Lean Archives | Page 66 of 69

A New Lean Metric: ROI LT

By Ron Pereira - September 23rd, 2007

When teaching value stream mapping one of the hardest metrics for people to grasp is production lead time (PLT) which is also commonly referred to as throughput time. Here is a quick summary of how PLT works. Say there are 3 proces

Lean Sushi

By Ron Pereira - August 26th, 2007

I came across a fun story of how a sushi shop uses lean principles to its advantage. Kura Zushi, operated by Kura Corp., is the third-largest player in the industry. What sets it apart is its just-in-time production system, similar to

Cooking up a Profit

By Ron Pereira - August 8th, 2007

No, this post is not about corporate fraud or funny accounting. Instead it is about a neat story I just read in the Columbus Dispatch (Go Bucks, beat scUM). The article is about Kahiki Foods, one of the largest Asian-frozen-food manu

7 Ways to Reduce Cost

By Ron Pereira - August 7th, 2007

I finished the book Gemba Kaizen by Masaaki Imai. It was quite good and I highly recommend it. It is chalk full of excellent tips like 7 ways to reduce costs in gemba (as Mr. Imai phrases it). They are: Improve Quality: Imai

Transportation Muda

By Ron Pereira - August 4th, 2007

We spent the last few weeks in Canada visiting family. We had an awesome trip. As we were driving from Texas (yes driving with 3 kids more than 2400 miles) I had my eyes peeled for some good lean or six sigma topics. While driving

5 Why’s Survey

By Ron Pereira - July 28th, 2007

My fellow Keller, Texas lean blogging pal Mark, of Lean Blog fame, is running a survey. Following up on the LEI survey that was released and discussed here, I’ve been talking with a few folks offline about what the “root ca

Kaizen Rules – 9 & 10

By Ron Pereira - July 26th, 2007

This week has been about all things kaizen. I have to come clean and admit I wrote this entire series last weekend as I was preparing to take off on vacation with my family. Thanks to the greatness of WordPress I was able to delay the

Kaizen Rules – 7 & 8

By Ron Pereira - July 25th, 2007

Want to win $50? Read this entire article to find out how. We have officially rounded the corner on our kaizen rules series. If you are just joining us you can catch up by checking these posts out: Rules 1 & 2 Rules 3 & 4 Rules

Kaizen Rules – 5 & 6

By Ron Pereira - July 24th, 2007

Tonight we continue with our multi-part kaizen rules series. For a recap of previous kaizen rules please check out: Rules 1 & 2 Rules 3 & 4 Rule 5: Correct mistakes at once If you are walking through your office, factory, or ev

Kaizen Rules – 3 & 4

By Ron Pereira - July 23rd, 2007

Yesterday we discussed the first two rules of kaizen. Tonight we will discuss excuses and perfection. Rule 3: Stop making excuses. Start questioning current practices. When we encounter a defect or failure we should not make excuses

Kaizen Rules – 1 & 2

By Ron Pereira - July 22nd, 2007

This week my plan is to blog about all things kaizen. I personally believe kaizen is the key to long term success – both professionally and personally. Often times we associate the word kaizen with “kaizen events” which are short

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

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