Lean Archives | Page 64 of 67

Concrete Heads

By Ron Pereira - June 22nd, 2007

This 4 minute video, while ultimately a lean consulting sales pitch, is pretty funny and so true in many companies. Check it out.

Stop “Deploying” and Make Something Better

By Ron Pereira - June 20th, 2007

A reader of the Lean Blog left this comment to the excellent post Psychology and Lean. Unsolicited advice…. but maybe instead of pushing lean (and maybe you aren’t)… figure out what the main problems and pain points

Lean Dentist

By Ron Pereira - June 18th, 2007

I believe the guys over at the Lean Blog may have previously discussed this story… but in case you missed it I wanted to share it. There is a dentist that believes in lean thinking and is becoming recognized for it. Here is

Boring wins Championships

By Ron Pereira - June 17th, 2007

Me and the fam took our annual trip to San Antonio this weekend… my kids love Shamu so we ventured back to Sea World. Like any good blogger, I had my eyes and ears open for some good material to share with you all. I saw this m

Free Lean Accounting Webcast

By Ron Pereira - June 14th, 2007

There is going to be an interesting and FREE webcast June 20 focused on: “What YOU Need to Know About Lean Accounting (Hint: It’s Not Just For Accountants)” DATE: June 20, 2007 TIME: 2:00 p.m. EDT (GMT -04:00, New Yor

Computer Kaizen

By Ron Pereira - June 13th, 2007

I have a question for you. If I asked you to locate a random file I knew you had on your computer how long would it take you to find it? Less than 30 seconds? What about the performance of your computer? Is the Internet moving

Help Decision Making with a Cause & Effect (C&E) Matrix

By Ron Pereira - June 12th, 2007

Last night we discussed how we can use a Cause and Effect (C&E) Matrix to narrow down a long list of inputs into a more manageable one. I also provided a free MS Excel C&E Matrix Template for those interested. Tonight I wan

Why Heijunka – Part 2

By Ron Pereira - June 7th, 2007

Last night we discussed why we would use heijunka in a manufacturing environment in response to a readers question. Tonight I want to focus in on why we would want to use heijunka, or leveling, in an office environment. This

Why Heijunka – Part 1

By Ron Pereira - June 6th, 2007

B.D. asked, “You’re talking about HOW to do heijunka, but I’m not seeing WHY.” Great comment B.D. I will attempt to answer the why here this evening. Let’s dig into the manufacturing side of things in this articl

Heijunka in the Front Office

By Ron Pereira - June 5th, 2007

In the house of Toyota heijunka belongs in the foundation. Sadly many people dismiss this critical lean concept explaining how it isn’t relevant for their business. Heijunka which is properly pronounced (hey-june-kah) and n

Is Laying People off Really Anti-Lean?

By Ron Pereira - June 2nd, 2007

Update: June 3 @ 7:33 PM CST Over the weekend, this post has had some good action (via comments and emails I have received). I am modifying the original post ever so slightly to make the “assumptions” a bit more clear.

6 Ways to Use Lean & Six Sigma at Home

By Ron Pereira - June 1st, 2007

Here are some ways to use Lean and Six Sigma methods away from the office. Sort clothes according to color and place them into different bins eliminating the need to sort. When the bin is full wash those clothes. Don’t wait

More IBM Nonsense

By Ron Pereira - June 1st, 2007

Here is a doozy related to more IBM “Lean” blabber. I am pretty sure the only quote I need to share is this. “Lean is a collection of Six Sigma business processes used by a number of leading companies to improve

All the Surveys are Beginning to Whip Me

By Ron Pereira - June 1st, 2007

OK, I need to pick on some Lean friends of mine. Well actually they may not even know I exist… but I digress. Anyhow, I was reading an article over at Industry Week (IW) about how Just-In-Time Remains Justifiable. It’s a good a

5S Simulation

By Ron Pereira - May 29th, 2007

I received my prize for my hard fought victory in the recent GembaPantarei 5S competition. The prize was a 5S simulation game. My 4 year old daughter has been after me to let her have a shot at it. Yesterday was her lucky day!

Tsurube System

By Ron Pereira - May 29th, 2007

After reading some Lean textbooks and possibly attending a conference or two many “Lean Dreams” are crushed when the practitioner is told, “Friend, there ain’t no way we are converting that $4 million paint line into some fancy

Stop Moving and Start Working

By Ron Pereira - May 28th, 2007

In Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management we read about the difference between animal-like-motion and human work. Simply put many people confuse moving around with working. This is to say that we can work up a sweat and look as

Free TPS Video

By Ron Pereira - May 26th, 2007

Click here to watch a free video of Dr. Shankar Basu, president and CEO of Toyota Material Handling, USA. This is NOT a sales pitch so don’t worry. Dr. Basu even speaks about reducing transportation, which he half jokes will

Does Toyota need Six Sigma?

By Ron Pereira - May 23rd, 2007

I bet the title of this post caught some of my Lean friends off guard. Fear not I am not going to talk about how Lean is about eliminating waste and Six Sigma is about reducing variation. I have said this before and regret it. T

Boeing starts assembly of 787 Dreamliner

By Ron Pereira - May 22nd, 2007

I read today that Boeing started production of the much anticipated 787 Dreamliner. Many of my fellow blogging friends have previously commented on the method by which Boeing is manufacturing this monster of an airplane. With this s

Lean and Tissue Donation

By Ron Pereira - May 21st, 2007

I came across an interesting article from the Dayton Daily News where they discussed how leaders of the Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services teamed up with Lean practitioners from Sinclair Community College. The article e

Finance 101 by Taiichi

By Ron Pereira - May 18th, 2007

In Chapter Six of Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management we read about the Profit formulas. I must confess I thought I completely understood this concept when in fact I was only partly correct. Let’s explore it tonight. When we

Riding a Bike

By Ron Pereira - May 14th, 2007

This weekend my 4 year old daughter learned to ride her bike without training wheels. She has been after me for quite awhile to let her have a shot but I have been hesitant. I just didn’t think she was ready. But after she saw her 5

Misconceptions

By Ron Pereira - May 13th, 2007

The first several chapters of Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management spend a lot of time discussing misconceptions. Ohno said: “Very often after we try we find that the results are completely opposite of what we expected, and this is

Waiting in US Immigrations Line

By Ron Pereira - May 12th, 2007

I have really enjoyed learning more about the Queuing Theory from our friend, Peter Abilla, over at the excellent shmula blog. Peter’s most recent post is about the Queuing Psychology at the Gus Pump. Yesterday I traveled home from E

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