Gemba Academy

Q&A During a Recent Gemba Walk

By Jon Miller - July 13th, 2007

Gemba walks are great fun. But it’s become clearer to me only recently that they can be awkward at first to the leader in transition from traditional style to Lean management. With permission and without revealing the identity of

5 Tips to Success

By Ron Pereira - July 12th, 2007

There are a plethora of books on leadership and how to succeed in life. However, in my opinion there is a very simple formula that, if followed, will enable you to succeed at whatever it is you are called to do. Here is my list (no b

Say it ain’t so! Toyota lay people off?

By Ron Pereira - July 11th, 2007

My friend Mark over at the Lean Blog posted a respect for people question from a question he saw on the Lean Insider blog. For those new to this blog, respect for people is an extremely important aspect of lean. In fact many would

Is Michael Moore a Lean Thinker?

By Jon Miller - July 11th, 2007

Monday on the Lean Blog Mark Graban did some interesting reflection and analysis on claims by filmmaker Michael Moore that 18,000 people die each year in the U.S. due to the lack of health insurance. The U.S. population, per Google, is

Manufacturing Lost 18,000 Jobs In June

By Ron Pereira - July 10th, 2007

If you are American and want a feel good story this ain’t the one… so please come back tomorrow and I will try to do better. Anyhow, I saw this article the other day and didn’t have time to comment on it until tonig

8 Tips to Better Meetings

By Ron Pereira - July 9th, 2007

Most of us have sat in a meeting or two that, well, was a complete waste of time. Often times the facilitator is to blame for these mind numbing experiences. That is the bad news. The good news is it doesn’t have to be like this. Ton

Top 10 Improvement Tools Named After Lean Sensei

By Jon Miller - July 9th, 2007

1. Ohno Circle Taiichi Ohno was the Toyota executive largely responsible for structuring and implementing the system known today as the Toyota Production System over four decades after World War II. Ohno was known for drawing a chalk c

Lean Problem Solving

By Ron Pereira - July 8th, 2007

I was over on iSixSigma and saw this question from Chris on their forum. I have a process that involves 3 seperate work cells. The first cell has an avg. cycle time of 2 hours and so does the third cell. My problem is that the second

New Metric for Lean Leadership: MTBFTFTBF

By Jon Miller - July 8th, 2007

Those of you who are familiar with TPM or other progressive maintenance systems will recognize MTBF. The acronym MTBF refers to the mean time between failures. For products, MTBF is a reliability rating indicating the expected failure

This is not Lean

By Ron Pereira - July 8th, 2007

NEW YORK — In a gut-busting showdown that combined drama, daring and indigestion, Joey Chestnut emerged Wednesday as the world’s hot dog eating champion, knocking off six-time winner Takeru Kobayashi in a record-setting yet

Becoming Annoyed with the 4-Hour Workweek

By Ron Pereira - July 7th, 2007

As regular readers of this blog know I am reading the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. I am still not done with it but wanted to officially declare this book is beginning to annoy me. The New Rich Early in the book Ferriss introduces

David (Toyota) vs. Goliath (Big 3)

By Ron Pereira - July 5th, 2007

Guy Kawasaki had an interesting post today in reference to the types of stories people like to talk about. There were nine types discussed… but one immediately caught my eye. David vs. Goliath. In the story of David and Goliath, th

Three More Ways to Increase Personal Productivity through 5S

By Jon Miller - July 5th, 2007

The discipline of 5S increases personal productivity by making your work environment simpler, more structured, and safer. Much of the time that is saved is time not spent looking for things by being able to see right away whether every

Toyota Production System A to Z

By Jon Miller - July 3rd, 2007

If you ever find yourself face to face with a Japanese Lean sensei, you might find some of these words useful in building common ground. Andon – Colored lamps (red, yellow, green) or visual indicator of abnormalities Batch –

Your Lizard Brain Wants to Help You Be Lean

By Jon Miller - July 2nd, 2007

An article on July 1, 2007 in LiveScience titled Study Reveals Why We Learn From Mistakes sheds light on why visual management and the habit of genchi genbutsu is so important to problem identification and learning. Once again, brain s

3 Easy Steps to Becoming More Effective

By Ron Pereira - July 2nd, 2007

No matter what you do for a living or vocation, you will be in a position to double, possibly triple, your effectiveness after reading this post. I am so confident you will be successful if you follow my advice I offer a complete, mo

Intuition, Information and the Toyota Production System

By Jon Miller - July 1st, 2007

There are quite a few things that are counterintuitive about the Lean management system known as TPS. They are all fairly simple things, but hard to do since they feel wrong to people who have not been swimming in the waters of TPS for

Parkinson’s Law

By Ron Pereira - July 1st, 2007

I am on page 75 of “The 4-Hour Workweek.” The jury is still out on whether this book is total bull pucky or border line genius. Here is an excerpt explaining an interesting time management concept. Parkinson’s Law

My Top 5 Blogging Mistakes

By Ron Pereira - July 1st, 2007

I have been blogging for around 6 months now. It’s safe to say I am hooked. With this said, after some hansei, I have formulated the top 5 blogging mistakes I have made thus far. If you are thinking of blogging, or are ve

The Apple iPhone Experience is Not Lean Consumption

By Jon Miller - June 30th, 2007

One way to reduce wasted time waiting in airports or in rental car queues is to read and respond to e-mail. This requires a devices such as a blackberry or high-end mobile phone. So far this is a luxury I’ve lived without but wit

Cabinet Maker Applies Lean

By Ron Pereira - June 30th, 2007

Interesting story about an outdoor cabinet maker (for telecom) applying lean. There were a few comments I don’t completely agree with but overall seems like a pretty solid company. Purcell Systems Inc., a maker of outdoor ca

Is the Drive-Thru Really Faster?

By Ron Pereira - June 29th, 2007

OK, I ate way too much fast food this week as I went to both Wendy’s and McDonald’s for lunch. Both times I went around noon. I was also in a rush on both occasions. Both times I pulled up and noticed that the drive-th

I Just Made 700 Peanut Butter Sandwiches

By Ron Pereira - June 28th, 2007

What’s the most peanut butter and honey sandwiches you’ve ever made before? I just got done making over 700 in 45 minutes. Yep, that’s right 700 in 45 minutes. Besides how… you may wonder why someone would

"Learn From Failure" Visualized with Scrabble pieces

10 Steps to Creating a FMEA