Gemba Academy Blog

Blog Archive

United by Problems

By Jon Miller - October 5th, 2015

Nothing divides people like a solution. It seems the larger the problem, the larger the divide. I am reminded of this painfully with every mass shooting, as we had this past week at a community college in Oregon. We grieve as a natio

Ron’s Favorite Gemba Academy Podcast Episodes

By Ron Pereira - October 2nd, 2015

On April 30, 2014 we released the first two Gemba Academy podcasts. To be 100% transparent, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. When we started the download “numbers” weren’t huge but, as you can see in the graph, we’ve see

A Rational Plan is a Prediction

By Jon Miller - September 28th, 2015

One question that I hear a lot is, “Can you show me an example of success in my specific environment?” with lean, continuous improvement, agile and so forth. My most common answer is, “No.” Although I would lik

Mindset KPIs

By Jon Miller - September 23rd, 2015

By S.M. Junaid [Admin’s note: our friend Junaid has contributed articles on TPM, on wet blankets, the cost of poor quality, kaizen for energy-saving and team member motivation.] A Quote by Eiji Toyoda san: “Before Cars, M

Missing the Soil, or The Inadequacy of Our Lean Management Metaphors

By Jon Miller - September 21st, 2015

The purpose of lean is to build an organization that creates value for people – its customers, employees, shareholders and community members – on a sustainable and long-term basis. If we asked a farmer, “How do we g

Standard Work Saved a Company

By Steve Kane - September 18th, 2015

By Steve Kane I’ve been an aviation enthusiast most of my life. I started flying sailplanes a couple of years ago and recently transitioned to power planes. The first lesson in flying is an introduction to standard work—specifical

How to Gain Insight from Customers and Gemba

By Jon Miller - September 14th, 2015

Lean thinking places a focus on the customer and on the gemba. These are two great sources of information for innovation, increased revenues, and problem solving. The way to gain more insight from customers and from the gemba is to be

Discovering the Value of People

By Kevin Meyer - September 11th, 2015

By Kevin Meyer Big news in the business world: Wal-Mart is famous for keeping costs down, including employee-related costs. In Joplin, the company is testing a new approach: investing in workers through higher wages and training, on th

Why We Do Things This Way

By Jon Miller - September 7th, 2015

I have spent much of my career in pursuit of answers to the question, “Why do you do things this way?” When I am getting to know a client, either an individual leader for coaching purposes or an business for the purpose o

Derek’s Lean Story

By Ron Pereira - September 4th, 2015

It was a Monday morning around 7:30 AM. I walked into the training room and glanced around. I’d been in this training room many times before but something felt different… I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I carried on

The Pursuit of Imperfection

By Jon Miller - August 31st, 2015

One of the widely accepted guiding principles of lean thinking is to “pursue perfection”. This is rather broad and imprecise when compared to the other guidelines of identify value, map value streams, flow and pull. Pursue

The Cosmology of Meetings

By Jon Miller - August 24th, 2015

After a particularly interminable session of the Roman Senate, the emperor Marcus Aurelius is said to have observed, “He who does not know what the meeting is does not know where he is, and he who does not know for what purpose t

Aerofit Fittings - Courtesy of Aerofit.com

AeroFit’s Factory Improvement Team

By Steve Kane - August 21st, 2015

Chris Ferrier, Manufacturing Engineer with AeroFit, was challenged to increase production on a manufacturing line by one part per hour.  While this might sound easy, making it happen isn’t. AeroFit makes fluid fittings for aer

The 20 Words Most Often Spoken in a Lean Organization

By Jon Miller - August 19th, 2015

Customer Value Problem Why Standard Process See Cause Team How Experiment When Data Check Result Learn Better Sustainable Purpose Thanks

Knowledge of Work is Key to Better Knowledge Work

By Jon Miller - August 17th, 2015

One of the questions and concerns most often raised by people in position to lead continuous improvement efforts in their organizations is, “Where will I find the time?” It is rarely the case that this person has a full tim

gas price in California

Owning Numerical Ignorance

By Kevin Meyer - August 14th, 2015

Earlier this year I discussed the value created by writing by hand.  By writing on whiteboards or scribbling in a notebook, ownership, learning, and understanding is created. Similarly, truly understanding numbers creates ownership,

Fun With Measurement Systems Analysis – Part 2

By Ron Pereira - August 12th, 2015

Welcome back to the second, and final, part of this measurement systems analysis series.  If you didn’t read part 1 of this series please do before pressing on with this part.  We’ll wait on you! Measurement System Analy

Respect for Humanity… of Your Boss

By Jon Miller - August 10th, 2015

The notion of “respect for people” is widely recognized as an essential pillar of lean management. It stands out among lean principles by being the most important yet least clearly defined. As such, it is most often at the

Fun With Measurement Systems Analysis – Part 1

By Ron Pereira - August 7th, 2015

Over the years I’ve been fortunate to visit many different companies across the world.  During these visits, I’ve seen some amazing examples of continuous improvement in action. But, to be blunt, there is one aspect of con

Review of Management Lessons from Taiichi Ohno by Takehiko Harada

By Jon Miller - August 7th, 2015

I had previously read and enjoyed the Japanese version of this book by Toyota veteran Takehiko Harada. Therefore I was curious to see how its idiosyncrasies would be handled in the process of editing and presenting it to a Western aud

Toyota’s 8 Step Practical Problem Solving, Revisited

By Jon Miller - August 5th, 2015

  The practical problem solving steps… It is too early to talk about solutions. It is still too early to talk about solutions. It is still too early to talk about solutions. It is still too early to talk about solutions. Did som

There’s More to Nemawashi than Consensus

By Jon Miller - August 3rd, 2015

A local grocery store has been doing some major remodeling. This summer they redesigned their parking lot, including new landscaping. A number of young oak trees were planted in the soil beds dividing the parking area into sections. Th

There’s More to Nemawashi than Consensus

By Jon Miller - August 3rd, 2015

A local grocery store has been doing some major remodeling. This summer they redesigned their parking lot, including new landscaping. A number of young oak trees were planted in the soil beds dividing the parking area into sections. Th

Lean for Social Good

By Jessica Bush - July 31st, 2015

For most of us, the desire to improve and to be respectful of others is inherent. Many people practice some rudimentary form of lean without even realizing it. Those familiar with lean typically think first of manufacturing, and fo

Jidoka, Self-awareness and the Value of a Lean Coach

By Jon Miller - July 26th, 2015

How do you feel? It’s a simple question that isn’t always easy for some of us to answer without a reference standard. Not too long ago, I didn’t always recognize exactly how I felt. This has changed now, thanks to my tran

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