told Ron about his trip to French Guiana to see a NASA rocket launch, and everything that went wrong. Adam also explained how he believes having a lean background helped him. An MP3 audio

GA 421 | What Employees Want with Dan Johnston

By Jessica Bush - April 28th, 2022

This week’s guest is Dan Johnston. Dan explained how his company WorkStep approaches hiring and retaining employees and what employees truly want, with clear parallels to lean, PDCA, and Respect for People. An MP3 audio version

The Hierarchy of Action

By Steve Kane - April 22nd, 2022

Ryan McCall is a continuous improvement engineer at FECON. He and I have been collaborating on continuous improvement and leadership over the past couple of years. We’ve explored the works of Mike Rother, Simon Sinek, Jocko Willi

GA 407 | Choosing an Approach to Lean and Six Sigma with John Knotts

By Jessica Bush - January 20th, 2022

This week’s guest is John Knotts, Senior Coach at Gemba Academy. Ron and John took a deep dive into process improvement versus project-based approaches, and why the two can and should coexist. An MP3 audio version of this episode

GA 398 | Lean Storytelling Part Two with Adam Lawrence

By Jessica Bush - November 18th, 2021

This week’s guest is Adam Lawrence. Adam is back this week to tell a few more inspiring lean stories we didn’t get to last time. Be sure to check out Episode 393 for Part One! An MP3 audio version of this episode is availab

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