Gemba Academy Blog

The Lean System is Making the Most of What You've Got

By Jon Miller - May 2nd, 2009

If I had a dollar bill for every time someone said to me “This is not Japan” or “We don’t build automobiles” or “We don’t make the same thing over and over again like Toyota” then I would

Taiichi Ohno Quote of the Day: My First Move

By Jon Miller - April 29th, 2009

My first move as the manager of the machine shop was to introduce standardized work. How many people can say that the first thing they did when taking on a management position was to introduce standardized work? I certainly can’t

Simplicity

By Ron Pereira - April 28th, 2009

“Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimal means.” – Dr. Koichi Kawana If I was only able to use one word to describe what lean and authentic continuous improvement meant to me I’d choose, without hesi

Leader Standard Work and Material Control

By Jon Miller - April 27th, 2009

I am taking some time off with the family this week so any posts will be short and less than fully developed. The emerging thought of the day concerns the relationship between leader standard work and material control principles of 

Leave No Buffalo Behind

By Ron Pereira - April 27th, 2009

Last week I wrote about how geese stick together through thick and thin. Well, I think it’s safe to say buffalo make geese look like a bunch of sissies.  Be sure to watch this all the way to the end. Just trust me when I say thi

Web Design and Control Charts

By Ron Pereira - April 23rd, 2009

I used to check my website stats several times a day.  I’ll admit, I had a problem… but I’m guessing most bloggers have similar issues when first starting out. Well, I’m happy to say that I now check my website

The Drop, the Bucket and Continuous Improvement

By Jon Miller - April 22nd, 2009

Mr. Obama, who held his first cabinet meeting Monday, has tasked officials with finding $100 million in savings. Asked by reporters after the meeting if that amount is a drop in the bucket of the government’s budget, Mr. Obama sa

The Way of the Goose: 5 Leadership Lessons

By Ron Pereira - April 21st, 2009

We humans can learn a lot from geese. Yes, that’s right, geese. In fact, in 1991 Angeles Arrien gave a speech called “Lessons from Geese” that was largely based on the work of Milton Olson. What follows is my take on the stor

The A3 Thinking Blog

By Jon Miller - April 20th, 2009

Launched quietly in March by Art Amalley and Prof. Durward Sobek, authors of the Understanding A3 Thinking book, the A3 Thinking Blog promises to be an excellent resource. So far there are just a handful of articles such as User Feedba

Crowdsourced Leadership Standard Work

By Ron Pereira - April 19th, 2009

A few weeks ago I posted an article where I asked for your thoughts on what “leadership standard work” meant to you.  As is typical, you all blew me away with your comments. Steve Armitage, a reader of Gemba Academy’

Does Spiderman Save?

By Ron Pereira - April 18th, 2009

While it has nothing to do with lean or six sigma this was just too good to not share. My 4 year old daughter recently asked my wife, “Mommy, does Spiderman take away the sins of the world?” Sure, they ‘cost’ a

The Continuous Improvement Companion

By Ron Pereira - April 15th, 2009

I recently came across an excellent, and free, resource anyone interested in lean or six sigma will definitely want to check out. The resource is called The Continuous Improvement Companion. It was written by Jeff Hajek, author of the

Visual Management Resource for Lean Hospitals

By Jon Miller - April 13th, 2009

Here is another recent find on visual management: the website of MediFilm “the leaders in healthcare visual management systems”. Who knew there was such a thing to be leaders of? Well done in any case, making a product out

Ask Gemba: Nuts and Bolts of the Andon System

By Jon Miller - April 12th, 2009

Bas Timmerman asked: We are in the process of designing a synchronised flow process with an intermittent transportation system for a new assembly line. We have no buffer positions in the line, so it is critical that we organise support

Go See the Visual Management Blog

By Jon Miller - April 10th, 2009

If you are looking for practical examples of visual controls for managing work in an office, go see the Visual Management Blog written by Xavier Quesada Allue, a software developer, Agile coach and project manager, it is full of photos

No Fear and Big Girl Bikes

By Ron Pereira - April 9th, 2009

One of my favorite things about LSS Academy, aside from the thousands of awesome comments you’ve all left the past few years, is how I get to sneak in personal aspects of my life from time to time. I especially love to write about my

12 Leader Standard Work Questions to Ask on the Gemba

By Jon Miller - April 6th, 2009

Many leaders have heard the buzzword, read the book, picked up a pad and pen and headed out to the gemba to go see. Leader standard work is becoming a standard component of lean implementations everywhere. In essence it has always been

Plan Do Czech Act

By Jon Miller - April 5th, 2009

If there are three things I can’t resist they are Creating lists, Teasing the possibilities out of words, and Attempting to inject levity and fun into teaching kaizen. So please forgive the punning title. The factory tours I part

Free 5S Overview Module

By Ron Pereira - April 5th, 2009

Here is a free 5S Overview module. It’s actually the first module of our 5S Workplace Productivity course that is part of the Gemba Academy School of Lean. For more free online modules like this, including free quizzes and PDF do

Leadership Standard Work

By Ron Pereira - April 3rd, 2009

Did you know that 50% of all leaders are below average? It’s a fact. With this said, a good friend of mine recently asked me what I thought the Standard Work document would look like for a “Leader.” In other words, if you could l

Walk On

By Ron Pereira - April 1st, 2009

Brain Rules

By Ron Pereira - March 30th, 2009

The human brain fascinates me. As such, I was very excited to finally read Brain Rules by John Medina. In this book Medina proposes 12 different rules, that once understood, may help us all to be happier and more productive individuals

Corporate Models of the Future (with bonus Ohno Circle exercise)

By Jon Miller - March 29th, 2009

How Crisis Shapes the Corporate Model is an interesting article in the March 28, 2009, New York Times. It gives some history of how past economic shifts have affected the structure and nature of corporations. The article speculates on

Happiness the Kaizen Way

By Jon Miller - March 26th, 2009

“There are two ways of being happy: We may either diminish our wants or augment our means – either will do – the result in the same; and it is for each man to decide for himself, and do that which happens to be the ea

The Ultimate “Sustain” Audit

By Ron Pereira - March 24th, 2009

So I have 5S on my mind since I’m wrapping up a 5S course for the Gemba Academy School of Lean. Anyhow, while finishing the “sustain” module I thought about one of the easiest ways to determine how far your organizati