Gemba Academy

Knee Jerk Statistics

By Ron Pereira - April 29th, 2013

The folks over at Minitab recently wrote an excellent article about how a Six Sigma practitioner leveraged binary logistic regression analysis in order to better understand why associates at a manufacturing plant were quitting. What th

Net Nonsense

By Kevin Meyer - April 25th, 2013

A few months ago I told you how, in my past life as president of a medical device company, I had two reliable leading indicators of a potential customer relationship. Basically if the customer demanded automatic annual price decrease

The Problem with A3 Reports

By Ron Pereira - April 22nd, 2013

The A3 report may be one of the most misunderstood lean thinking tools of our time. Why do I say this? Simple. It’s Just a Piece of Paper The A3 report, in and of itself, is nothing more than a piece of paper. But, for some reaso

How to Not Become Handcuffed by Lean & Six Sigma Tools

By Ron Pereira - April 15th, 2013

I’ve been coaching a Gemba Academy customer through the use of some specific tools. This individual works in a MRO environment meaning he deals with very high mix and low volume. This person is struggling to understand how to cre

Ambiguous Visual Controls: Stamping Out Taxi Sheep Abandonment

By Jon Miller - April 11th, 2013

It’s good to see the transportation authorities finally doing something about the problem of sheep abandonment in taxis. Hopefully this will put an end to the awkwardness of having to hand a lamb to the driver and explain that it

Lean Office Tip: Learn How to Dramatically Improve Document Creation Efficiency

By Ron Pereira - April 2nd, 2013

At Gemba Academy we’re constantly trying to practice what we teach by improving the way we do our daily work. Our Customer Service team, which is lead by Elaine Cressionnie, receives and sends hundreds of emails each week. Many of th

The Three Rules for Rules

By Jon Miller - March 8th, 2013

Many individuals view rules, standards, and policies as constricting, even at the mere mention of them. It is true that rules which are inadequately designed and implemented can be restrictive. Nevertheless, a complete absence of rules

Heard on the Gemba: We Are Great Problem Solvers, But…

By Jon Miller - February 26th, 2013

I recently heard from a Gemba conversation: “We are great problem solvers, but the same problems keep coming back.” Mastering Root Causes: Lessons from Toyota When the countermeasures are off target, the problems reo

Exterior of a Costco Wholesale warehouse

Lean Leadership Lessons from Costco Wholesale

By Jon Miller - February 15th, 2013

While shopping through the cavernous aisles of my local Costco, my mind started to think about the lean leadership lessons to be had. Costco Wholesale is the third largest retailer in the United States with 2012 sales of $87 billion an

Thomas Huxley Quotes on Managing by Fact

By Jon Miller - February 13th, 2013

Management by fact is a key guiding principle of kaizen and lean thinking. By gathering facts and evidence people are able to communicate realities, define problems, and convert them into opportunities to improve the situation. Many of

Kaizen, Japan and Achilles’ Heel in Reverse

By Jon Miller - February 11th, 2013

The article Kaizen – the Achilles heel of Japan on a blog titled “On the Surface – Logical thinking in an everyday world” (which I suspect may be a title attempting irony but at two posts it is too early to tell

Introducing the Gemba Academy School of Six Sigma

By Ron Pereira - January 30th, 2013

For the past 6 months I, along with my Gemba Academy colleagues, have been extremely busy developing what we now call the Gemba Academy School of Six Sigma. I’m obviously extremely biased… but I have to confess… I’m quite happy

Ambiguous Visual Controls: Labeling Confusion

By Jon Miller - January 19th, 2013

A label is a visual control that should clarify, not confuse. Here is an ambiguous visual control, its intentions good but lost in translation. Does metal stand in an airport even need a label? Perhaps. There is not much else that one

Review of The Laws of Subtraction by Matthew May

By Jon Miller - January 13th, 2013

First of all I would like to thank Matthew May for the opportunity to contribute a page to his book, and for the review copy of the book. With greater skill in subtraction, my days will be less full and future reviews will no doubt be

Lean Leader Arrives at the Top of China

By Jon Miller - January 9th, 2013

I took a clipping from the December 5th 2012 edition of the China Daily, the article titled pomp and ceremony must end. Xi Jinping, the new leader of China urged officials to “slash red tape, including unnecessary visits, meeting

Ambiguous Visual Controls: No Dogs Allowed

By Jon Miller - January 8th, 2013

This one hurt my head a little.

The Kaizen Way for Resolutions

By Jon Miller - January 1st, 2013

The New Year is a time for reflecting on the past annual cycle, the one to come, and for making resolutions. The question on my mind is “Why do plans go awry?” In truth my goals and resolutions from year to year do not diff

Plain-spoken Interview with Masaaki Imai

By Jon Miller - November 27th, 2012

If wisdom comes from time spent on the front lines where the action is, what does that make senior executives at large companies whose roles remove them from the front lines? Masaaki Imai minces no words on this and other topics in thi

Following the Muri Mura Strategy

By Jon Miller - November 26th, 2012

In the Seattle Times article Boeing Dreamliner on track, but rework may stretch to 2015, aerospace executives reported to Wall Street analysts the company’s historic scientific milestone of bending the fabric of time and space, a

Challenging “Challenge” within the Toyota Way

By Jon Miller - November 14th, 2012

At the heart of the Toyota Way are two pillars, Continuous Improvement and Respect for People. These are supported by five values, Challenge, Improvement, Genchi Genbutsu, Respect and Teamwork. The word “challenge” means ei

The First Emperor of China Followed the Toyota Way?

By Jon Miller - November 12th, 2012

A November 2nd article in Sci-News.com proposes Toyota’s Labor Model Used in China 2,200 Years Ago. China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang is known as not only a conqueror and stabilizer of warring kingdoms, but a great standa

Panta Rei

By Jon Miller - November 11th, 2012

“If we want things to stay as they are, they will have to change.” The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

How would you explain what Lean is to a 7-year-old?

By Ron Pereira - November 5th, 2012

Yesterday afternoon while driving home from a soccer game (and before I smashed into a Ford truck and obliterated the right side of my little Toyota… but that’s another story) my 7-year-old daughter (the swimmer and stud soccer pla

Retail Values for Lean Leadership

By Jon Miller - October 17th, 2012

Here is a photo of an excellent visual control and reminder to the staff of a local independent bookstore. It says Talk to everyone. Greet everyone who comes through the door. Be out on the floor. Get to know the books!! There are stro

The Best Kaizen is Still Better Kaizen

By Jon Miller - October 1st, 2012

It’s quite unexpected to be quoted, particularly when I have no recollection or record of it. Nevertheless, I stand by these words of mine, originally published in The Daily Kaizen blog by the experienced lean practitioners at Gr

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