Lean Archives | Page 65 of 68

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

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

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

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

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

I Just Made 700 Peanut Butter Sandwiches

By Ron Pereira - June 28th, 2007

What’s the most peanut butter and honey sandwiches you’ve ever made before? I just got done making over 700 in 45 minutes. Yep, that’s right 700 in 45 minutes. Besides how… you may wonder why someone would

3rd Annual Lean, Six Sigma, & Process Improvement Summit

By Ron Pereira - June 28th, 2007

I am happy to announce the latest sponsor of LSS Academy, IQPC. Become a world-class organisation with integrated Lean, Six Sigma & Process Improvement strategies. Embed a process excellence culture in all your business functions a

When is the best time for kaizen?

By Ron Pereira - June 25th, 2007

When is the best time for kaizen? Anytime? Perhaps. However, in Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management we read that the best times to do kaizen are when things are going great. There is an expression “poverty dulls your

Lean Accounting Webcast Archive

By Ron Pereira - June 25th, 2007

If you missed the Lean Accounting webcast last week here is a link to the archive. What you need to know about lean accounting (Hint: It’s not just for accountants). This archive will be available for one year from this link.

How to preach the gospel

By Ron Pereira - June 24th, 2007

One of my passions in life is studying and learning more about my Catholic faith. I especially enjoy reading the early church fathers. And of these earliest Christians, St. Francis of Assisi may be my favorite. St. Francis, when in

Stop “Deploying” and Make Something Better

By Ron Pereira - June 20th, 2007

A reader of the Lean Blog left this comment to the excellent post Psychology and Lean. Unsolicited advice…. but maybe instead of pushing lean (and maybe you aren’t)… figure out what the main problems and pain points

Lean Dentist

By Ron Pereira - June 18th, 2007

I believe the guys over at the Lean Blog may have previously discussed this story… but in case you missed it I wanted to share it. There is a dentist that believes in lean thinking and is becoming recognized for it. Here is

Boring wins Championships

By Ron Pereira - June 17th, 2007

Me and the fam took our annual trip to San Antonio this weekend… my kids love Shamu so we ventured back to Sea World. Like any good blogger, I had my eyes and ears open for some good material to share with you all. I saw this m

Computer Kaizen

By Ron Pereira - June 13th, 2007

I have a question for you. If I asked you to locate a random file I knew you had on your computer how long would it take you to find it? Less than 30 seconds? What about the performance of your computer? Is the Internet moving

Help Decision Making with a Cause & Effect (C&E) Matrix

By Ron Pereira - June 12th, 2007

Last night we discussed how we can use a Cause and Effect (C&E) Matrix to narrow down a long list of inputs into a more manageable one. I also provided a free MS Excel C&E Matrix Template for those interested. Tonight I wan

Why Heijunka – Part 2

By Ron Pereira - June 7th, 2007

Last night we discussed why we would use heijunka in a manufacturing environment in response to a readers question. Tonight I want to focus in on why we would want to use heijunka, or leveling, in an office environment. This could

Why Heijunka – Part 1

By Ron Pereira - June 6th, 2007

B.D. asked, “You’re talking about HOW to do heijunka, but I’m not seeing WHY.” Great comment B.D. I will attempt to answer the why here this evening. Let’s dig into the manufacturing side of things in this articl

Heijunka in the Front Office

By Ron Pereira - June 5th, 2007

In the house of Toyota heijunka belongs in the foundation. Sadly many people dismiss this critical lean concept explaining how it isn’t relevant for their business. Heijunka which is properly pronounced (hey-june-kah) and n

Is Laying People off Really Anti-Lean?

By Ron Pereira - June 2nd, 2007

Update: June 3 @ 7:33 PM CST Over the weekend, this post has had some good action (via comments and emails I have received). I am modifying the original post ever so slightly to make the “assumptions” a bit more clear.

6 Ways to Use Lean & Six Sigma at Home

By Ron Pereira - June 1st, 2007

Here are some ways to use Lean and Six Sigma methods away from the office. Sort clothes according to color and place them into different bins eliminating the need to sort. When the bin is full wash those clothes. Don’t wait

More IBM Nonsense

By Ron Pereira - June 1st, 2007

Here is a doozy related to more IBM “Lean” blabber. I am pretty sure the only quote I need to share is this. “Lean is a collection of Six Sigma business processes used by a number of leading companies to improve

All the Surveys are Beginning to Whip Me

By Ron Pereira - June 1st, 2007

OK, I need to pick on some Lean friends of mine. Well actually they may not even know I exist… but I digress. Anyhow, I was reading an article over at Industry Week (IW), Just-In-Time Remains Justifiable. It’s a good article an

5S Simulation

By Ron Pereira - May 29th, 2007

I received my prize for my hard fought victory in the recent Gemba blog 5S competition. The prize was a 5S simulation game. My 4 year old daughter has been after me to let her have a shot at it. Yesterday was her lucky day! I do

Tsurube System

By Ron Pereira - May 29th, 2007

After reading some Lean textbooks and possibly attending a conference or two many “Lean Dreams” are crushed when the practitioner is told, “Friend, there ain’t no way we are converting that $4 million paint line into some fancy

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