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Standard Work Saved a Company

By Steve Kane - September 18th, 2015

By Steve Kane I’ve been an aviation enthusiast most of my life. I started flying sailplanes a couple of years ago and recently transitioned to power planes. The first lesson in flying is an introduction to standard work—specifical

How to Gain Insight from Customers and Gemba

By Jon Miller - September 14th, 2015

Lean thinking places a focus on the customer and on the gemba. These are two great sources of information for innovation, increased revenues, and problem solving. The way to gain more insight from customers and from the gemba is to be

Discovering the Value of People

By Kevin Meyer - September 11th, 2015

By Kevin Meyer Big news in the business world: Wal-Mart is famous for keeping costs down, including employee-related costs. In Joplin, the company is testing a new approach: investing in workers through higher wages and training, on th

Why We Do Things This Way

By Jon Miller - September 7th, 2015

I have spent much of my career in pursuit of answers to the question, “Why do you do things this way?” When I am getting to know a client, either an individual leader for coaching purposes or an business for the purpose o

Derek’s Lean Story

By Ron Pereira - September 4th, 2015

It was a Monday morning around 7:30 AM. I walked into the training room and glanced around. I’d been in this training room many times before but something felt different… I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I carried on

The Pursuit of Imperfection

By Jon Miller - August 31st, 2015

One of the widely accepted guiding principles of lean thinking is to “pursue perfection”. This is rather broad and imprecise when compared to the other guidelines of identify value, map value streams, flow and pull. Pursue

The Cosmology of Meetings

By Jon Miller - August 24th, 2015

After a particularly interminable session of the Roman Senate, the emperor Marcus Aurelius is said to have observed, “He who does not know what the meeting is does not know where he is, and he who does not know for what purpose t

Aerofit Fittings - Courtesy of Aerofit.com

AeroFit’s Factory Improvement Team

By Steve Kane - August 21st, 2015

Chris Ferrier, Manufacturing Engineer with AeroFit, was challenged to increase production on a manufacturing line by one part per hour. While this might sound easy, making it happen isn’t. AeroFit makes fluid fittings for aer

Knowledge of Work is Key to Better Knowledge Work

By Jon Miller - August 17th, 2015

One of the questions and concerns most often raised by people in position to lead continuous improvement efforts in their organizations is, “Where will I find the time?” It is rarely the case that this person has a full tim

Owning Numerical Ignorance

By Kevin Meyer - August 14th, 2015

Earlier this year I discussed the value created by writing by hand. By writing on whiteboards or scribbling in a notebook, ownership, learning, and understanding is created. Similarly, truly understanding numbers creates ownership,

Fun With Measurement Systems Analysis – Part 2

By Ron Pereira - August 12th, 2015

Welcome back to the second, and final, part of this measurement systems analysis series. If you didn’t read part 1 of this series please do before pressing on with this part. We’ll wait on you! Measurement System Analy

Respect for Humanity… of Your Boss

By Jon Miller - August 10th, 2015

The notion of “respect for people” is widely recognized as an essential pillar of lean management. It stands out among lean principles by being the most important yet least clearly defined. As such, it is most often at the

Fun With Measurement Systems Analysis – Part 1

By Ron Pereira - August 7th, 2015

Over the years I’ve been fortunate to visit many different companies across the world. During these visits, I’ve seen some amazing examples of continuous improvement in action. But, to be blunt, there is one aspect of con

Lean for Social Good

By Jessica Bush - July 31st, 2015

For most of us, the desire to improve and to be respectful of others is inherent. Many people practice some rudimentary form of lean without even realizing it. Those familiar with lean typically think first of manufacturing, and fo

Jidoka, Self-awareness and the Value of a Lean Coach

By Jon Miller - July 26th, 2015

How do you feel? It’s a simple question that isn’t always easy for some of us to answer without a reference standard. Not too long ago, I didn’t always recognize exactly how I felt. This has changed now, thanks to my tran

The Whole Problem of End-to-End Productivity

By Jon Miller - July 20th, 2015

As the adage attributed to management guru Peter Drucker goes, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Well, you might be able to improve it by chance or by heroic effort, but not in a sustainable way.

What’s This Thing Called Lean?

By Steve Kane - July 17th, 2015

By Steve Kane My introduction to lean occurred many years ago while working in the motorcycle business. I went to work for a BMW Motorcycles dealer in California as a parts and accessories specialist. My job was to sell cool motor

Last Week in Bad Problem Solving, 2016 POTUS Candidate Edition

By Jon Miller - July 13th, 2015

When one spends as much time as I do thinking about the ins and outs of the problem solving process, it soon becomes painfully obvious that the U.S. political system demands very little from our elected leaders in that regard. Last

You’re Good When You Think You’re Bad

By Kevin Meyer - July 10th, 2015

By Kevin Meyer Well over a decade ago I created my first lean enterprise assessment, just as a tool to help me understand gaps in my organization. I’m generally loathe to use such tools as they are often misinterpreted, gamed,

You Had One Job, Fireplace Poker

By Jon Miller - July 6th, 2015

A fireplace poker has one job: to take the place of the unprotected hand in tending a fire. Normally a rigid metal rod with a curved bit at the end, a poker is used to move firewood, hot coals or whatever else one happens to be bur

Fun with Tennis Balls

By Ron Pereira - July 3rd, 2015

If you’re American and are reading this on July 4… Happy Independence Day! I recently delivered a live workshop to a group of printing professionals. The talk was a combination of Practical Problem Solving and Quick Cha

The High Cost of Ignoring Standard Work

By Jon Miller - June 29th, 2015

This June marked the 200th anniversary of the defeat of Napoleon by Wellington at Waterloo, which effectively ended his career as a military and political leader. Reading Andrew Roberts’ excellent book Napoleon: A Life, it became app

Lean Beginnings: My Journey So Far

By Jessica Bush - June 26th, 2015

By Jessica Bush I’ll admit, when I applied for the Marketing Specialist position at Gemba Academy, I didn’t know much about lean. I was less than a year out of college and all I had to go off of were snippets of information from on

The Most Dangerous Idea in the World

By Jon Miller - June 22nd, 2015

This week I learned about a new book, Kaizen Forever: Teaching of Chihiro Nakao by Bob Emiliani, Rudy Go and Katsusaburo Yoshino. Mr. Nakao was the first Shingijutsu consultant I met and worked with in 1993. Even just one week spent

How Do You Fight A Fire With A Garden Hose?

By Steve Kane - June 19th, 2015

By Steve Kane Many years ago, I was visiting a friend’s house in Southern California. It was a 1950’s ranch style house with a straight walkway from the street to the door. There was a tall palm tree where the walkway met the s

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