Gemba Academy

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

Lean Blogging – There’s an app for that!

By Ron Pereira - August 24th, 2010

If you are an iPhone user you’re going to want to download the 100% free Lean Daily app. It’s extremely cool as it consolidates the latest posts from your favorite lean blogs into one convenient app. Here is a summary of th

How to Design a Lean Operation at a One Day Takt

By Jon Miller - August 23rd, 2010

Steve C asked: I have just moved from a role where the takt was 55 seconds into a new role where the customer requirement is one part every day. Does anyone have experience running to this kind of timescale? This is a fairly common cha

What’s Next for Lean?

By Jon Miller - August 21st, 2010

Whether I am speaking about lean to an audience of one or one hundred if the conversation goes on long enough the question inevitably arises; what’s next for lean? I always manage an answer, typically tying it to the theme of the

Whom shall we serve?

By Ron Pereira - August 18th, 2010

Lot, a reader of LSS Academy, recently sent the following question in. “We are actually starting lean six sigma in our bank and I am in charge of the central processing unit of the HO. I am getting a bit confused as to who I shou

The Pros and Cons of Paced Conveyor Lines

By Jon Miller - August 16th, 2010

Steve asked in an e-mail: What are the productivity advantages, specifically in terms of operator efficiency, with respect to a moving, paced conveyor line and a non-moving, non-paced line? We’re looking at three scenarios: 1) No

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

Seven Success Secrets of Small Teams

By Jon Miller - August 12th, 2010

Photo credit: Anoopkn, Wikimedia Commons American football coaching legend Vince Lombardi said: Build for your team a sense of oneness, of dependence on another and of strength derived from unity. United we stand. Divided we fall. Or s

Management Improvement Carnival #106

By Jon Miller - August 10th, 2010

The Management Improvement Carnival is a roundup of recent articles of interest on that subject. John Hunter has invited me to host Carnival #106. Read all past episodes here at the Curious Cat blog. I’ve not been able to enjoy c

How to Motivate Front Line Workers

By Jon Miller - August 9th, 2010

We are often asked the million dollar question, “How do we motivate the front line workers?” This is a high value question because people are any organization’s greatest yet often worst utilized asset. Understanding h

Wrong on So Many Levels

By Jon Miller - August 6th, 2010

Even as Apple’s stock price rises thanks to their star products and skill at supply chain cost control, chief supplier Foxconn Installs Antijumping Nets at Hebei Plants. Anti-jumping nets? Having built safety nets along its emplo

5S or 6S… which should it be?

By Ron Pereira - August 4th, 2010

I was recently asked the following question by a continuous improvement practitioner: “Should we make safety the 6th S, thus calling it 6S instead of 5S?” I offered my two cents but rather than sharing my thoughts at this time I am

Quadrillions of Dollars in Savings?

By Jon Miller - August 2nd, 2010

Here’s a very encouraging article about using GE’s continuous improvement expertise, specifically the Energy Treasure Hunt, to reduce wasted resource, environmental impact and cost: GE and EDF Partner on “Treasure Hun

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

The Purpose of Lean

By Jon Miller - July 31st, 2010

I think the purpose of lean is to get better at choosing good over evil. Most of us understand that lean requires us to choose value over waste, good over bad, and better over good. But to what end? How do we judge what is value and wh

The Importance of the Storefront in Lean Manufacturing

By Jon Miller - July 25th, 2010

A little while ago P Cunningham asked: “What is a storefront and how can it help my lean manufacturing system be more flexible?” I haven’t found a reference to a “storefront” as such in any lean sources. S

What Motivates?

By Ron Pereira - July 23rd, 2010

If you are reading this via email or RSS, you may need to click through to the website to see the video.

How to Determine Cycle Time, Takt Time, Lead Time

By Ron Pereira - July 20th, 2010

Vaibhav, a reader of Gemba Academy’s blog, emailed us the following question. Can you please help me understand the definitions for the following terms? Cycle Time Manufacturing Lead Time TAKT Time Inventory Turns Your help to c

Multiple Grey spheres with one red sphere in the cluster representing an abnormality

5S Isn’t About Cleaning, Straightening, or Standardization

By Ron Pereira - July 19th, 2010

Quick question for you… what’s the true purpose of 5S (or 6S)? Go ahead and answer in your head or out loud. Now, if you’re close enough to some colleagues ask them the same question. Go on, I’ll wait. Great. Now that we have s

New Video Training for the 7 QC (Quality Control) Tools

By Jon Miller - July 17th, 2010

Some say “lean reduces waste, six sigma reduces variation” but this is a misconception. Both aim to reduce waste and both rely on a variety of common sense tools and sophisticated statistical methods to improve quality and

Kaizen Song: (SWIP Can’t Be) Zero

By Jon Miller - July 13th, 2010

Tony asked in a comment to an article about how to calculate standard work in process (standard WIP): Can I ask you a question: Standard WIP = One piece flow? No Tony, the two are not the same. The minimum necessary amount of stock to

Igor Stravinsky Agrees: Standards Enable Creativity

By Jon Miller - July 12th, 2010

There is a stereotype of the creative person who chafes at standards related to how their work is performed, to the point of eschewing any sort of process-driven continuous improvement approach. This creative person can be a designer,

Visualizing the Water Level

By Jon Miller - July 8th, 2010

One of the simplest and most powerful visual controls is the horizontal line. Placed strategically above a stack of inventory, across a graph plotting daily quality performance or even to indicate a safe height clearance for vehicles,

Andon Systems in a Land Where Red Means Go

By Jon Miller - July 2nd, 2010

My daily walk to the office is filled with quiet danger. Much of Shanghai is a scene of too many people too eager to get to wherever they think they must go on streets that are too narrow. I have been to Shanghai perhaps 10 times. Duri

Free 7 Quality Control Tools Overview Training Video

By Ron Pereira - July 1st, 2010

Quality control can take a lifetime of learning to master, but Gemba Academy is here to help you get started with our free 7 quality control tools overview training video. Contrary to what some think, lean-thinking companies are very c

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