TPS Benchmarking Archives | Page 2 of 15

Assessing “Respect for People” on a Gemba Walk

By Jon Miller - November 14th, 2010

In a comment posted to an article about 3 things to check during a gemba walk, lean thinker and author Bob Emiliani commented: For decades the focus of gemba walks has been on operations and evaluating continuous improvement activities

Three Things to Check During a Gemba Walk

By Jon Miller - November 5th, 2010

As the teaching and implementation lean becomes more of a business there are an increasing number of 72-point surveys and 40-criteria lean maturity assessments. These certainly have value since an end-to-end customer-focused business l

Bring on the Learning Revolution!

By Jon Miller - October 2nd, 2010

My friend Ted is always spreading good ideas. This 18 minute video titled “Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!” was delivered with skill and humor, bringing home some ideas that have interesting parallels wi

Stealing the 7 Secrets of Toyota’s Business Success

By Jon Miller - September 22nd, 2010

Taizo Ishida (1888-1979) took over the role of President of Toyota from the inventor and founder Kiichiro Toyoda in the midst of labor unrest, layoffs and the threat of bankruptcy. Ishida is considered the “restorer of ToyotaR

Bridging the Knowing-Doing Gap

By Jon Miller - September 16th, 2010

One common theme from the lean tours we led here in Japan this week was that all of the organizations we visited have successfully bridged what is called the knowing-doing gap. Popularized by Stanford University professor Robert Sutto

Are People Your Greatest Asset?

By Jon Miller - August 26th, 2010

Scott contributed a comment to a recent article on how to motivate front line workers: I never liked the expression that “people are your greatest asset”. People should never be looked upon as an asset. An asset is defined

Toyota Production System and the Three Dharma Seals

By Jon Miller - August 15th, 2010

According to the Buddha there are three characteristics of existence: Impermanence Dissatisfaction Non-self Becoming deeply aware of these “Three Dharma Seals” (三法印) is said to bring about wisdom and an end to the cyc

Toyota Turns the Clock Back a Decade to Improve Quality

By Jon Miller - July 9th, 2010

What do you get when you mix 1,000 engineers, four weeks of additional product development lead time and reduced reliance on outsourced engineering by 67%? In most product development departments this would get a decision maker

Toyota to Reduce Span of Control in Engineering

By Jon Miller - June 14th, 2010

The Nikkei reported on June 11, 2010 that Toyota is bringing back front line supervisors, adding a layer of management to staff positions that has been missing since 1989. This is an admission by Toyota, the world’s greatest lean

An Up Close Look at a Toyota Assembly Line

By Jon Miller - June 10th, 2010

There is a series of six videos on the Toyota Europe website titled “Your Toyota is My Toyota”. Team members from the Burnaston, UK factory explain their roles in building quality in to Toyota vehicles. Individuals from the

TPS Benchmarking

Start your Lean & Six Sigma training today.