Gemba Academy

Leader Standard Work – Part 1

By Ron Pereira - March 18th, 2011

Here is part 1 (of 7) of Gemba Academy’s Leader Standard Work course. If you’re reading this via email or RSS reader you’ll likely need to click through to the website in order to watch the video.

3 Ways to Help the People of Japan

By Ron Pereira - March 15th, 2011

If you haven’t already considered it… I’d encourage you to make a donation to help the people of Japan. There are many ways to help including the following 3 options. The Red Cross First, one of the easiest ways to he

Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Game

By Jon Miller - March 14th, 2011

A Harvard Business Review article titled The Gamer Disposition makes a case for the players of multi-player online games as good candidates within the dynamic and flexible modern organization. Specifically the authors John Seely Brown

Kaizen Song: So What

By Jon Miller - March 11th, 2011

Who knew there were lyrics to this Miles Davis jazz standard from his classic Kind of Blue album. Here is the kaizen song version of these lyrics from So What. Put on the CD, lay down an A3, and sing along… So What (to the tune o

10 Tips to Immediately Boost Productivity

By Ron Pereira - March 10th, 2011

Are you struggling to be productive today? We’ve all been there. Here are 10 tips that, if implemented, will give you an instant boost! And be sure to check out the related posts below this one for additional ideas. Work your

Insights from McKinsey Interview with Bombardier CEO Pierre Beaudoin

By Jon Miller - March 9th, 2011

An interview in this month’s McKinsey Quarterly with Bombardier CEO Pierre Beaudoin shares the lessons learned during the transformation across the past decade. Titled “Flying people, not planes” the article explains

Free Seminar: Using 3P to Support Healthcare Facility Design

By Ron Pereira - March 8th, 2011

Gemba Academy, in collaboration with the Kaizen Institute and Qualis Health, is proud to announce a free seminar focused on Using 3P to Support Healthcare Facility Design in Seattle, Washington on March 17, 2011. Please see the attache

Is Little Caesar’s Lean?

By Ron Pereira - March 7th, 2011

A few weeks ago we discussed whether the use of a dishwasher was lean or full of waste. Well, last night I needed to pick up some Little Caesar’s pizzas for my soccer team. I needed to order several pizzas and wondered how lo

Celebrating 2 Years of Gemba Academy

By Jon Miller - March 3rd, 2011

In March of 2009 Kevin Meyer, Ron Pereira and I launched Gemba Academy as a new way to help people learn about kaizen and lean. We had no idea what to expect when the site first went live. All of our forecasts were wrong. Initially we

Room Service Menus Gone Bad

By Jon Miller - February 24th, 2011

Telling the business traveler “you are in an inviable position” is bold but may not be the best way to sell freshly squeezed orange juice for 5 Euro per glass. The definition of “inviable” is “unable to su

Are Dishwashers Lean?

By Ron Pereira - February 21st, 2011

Doug, a reader of LSS Academy and Gemba Academy subscriber sent me the following question. I have some opinions but am very interested in what you all think of Doug’s question. Here is what Doug sent. Hi Ron, Does a dishwa

Where Excellence Fears to Tread

By Jon Miller - February 17th, 2011

In the latest e-letter from Lean Enterprise Institute CEO John Shook titled Toyota and Sudden Acceleration: Facts from the NASA Report, John draws a few deeper lessons about the Toyota Way and the Toyota Production System by reflecting

Stealing Monkeys

By Ron Pereira - February 16th, 2011

I love learning new things… as such yesterday was a very good day as I had the privilege to hear Mike Wroblewski deliver training on Leader Standard Work, TPM, and Time Observation. For those interested, all of this live training was

Lean Consulting, Packaging and the Slow Path to Success

By Jon Miller - February 13th, 2011

I eat out too often. This is the factor of the amount of work-related travel and the difficulty of preparing my own food in a time and materials-efficient manner while on the road. This is one of the reasons why too many lean consultan

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

Does Master Yoda Wisdom Contradict Lean Thinking?

By Ron Pereira - February 4th, 2011

In this famous Star Wars Dagobah swamp scene Master Yoda challenges Luke to raise his sunken starfighter with the power of his mind. I’ll Try Luke replies like many of us might when he says, “I’ll try.” Master Yoda then sco

The True Meaning of Zen

By Jon Miller - February 2nd, 2011

What is the true meaning of zen? At one level the answer is easy. It means meditation. The Japanese for zen is from the Chinese for chan which in turn comes from the Hindu dhyana, the form of yoga through meditation. Ok, so that is the

Practice Makes Champions

By Ron Pereira - January 31st, 2011

A few months ago I wrote about my soccer coaching experiences with my daughter’s U7 team. To conclude that article I mentioned we were about to start playing indoor soccer. Well, that indoor season ended Friday night… and I’m hap

The Importance of Metering the Smallest Losses

By Jon Miller - January 26th, 2011

There is an expression in Japanese, 　「ちりも積もれば山となる」　”Dust accumulates to form a mountain.” (chiri mo tsumoreba yama to naru). While this may not be geologically correct, it carries a deep truth

Why Don’t We See More QC Circles?

By Jon Miller - January 24th, 2011

In the early 1990s I recall my Japanese sensei were absolutely appalled at the dearth of industrial engineers and production engineers within the ranks of the major American manufacturers who hired them as kaizen consultants. The cycle

Applying Lean at a Food Bank

By Ron Pereira - January 24th, 2011

** Updated Jan 13, 2017 ** It seems the original video linked in this blog article has been removed. Not to worry, we found another great video for you to enjoy! ** Original Post Below ** Hat tip to my friend, and business partner, K

Intel Volunteers Apply Lean Principles to Food Bank

By Jon Miller - January 22nd, 2011

My friend Kevin Meyer of Superfactory shared a great example of lean principles being applied beyond manufacturing to help a non-profit organization become more productive in serving the needs of the community. Roadrunner Food Bank put

3rd Annual Management Blog Review 2 of 2: The Lean Thinker

By Jon Miller - January 20th, 2011

Mark Rosenthal has a lot to think about. For the past several decades he has seen companies struggle, fail and succeed at implementing lean thinking. He has played a role in the success at Boeing, Terex and Eastman-Kodak to name just a

We Need Less FAKE Lean, More FAIL Lean

By Jon Miller - January 18th, 2011

This week in Bob Emiliani’s e-newlsetter Lean Leadership News, he addresses two interesting questions: “Does an organization need to start with Fake Lean?” “Is that a key part of the learning process on the way

3rd Annual Management Blog Review 1 of 2: DailyKaizen