Lean Archives | Page 62 of 67

I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane!

By Ron Pereira - March 6th, 2008

It seems like only yesterday I first announced I was headed to Japan. Well, time definitely flies. This Saturday I am headed East to visit the best of the best as I join Gemba Research on their Japanese Kaikaku Experience. It̵

Introducing the Kaizen Newspaper

By Ron Pereira - March 2nd, 2008

This evening we conclude our series on value stream mapping. We have covered lots of ground. If you are just joining us, no worries, you can catch up by reading the following articles. Value Stream Mapping Overview How to Create a

Revisiting “Why Flow Counter Clockwise?”

By Ron Pereira - February 29th, 2008

I don’t normally do this, but I’d like to revisit a past article I wrote about why u-shaped cells often flow counter-clockwise. Specifically, I’d like to share an excellent comment from Bryan Lund of Training Withi

Let’s Create a Future State Value Stream Map!

By Ron Pereira - February 26th, 2008

Let’s continue with our value stream mapping (VSM) series this evening by discussing the future state VSM. If you are just joining us, please feel free to read the previous articles before jumping into this one. Value Stream Mapping

Let’s Create a Current State Value Stream Map!

By Ron Pereira - February 24th, 2008

In this third installment of our value stream mapping series, we will discuss how to create a current state value stream map. If you missed the other articles in this series, they are linked below: Value Stream Mapping Overview How to

How to Create a Product Quantity / Product Routing Matrix

By Ron Pereira - February 12th, 2008

In part 1 of our series on value stream mapping (VSM) we were introduced to what a value stream is. We also discussed the roadmap I personally use when working with this powerful tool. In this installment, we’ll take a deeper dive in

Value Stream Mapping Overview

By Ron Pereira - February 8th, 2008

One of, if not the single most powerful lean tool available to us is value stream mapping (VSM). The reason it’s so powerful is because of its relevancy. You see, it doesn’t matter if you are an accountant who sits behind a

Long Live the King (Cash)

By Ron Pereira - February 7th, 2008

If you are involved with a for-profit business in any way please remember one thing – cash is king. Of course respecting people is absolutely critical. But cash pays the bills. It buys things. It pays salaries. So without money in

Just Do It

By Ron Pereira - February 2nd, 2008

“Talk doesn’t cook rice.” -Chinese Proverb While planning, checking, and acting/adjusting are of course crucial elements of the PDCA cycle I sometimes feel as though the “do” element is under-utilized. In a similar way,

JIT and Jidoka are Useless…

By Ron Pereira - January 30th, 2008

Yes, the two pillars of the Toyota Production System – JIT and Jidoka – are absolutely worthless… if you don’t respect people. You see, in my opinion, anyone who tries hard enough and gets support from more ex

Excellence is a Habit

By Ron Pereira - January 23rd, 2008

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but habit.” -Aristotle I am doing my best to teach my kiddos about lean and six sigma. Since they are ages 5, 3, and 1 my instructional tactics need to be crea

Has Lean or Six Sigma Changed your Life?

By Ron Pereira - January 21st, 2008

Mark Graban just posted an article about LEI’s newest book. Looks to be sort of like the Lean Lexicon but with blog-like quotes. Mark shared one of the excerpts from the book. “Lean should not have ‘changed’

Former Toyota Exec Speaks

By Ron Pereira - January 16th, 2008

My friend Pete Abilla (author of the Shmula blog – now creator of a site that can help you find a math tutor and more) often reminds us that, during his time at Toyota, the phrase “respect for humanity” was used, not “res

Japan Here I Come!

By Ron Pereira - January 11th, 2008

I am excited to announce that I am headed to see lean manufacturing at its best as I join Gemba Research on their upcoming Japan Kaikaku Experience. We arrive in Japan March 9 and the plans are to visit the following companies during t

Building a Lean Supply Stream

By Ron Pereira - January 10th, 2008

If you happen to live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area or will be in town you may consider attending this conference. I plan to attend so let me know if you will be there so we can say hi! Apologize for sending this out late… bu

Management Improvement Carnival #27 (Best of 2007)

By Ron Pereira - January 3rd, 2008

John Hunter asked me to write the latest Management Carnival. Normally, bloggers look at the previous month and share some links of their favorite posts. Since we are at the start of a new year I thought I would change things up a

One Year of Blogging!

By Ron Pereira - December 30th, 2007

Close to one year ago I started this little blog with the post Lean or Six Sigma?. Truth be told I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing (and am still learning) but knew I loved to write. I also knew I loved teaching people about lean a

OEE – Not Just for TPM Programs!

By Ron Pereira - December 20th, 2007

If someone were to force me into a corner and only allow me to use one metric in my plant I would have to choose Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). The reason I would pick it is simple… it is really 3 metrics in one! Here is a qu

Reader Question: Project Handoffs

By Ron Pereira - December 12th, 2007

A reader of the blog recently sent me the following question. Ron, I have a question. Here at my “office” we’ve been doing LSS for about two years now. After a successful Green/Black belt project completion we “

Are Suggestion “Boxes” the Best Way to Go?

By Ron Pereira - December 11th, 2007

A recent post by my friend Jon Miller got me thinking about suggestion boxes. For those unaware many companies ask their employees to submit improvement ideas into a box. Management then looks at the ideas and in some cases acts on the

Continuous Improvement Begins with You!

By Ron Pereira - December 5th, 2007

One of the things that drives me batty is how hard some people make continuous improvement. Some think you have to go to 2 or 4 weeks of training to make something better. Some think if you don’t have a green or black belt you are no

No Standards No Kaizen

By Ron Pereira - December 3rd, 2007

I don’t know the exact quote and I am 38,000 feet in the air (I am flying home from London) so I can’t look it up… but Taiichi Ohno once said something like, “Without standards there can be no kaizen.” What does this mean? We

I am Addicted to Kaizen

By Ron Pereira - November 29th, 2007

Hi, my name is Ron and I am addicted to kaizen. I was first introduced to kaizen years ago and while I did like it I didn’t go overboard. I worked on a few point kaizen events but never really accomplished more than some nice

Two Types of Kaizen

By Ron Pereira - October 28th, 2007

The word kaizen is fast becoming a buzz word galore. You will hear about how people are “doing kaizen” or running a big “kaizen event” next week. Many times folks are in fact executing kaizen’s in an att

The Right Inventory is an Asset!

By Ron Pereira - October 19th, 2007

Most lean practitioners, myself included, spend lots of time talking about how calling inventory an asset is hog wash. We use analogies like how lowering inventory is the same as lowering water in a river… eventually all those

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