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10 Books Every Continuous Improvement Practitioner Should Read in 2012

By Ron Pereira - January 12th, 2012

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year and that things are off to an awesome start for you and yours! To help kick off the new year I thought I’d share a list of the 10 books I recommend all Continuous Improvement Practitioner

All Bleeding Stops Eventually

By Ron Pereira - December 6th, 2011

Here’s a fact you may not have realized… all bleeding stops eventually. The key question, of course, is how long it takes to stop it. Do we quickly apply a band-aid and limit the damage to our body or do we sit around and wait unti

iSixSigma is Back!

By Ron Pereira - November 7th, 2011

Just got this message via email. This is GREAT news for the continuous improvement world. iSixSigma Founder Promises Rebirth of Lean Six Sigma Website Readers will again have access to the best Six Sigma, Lean and operational excel

The Last Step to 5 Whys Process – The “So What?” Test

By Ron Pereira - September 28th, 2011

The 5 Whys Process is an extremely powerful root cause analysis technique when applied properly. As we explained in our recent Gemba Glossary video focused on the 5 Why there are situations where asking why a few times will suffice whi

Gemba Glossary: The 5 Why

By Ron Pereira - September 20th, 2011

Here is the next video in our Gemba Glossary video series. This one focuses on the 5 Why. If you missed any of our earlier Gemba Glossary videos please follow the links below. Gemba Glossary: 5S Gemba Glossary: The 7 Wastes Gemba Gloss

Farewell iSixSigma

By Ron Pereira - July 25th, 2011

As some may have already heard iSixSigma is most likely closing its doors due to its parent company Schofield Media losing its bank financing. A few bloggers and companies selling Six Sigma related products have recently posted their t

This is the worst it’s ever been

By Ron Pereira - February 10th, 2011

I’m typically a glass is half full kind of guy. But I also believe the phrase “This is the worst it’s ever been…” just may be the mission statement successful people and organizations live by. You se

My Take on Lean and Six Sigma Certifications

By Ron Pereira - January 13th, 2011

A few days ago I posed the question about whether exam based lean six sigma certifications were legitimate or frauds. As usual, many of you came through with excellent thoughts and comments. Some of you supported the idea, others argu

Exam Based Six Sigma Certifications – Legit or Fraud?

By Ron Pereira - January 12th, 2011

The topic of Lean and Six Sigma Certification is one of the most debated topics in the continuous improvement world. And since I’m never one to shy away from some good old-fashioned debate… I’d like to present the fol

Join us for a Lean and Six Sigma Networking Party in the Seattle area!

By Ron Pereira - September 29th, 2010

Gemba Academy is sponsoring the next iSixSigma Live! Social and Networking Party in the Seattle/Bellevue area. If you live in this part of America please be sure to come out and say hi! Here are the details of the event. Join us for an

I Want to Be Like Benny

By Ron Pereira - September 27th, 2010

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” ~Mother Teresa As I mentioned last week, my Dad is now recovering in a superbly run stroke rehab hospital. This particular hospital has many wonderful attributes. It’s cle

Gettin’ Jiggy With It

By Ron Pereira - August 2nd, 2010

I’ve been doing a tremendous amount of classroom training the last few weeks. To be more precise, over the last 14 days I’ve taught more than 40 people everything from hypothesis testing to the different types of pull systems used

What do you think of this picture?

By Ron Pereira - April 15th, 2010

My family and I recently took a road trip. During a stop at a restaurant I came across this sign in the restroom (click picture to enlarge it). I’m curious to hear your thoughts on whether you think this is a weak or strong con

LSS Academy Now on LinkedIn

By Ron Pereira - April 12th, 2010

I’m happy to announce that LSS Academy is now on LinkedIn. We’ll obviously continue to roll strong here on the blog… but there seems to be something something special about LinkedIn when it comes to generating buzz ab

To Certify or Not…

By Ron Pereira - September 25th, 2009

Mark Graban wrote a relatively simple post a few days ago that has simply BLOWN up with comments. Mark, if I may be so bold, doesn’t really believe in certifications… especially if the words six sigma are involved! Me, well

The Seven Wastes & $10 Off Subscription to iSixSigma Magazine

By Ron Pereira - September 3rd, 2009

I recently wrote an article for the iSixSigma magazine focused on the 7 Deadly Wastes. And as it turns out the good folks over at iSixSigma have been nice enough to allow me to offer this article to LSS Academy readers in PDF form. So

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

Oh Snap! We Sent Bad Product to Our Customer: Fun with the Hypergeometric Distribution

By Ron Pereira - August 3rd, 2009

If you enjoy statistics this is the perfect article for you! But even if hearing the words hypergeometric distribution makes you want to yack all over the floor at least give this article a quick skim as it could prove useful for you s

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

The Critical Difference Between Defects and Defectives

By Ron Pereira - May 27th, 2009

Today I submit a quick, but extremely important post if you produce a product of any kind. There are two different ways your product can be “bad.” It’s defective First, said product can be defective. This is to say something is w

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

Gemba Academy: Improvement Learning, Improved

By Ron Pereira - February 14th, 2009

Let me start with three words: passionate, ecstatic and enthralled. Passionate is the perfect word to describe how I feel about continuous improvement. While ecstatic best describes my joy at being able to share some exciting news with

How to Create Meaningful Safety Graphs

By Ron Pereira - December 2nd, 2008

Creating meaningful charts and graphs for safety related issues can be hard, not to mention confusing. It doesn’t have to be. In this article I will share a technique that may help bring some clarity to the situation. The Wrong Appro

How to Conduct a Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), Part One

By Ron Pereira - November 9th, 2008

As promised a few posts ago, I’d like to explain exactly how to go about completing a measurement systems analysis (MSA). If the sound of this makes you want to yawn… well… stop it! It’s Monday and time to get focused (and some

How Do You Measure Success?

By Ron Pereira - November 5th, 2008

I recently received the following question from Petri, a reader of LSS Academy. The issue I wanted to contact you about was if LSSA has ever done work on measuring lean success? I am not sure if there are any tools which are used in th

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