Gemba Academy

What is Jishuken?

By Jon Miller - August 27th, 2006

For people who have worked at Toyota or companies strongly influenced by Toyota, the term “kaizen” is used more in the general sense, closer to philosophy than activity. The term jishuken is used to describe the intentional

Can I Get an A3 Report with those 2.38 Million Recalls?

By Jon Miller - August 24th, 2006

Toyota has made public apologies this year for both the number of recalls and goofs handling them. A Wall Street Journal article today titled Toyota May Delay New Models To Address Rising Quality Issues speculates that Toyota will slow

E-mail 5S

By Jon Miller - August 23rd, 2006

A Wall Street Journal article today says How You Handle Your E-mail Inbox Says A Lot About You. The article identifies that e-mail is overwhelming people. There is an example of one person who was stressed out by 500 e-mails in their i

That’s What I Call Cosmic Irony

By Jon Miller - August 22nd, 2006

What do you call it when a meeting of the Lean manufacturing leaders from around the globe gets cancelled at the last minute by the senior leadership of the organization, citing “business needs”? I call it cosmic irony. One of our

The Kaizen Turnaround Kings at Danaher

By Jon Miller - August 21st, 2006

If the U.S.A. needed a poster-child for kaizen and Lean manufacturing success, $20 billion industrial holding company Danaher Corporation would be a good candidate. As this Investor’s Business Daily article details, they have bee

The Environment Where Takt Time is Ideal

By Jon Miller - August 17th, 2006

The topic of takt time and specifically “how does it apply to me?” seems to be a popular one, based on comments left by readers at this blog entry. The latest from John asks for advice on the environment where TAKT time is

Kaizen Song: Ship It

By Jon Miller - August 16th, 2006

I’m running low on these. I do recall thinking this one was almost too easy. Enjoy. Ship It (to the music of “Whip It” by Devo) Track that WIP If you want the parts to ship Parts on the rack Some of them are scrap When takt time

This Is An Experiment

By Jon Miller - August 15th, 2006

A few weeks ago when I returned to our office after having been on the road for several weeks there were some big changes. The entire layout of the office had been flipped from one side to the other. This is not so hard to do since we

Lean Healthcare Plumbs New Depths at ?? Hospital

By Jon Miller - August 14th, 2006

The news from Jean’s workplace, where consultants have been giving Lean healthcare a bad name, has gotten worse. Jean writes: I think we, as a staff are beginning to feel like chicken pluckers in the Golden Plump Place where Fast

How Can American Government Meet Its Productivity Challenge?

By Jon Miller - August 13th, 2006

“How Can American Government Meet Its Productivity Challenge?” asks a McKinsey & Company white paper. The white paper cites an interesting statistic. The 2005 U.S. federal budget outlay was 20.3% of the GDP of the Unite

I Mean It. Be Dissatisfied in the Work You Do

By Jon Miller - August 12th, 2006

Reader Jeff made a good point in a comment on a recent blog post here. I suggested replacing “Take pride in the work you do” signs in the workplace with “Be dissatisfied in the work you do” signs, more appropria

Visit Got Boondoggle? for the 10 Lessons to Kaizen the Kaizen

By Jon Miller - August 11th, 2006

There’s a great post and invaluable advice on how to kaizen the kaizen event from Mike Wroblewski at the Got Boondoggle? blog today. Mike was happy with the results from a kaizen event at an aerospace firm in Indiana, where his k

Top 3 Ways Kaizen Events Enable Culture Change

By Jon Miller - August 9th, 2006

“What is your approach to culture change?” we are often asked when clients are first getting to know us. It’s always tempting to pull out a PowerPoint presentation and go through our 12-Step Program for Culture Change

Kaizen in Software Development: Start by Seeing the 7 Wastes

By Jon Miller - August 8th, 2006

It’s worth repeating time and time again that what makes an organization Lean is not whether they have implemented the methodologies, tools and procedures that people recognize as part of the Toyota Production System model. In ot

Learning Lessons from Big Mistakes

By Jon Miller - August 7th, 2006

I made a big mistake last week. Apologies were made. Lessons were learned. Errors in judgment are revealing mistakes to learn from, since in your your state of mind at the time you were not in error. The kaizen philosophy requires that

Gemba Keiei by Taiichi Ohno, Chapter 29: Become a Reliable Boss

By Jon Miller - August 4th, 2006

“I never get angry at the workers. However, I will get very angry at supervisors and above.” Some people say that Taiichi Ohno was not a very nice man. Ohno had a reputation for being very tough on his students, and some ev

One Key to a Lean Culture: Be Dissatisfied in the Work You Do

By Jon Miller - August 3rd, 2006

We met today with a long-term client of ours who has a small fabrication shop near our office. They make prosthetics (artificial limbs) which are each truly “one of a kind”, custom fit to the individual. As a small, growing

When did Toyota Get to be a Company Like This?

By Jon Miller - August 2nd, 2006

Toyota does not sell cars because people crave their sleek design or because the Camry is a status symbol. People buy and drive Toyotas because they are reliable and they have a high resale value. They are well-built and reasonably pri

One Definition of Lean Manufacturing

By Jon Miller - July 31st, 2006

During a conference call to plan the agenda for a global meeting of Lean manufacturing leaders at one of our clients, they identified their desire to establish “one definition of Lean manufacturing” at their company. This m

Lean Manufacturing, Chicken Knife. Six Sigma, Cow Knife.

By Jon Miller - July 29th, 2006

I learned a new Chinese expression this week from a Six Sigma Master Black Belt from Taiwan. We were discussing how Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma fit together, and how sometimes there can be misunderstandings and conflicts between t

Error Proof the Pokayoke to Build in Quality

By Jon Miller - July 26th, 2006

In order to have a just in time production system function properly you need to work towards zero defects and build in quality to every process. Otherwise the lack of extra buffer inventory will shut down the material flow when a defec

Getting in the Habit of Change

By Jon Miller - July 24th, 2006

People often say that sustaining the gains of kaizen and Lean manufacturing is the hardest thing. How well you sustain kaizen is really about how well you adapt to change. Kaizen and Lean manufacturing are not “one time and done&

Standard Work is Kaizen Instruction for Managers

By Jon Miller - July 21st, 2006

Standard Work may be the most important Lean manufacturing tool that you don’t know enough about. Built on the three elements of takt time, work sequence, and standard work in process (standard WIP), it is the cornerstone of the

Kaizen Song: g.e.m.b.a

By Jon Miller - July 20th, 2006

g.e.m.b.a. (to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”) Young man, there’s no need to feel down I said, young man, pick your reports off the ground I said, young man, ’cause your boss ripped you a new one There’s no nee

What’s Next After Lean?

By Jon Miller - July 18th, 2006

When I saw the article I thought surely one of the other Lean bloggers would jump all over it. Perhaps it was too easy. So I let it slide for a few days. Then I changed my mind. What’s next after Lean? Asks the interview with aut

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