Lean Archives | Page 59 of 68

Free 7 Deadly Wastes Overview Video (Spanish Subtitles)

By Ron Pereira - August 11th, 2009

We’ve been unbelievably busy over at Gemba Academy the last few months. We continue to develop new content (we’re now up to 44 videos, 28 interactive quizzes, 28 PDF summary documents, and much more) and most recently our t

If Lean Is So Great, Why Is Toyota Struggling?

By Ron Pereira - August 9th, 2009

Balaji, a reader of LSS Academy, recently sent me the following question/comment via email: Toyota, GM, and Ford are experts in state of the art assembly technology and in implementing Lean and Six Sigma process improvement methods and

Management Improvement Carnival #72

By Jon Miller - August 8th, 2009

John Hunter over at Curious Cat Management Improvement blog has asked me to guest host an episode of the Management Improvement Carnival. Kudos to John for having done 71 of these over the past several years. Here are my choice of arti

Do You Read Much Russian?

By Ron Pereira - August 4th, 2009

The LSS Academy Guide to Lean has been translated to Hungarian and most recently to Russian. If you’d like to download the Russian version please visit this site (free registration required). If you’d like to download the H

Queuing Kaizen at Southwest Airlines

By Jon Miller - July 29th, 2009

I can count the times I’ve flow on Southwest airlines, which is to say not often. Their no-frills approach and unique profitability as an airlines has earned them praise and the designation as “lean” by some. My impre

Lean Hackathons – Are You Using Them?

By Ron Pereira - July 27th, 2009

Are you on Facebook? I am but that’s not the point of this article. No, the point of this article is that I just watched a short video about how the Facebook development team uses what they refer to as “Hackathons” to quickly bri

Inexpensive (But Powerful) Visual Controls

By Ron Pereira - July 5th, 2009

I love simple visual controls. And I love them even more when they don’t cost a lot of money! Thus the smile that came across my face when watching the “Lean Leadership” interview we recently did with a cell leader from a Washing

Your Valuable “Lean Feedback” Is Requested

By Ron Pereira - June 29th, 2009

I am helping some fellow lean thinkers out with a short lean related survey. This survey appeals to me for a few reasons. First, it’s all about lean and second this survey is SHORT! You’ll be done in a few minutes. Th

How clean is clean enough?

By Ron Pereira - June 28th, 2009

Here’s a question for you. When practicing the 3rd step of 5S – often referred to as shine or sweep – how clean is clean enough? Should the area you’re working in shine as bright as the Texas sun? Should the floor be clean enou

45 Inches and Sizers

By Ron Pereira - June 18th, 2009

I recently got an email from American Airlines titled, “Important Reminders About Carry-On Baggage.” Normally I delete these kinds of emails but for some reason I decided to give this one a quick read. Click the image thumbnail to

Is Economic Lot Size Dead?

By Ron Pereira - June 16th, 2009

On page 19 of Shigeo Shingo’s masterpiece A Revolution in Manufacturing: The SMED System he writes an extremely strong statement: “In fact, there is an important blind spot in the concept of economic lot size: the assumptio

Parenting and Lean Six Sigma

By Ron Pereira - June 15th, 2009

I am the father of 4 wonderfully perfect children. I love them more than words can describe and couldn’t imagine my life without them. And, recently, I’ve been thinking about how much having children helps me to sharpen my lean and

Free Gemba Academy Video: The 7 Deadly Wastes

By Jon Miller - June 11th, 2009

It has now been three months since we launched Gemba Academy – the online learning center for continuous improvement. Each month we add new videos, quizzes, self-study materials and forum discussions. The School of Lean is curren

Old-School Vertical Hierarchies

By Ron Pereira - May 31st, 2009

By: Michael Lombard As the saying goes, I wasn’t born in Texas, but I ran here as fast as I could. When I arrived, I found that the Lone Star State produces some fine beer, specifically, Shiner beer… While I could go on all

Knowledge and Thinking

By Ron Pereira - May 25th, 2009

“Knowledge is what keeps the momentum going between dreams and reality.” -Author Unknown I am a firm believer that the “thinking” that occurs while practicing lean manufacturing and six sigma is extremely important. I was remin

Leadership & Standard Work

By Ron Pereira - May 11th, 2009

By Jeff Hajek A while back, Ron asked a question about how standard work is applied to leadership. Think of it like this. You wouldn’t create standard work for ‘manufacturing.’ You’d create it for the assembly of the WidgetMax3

Line Balancing at McDonald’s

By Ron Pereira - May 5th, 2009

I was recently going through the drive through at McDonald’s and saw something very peculiar. The line was quite long but I decided to stick it out. As I sat waiting to get to the board where you speak your order I noticed a Mc

Visual Controls at DFW Airport

By Ron Pereira - May 4th, 2009

Allow me to set the scene. It’s been a long week on the road… your flight home was delayed 2 hours and you miss your significant other and children more than words can explain. Finally, after what feels like an eternity y

Simplicity

By Ron Pereira - April 28th, 2009

“Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimal means.” – Dr. Koichi Kawana If I was only able to use one word to describe what lean and authentic continuous improvement meant to me I’d choose, without hesi

Crowdsourced Leadership Standard Work

By Ron Pereira - April 19th, 2009

A few weeks ago I posted an article where I asked for your thoughts on what “leadership standard work” meant to you. As is typical, you all blew me away with your comments. Steve Armitage, a reader of Gemba Academy’

The Continuous Improvement Companion

By Ron Pereira - April 15th, 2009

I recently came across an excellent, and free, resource anyone interested in lean or six sigma will definitely want to check out. The resource is called The Continuous Improvement Companion. It was written by Jeff Hajek, author of the

Free 5S Overview Module

By Ron Pereira - April 5th, 2009

Here is a free 5S Overview module. It’s actually the first module of our 5S Workplace Productivity course that is part of the Gemba Academy School of Lean. For more free online modules like this, including free quizzes and PDF do

The Ultimate “Sustain” Audit

By Ron Pereira - March 24th, 2009

So I have 5S on my mind since I’m wrapping up a 5S course for the Gemba Academy School of Lean. Anyhow, while finishing the “sustain” module I thought about one of the easiest ways to determine how far your organizati

Do We Even Need the 4th and 5th S?

By Ron Pereira - March 20th, 2009

Jon Miller – my friend, mentor, and now business partner – has asked his readers some extremely interesting questions regarding whether the 4th and 5th S, in 5S are even needed. Your feedback will be used by us as we finish

Sandwich Making Muda

By Ron Pereira - March 19th, 2009

I absolutely love to watch people. And I don’t mean watch in a creepy kind of way… I mean I love to watch people work and do their jobs. Well, today I was getting some lunch at a restaurant I often go to and I noticed they had impl

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