Gemba Academy

Considerations on Maintaining the Fairness of Kaizen Ideas Reward Systems

By Jon Miller - March 5th, 2008

Would you rather have 10 people each solving one $250,000 problem per year? Or would your rather have 100 people each solving ten $2,500 problems per year? This may be one of the key ways to distinguish continuous improvement via lean

Key Points for Managing Kaizen Idea Systems

By Jon Miller - March 4th, 2008

A sustained kaizen idea suggestion system can be one of the most powerful ways to keep people engaged in continuous improvement. Yet even after 50+ years, Toyota can struggle with this in some parts. Below are the three most common que

Free iSixSigma Salary Webcast

By Ron Pereira - March 3rd, 2008

Our friend Michael Marx over at iSixSigma will be hosting a free webcast Tuesday, March 4 at 11:00 AM EST. As of this morning, more than 850 people had already registered for the event. Here are the details of the event. Mark your

101 Kaizen Templates: Kaizen Idea Suggestion Form

By Jon Miller - March 3rd, 2008

Long-term success in becoming a Lean or Agile organization depends on making many small changes. The kaizen philosophy and its many thinking tools helps with this. The suggestion system, when combined with coaching of ideas, is also a

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

Lean Blog Update

By Ron Pereira - February 28th, 2008

Our friend, Mark, over at the Lean Blog is battling some technical difficulties. He is working hard to fix things.

The Time of Fulfillment

By Ron Pereira - February 28th, 2008

The word metanoia literally means the changing of one’s mind through repentance. Spiritual Life In the theological sense, metanoia occurs when a person examines their life and decides to turn away from sin and towards God. Often time

Three Essential Supervisor Skills for Standard Work

By Jon Miller - February 27th, 2008

Standard work (called standardized work at Toyota) is hard but it’s so important. As one of the cornerstones of the lean system, the difference between having standard work and not having it is truly a step difference in an organ

101 Kaizen Templates: Lean Leadership Self Check

By Jon Miller - February 26th, 2008

In a blog post, Ron Pereira explains that a Real Leader, “…listens, respects, challenges, disciplines, and genuinely cares about his or her employees. Yes, real leadership is hard to practice. But just like a healthy and ha

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

The Real Leader

By Ron Pereira - February 25th, 2008

My sister Denise recently sent me this quote. “He has genuine integrity, he has serious style, and he’s pulled me through more than one bout of the stomach flu. Anybody can sprinkle rose petals across a big brass bed, but o

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

Press to Rationalize Chrysler Product Line

By Ron Pereira - February 22nd, 2008

I am finally winding down on one serious road trip across the UK and Germany. I head back home tomorrow. I have slept in 6 different hotels the past 9 evenings. It’s been crazy to say the least… especially given the f

101 Kaizen Templates: Daily Hansei Sheet (Pluses & Deltas)

By Jon Miller - February 20th, 2008

Ron Pereira wrote an article titled “How not to screw up pluses and deltas”. It gives useful tips on how to properly review at the end of a day of class room training or a shop floor kaizen. The pluses and deltas activity i

Clean up, Guide to Lean, and more

By Ron Pereira - February 19th, 2008

Things have been pretty crazy around here the last few days. Switching over to this new website was definitely worth it… but not without it’s share of work. Clean Up When you switch to a completely new design like this ce

Is Lean a Superstition?

By Jon Miller - February 18th, 2008

The Training Within Industry blog took up the debate on “Is lean a religion?” a few weeks ago. The article points out that when done right, lean is more of a philosophy that guides how you do thing and how you lead people.

One Piece Flow versus Mass Production

By Ron Pereira - February 18th, 2008

Update on Nov 6, 2020: The original version of the video is no longer available. But I did want to add a note that the reaction to this original article was one of the main reasons Gemba Academy exists today. I have left the original c

What is RSS?

By Ron Pereira - February 17th, 2008

I’ve been asked by a few folks what the funny looking blue icon on my front page was all about. So, let’s take a break from lean and six sigma and talk about the wonders of RSS. The Good Old Days In the old days when we wanted

101 Kaizen Templates: Motion Economy Chart

By Jon Miller - February 16th, 2008

One of the toughest things that a kaizen consultant has to do is to tear down the results of past kaizens. This is hard because people develop a sense of ownership of the status quo they helped to build. Even if the status is not good,

The Seven Steps to Zero Thinking

By Jon Miller - February 13th, 2008

There are many misguided ways to explain or to think of lean management. We’ve discussed some of these in the 10 common misconceptions of lean manufacturing previously. It may not be complete but it is correct to think of lean as

Kudos to American Airlines and DFW International Airport

By Ron Pereira - February 13th, 2008

I just had the best experience here at the DFW International airport. I pulled up to the drop-off zone, kissed my wife and kids good-bye, grabbed my bags, headed to the Executive Platinum check in line (one of the benefits of frequen

101 Kaizen Templates: Spaghetti Diagram

By Jon Miller - February 12th, 2008

The spaghetti diagram needs very little introduction. It’s so named because the lines movement drawn on this diagram resemble a pile of tangled noodles. It’s a movement path diagram by a more appetizing name. Seeing Wasted

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

Kaizen Your Life with the Ten Lessons for Good Health

By Jon Miller - February 11th, 2008

These ten lessons for good health (健康十訓) are glazed onto my teacup. Reading these while sipping green tea has helped me survive over the years. Lean healthcare professionals take particular note: prevention trumps correction ev

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