Gemba Academy

Stumped in the Toilet

By Ron Pereira - May 6th, 2008

I’d like to think I am a relatively intelligent person. I graduated with a 3.8 GPA during my undergrad studies and a 3.7 GPA while getting an MBA. But, alas, today I realized I still have much to learn as I attempted to use

Where does the time go?

By Jon Miller - May 5th, 2008

That’s what I wondered when seeing that it’s been nearly a week since the last post. It’s an idle question, until you start to think about it. Then you get dizzy, stop and look to those who came before us for insight.

The Enemy of Better

By Ron Pereira - May 5th, 2008

Do you aspire to be the best? How about your company… do they want to be the best? If so, I contend this is the deadliest goal you or your organization can have. Allow me to explain. You see if you are indeed the “best” as de

Confused about Time

By Ron Pereira - May 1st, 2008

For those new to continuous improvement the concept of time can be confusing. In this article I hope to clear up some common misunderstandings. Takt Time The word takt comes to us from the German language and literally means pace or rh

Endless Meetings Speed Up the Pace of Change on the Gemba

By Jon Miller - April 30th, 2008

An article in the May 1, 2008 issue of Nikkei Business titled Endless Meetings Speed Up the Pace of Change on the Gemba (ダラダラ会議が現場のスピードアップを生む) interviewed the chairman and profiled a Japanese com

Life is like a bowl of oranges

By Ron Pereira - April 29th, 2008

As I mentioned towards the end of our most recent video the demonstration with the oranges, pebbles, sand, and water can be used to explain a far more important life lesson. Before this, please allow me to thank you for your comments a

Lean Strategies for Workforce Development in Manufacturing

By Jon Miller - April 27th, 2008

A while back, I attended a meeting of CAMPS, the Center for Advanced Manufacturing in Puget Sound. Like many consortia around the U.S. and in other countries, a group of manufacturers, local government, academia, and service providers

Boeing Volunteers Helping Non-profits with Lean

By Jon Miller - April 23rd, 2008

An article in the April 18-12, 2008 issue of the Puget Sound Business Journal caught our eye. Titled Penguins will benefit from jet maker’s efficiency lessons it describes the efforts of Boeing employees as lean trainers who have

Takt Time Competition at Gemba Panta Rei

By Ron Pereira - April 22nd, 2008

I recently wrote a guest blog over on Gemba Panta Rei where I set up a hypothetical takt time question. Jon Miller has been nice enough to offer up some sweet prizes for those who leave meaningful comments before May 1, 2008. So, if y

You Can’t Steal What is Shared Freely

By Jon Miller - April 22nd, 2008

Whoever got people started using the phrase “steal shamelessly” in regards to lean ideas and practices should be ashamed. I am quietly offended when people say this to me because it shows a certain lack of respect for the a

Tips for Dealing with Conflict

By Ron Pereira - April 21st, 2008

Our ability, as business leaders, to manage conflict can’t be overstated. If you’ve never dealt with conflict in a professional environment…well, you live a blessed life. Most of us, however, have almost certainly facilitated a m

The Crow and the Pitcher

By Ron Pereira - April 20th, 2008

Here’s a neat story credited to Aesop. It’s found in the 2nd century AD Greek fable collection by pseudo-Dositheus. That sets the scene far more eloquently than me explaining how I came across the story in one of my kidR

Built-In Quality Means Having Your Cake But Not Eating It

By Jon Miller - April 20th, 2008

There was an interesting bit of news from the BBC about a Honda factory in Swindon, England. Apparently the management there have placed restrictions on the sorts of cakes, fruit and chocolates the workers can eat in their break rooms.

Guest Post: Takt Time Competition

By Jon Miller - April 16th, 2008

By: Ron Pereira, LSS Academy Jon has blogged about takt time many times before. Most recently he offered a free Excel based takt time calculator. The tricky part about calculating takt time is normally associated with what to use for t

The Efficiency Conundrum

By Ron Pereira - April 15th, 2008

Ah yes, efficiency. If there was ever a word more abused I’d like to know about it. I don’t think there is. OK, maybe utilization. But efficiency is really butchered. So let’s dig into the efficiency conundrum a bit this evening

Henry Ford Learned from Sears & Roebuck?

By Jon Miller - April 15th, 2008

I am reading a fascinating book called The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge. It traces the origin and development of the joint-stock company through the modern corporation and

A Lean Enterprise Transformation is Like a Marathon

By Jon Miller - April 13th, 2008

A lean enterprise transformation is like a marathon. Success depends on daily conditioning. It’s unlike a marathon in that it’s not a race with a goal at the end of 26 miles. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say being a

The Old Navy from Hell

By Ron Pereira - April 10th, 2008

My blogging goes in spurts. I seem to get on a “theme” and roll with that for a few posts. Well, regular readers of LSS Academy have likely sensed I have been on a “take action/5S” rant as of late. Well,

Well Do Something!

By Ron Pereira - April 9th, 2008

“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” -Yogi Berra A True Story Several years ago I was riding in the car with my Grandma and Grandpa. We were driving to the store if I remember correctly. Along the way my Grandpa pulled

How Many Times Do You Pull the Andon Cord Each Day?

By Jon Miller - April 8th, 2008

A reader commented recently on the article about the ten reasons one piece flow will not work saying “The answer to one and two is “watch production stop!?” If this is your plan to make/save money and work as a team,

Another Way of Learning to See

By Jon Miller - April 7th, 2008

What do you do when you just can’t take people to the gemba as part of your lean training? For example if you are conducting training in a hotel, a university class room or a faraway executive suite, how do you build direct obser

Fix the Broken Windows

By Ron Pereira - April 7th, 2008

What do fixing broken windows and continuous improvement have in common? I contend a lot. Read on and let me know if you agree. The so-called broken window theory comes to us by way of the criminology world. Broken Windows The theo

The Secret of TPS

By Jon Miller - April 6th, 2008

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is widely recognized as a cornerstone of Lean manufacturing. It’s characterized by just in time production and judoka, delivering precisely what customers want when they want it. Toyota’s

Don’t Step on the Tape!

By Ron Pereira - April 3rd, 2008

I recently worked on an amazing kaizen team. On the first day of the event, I was asked to say a few words. Since one of our main focus areas for the week was 5S, I decided to tell this group about my recent trip to Japan. Specifically

The Moving Constraint

By Ron Pereira - April 1st, 2008

Let me ask you a question. Is a moving constraint/bottleneck a good thing or bad thing? I contend it’s a good thing. No, I contend it’s a great thing. Allow me to explain. Let’s say there are three processes in your widget makin

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