Gemba Academy Blog

Blog Archive

3rd Annual Lean, Six Sigma, & Process Improvement Summit

By Ron Pereira - June 28th, 2007

I am happy to announce the latest sponsor of LSS Academy, IQPC. Become a world-class organisation with integrated Lean, Six Sigma & Process Improvement strategies. Embed a process excellence culture in all your business functions a

How does a 4 hour work week sound?

By Ron Pereira - June 27th, 2007

There is a new book out called “The 4-Hour Workweek.” It’s author is an interesting fellow by the name of Timothy Ferriss.  They guy is like an ultimate fighter (yeah, cage style) so I need to be careful what I s

New TOC Blog

By Ron Pereira - June 26th, 2007

There is a new blog focused on the Theory of Constraints niche.  There is not much content posted yet but the “blue light” story summarizes Taiichi Ohno’s teaching on the difference between work and motion perfectly.

The Secret to Calculating Takt Time in Your Head, Fast

By Jon Miller - June 26th, 2007

People are always amazed when I do takt time calculations lickety-split in my head. Here’s my secret: it’s the result of a lot of practice with doing math in the head, and memorizing a few nifty net available time numbers.

Taiichi Ohno’s Revolution of Awareness

By Jon Miller - June 25th, 2007

Very early in the book Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management the architect of the Toyota Production System calls for “a revolution of awareness”. He proceeds to talk about misconceptions and false beliefs of various typ

When is the best time for kaizen?

By Ron Pereira - June 25th, 2007

When is the best time for kaizen?  Anytime?  Perhaps.  However, in Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management we read that the best times to do kaizen are when things are going great.  There is an expression “poverty dulls yo

Lean Accounting Webcast Archive

By Ron Pereira - June 25th, 2007

If you missed the Lean Accounting webcast last week here is a link to the archive. What you need to know about lean accounting (Hint: It’s not just for accountants). This archive will be available for one year from this link.

10 Common Misconceptions About Lean Manufacturing

By Jon Miller - June 24th, 2007

1. Lean production = volume production. In Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management he suggested that the Toyota system was ideally suited for low volume production, and not as well suited for the higher volume production that Toyota

How to preach the gospel

By Ron Pereira - June 24th, 2007

One of my passions in life is studying and learning more about my Catholic faith.  I especially enjoy reading the early church fathers.  And of these earliest Christians, St. Francis of Assisi may be my favorite. St. Francis, when in

This Week in Kaizen (Wk #25, 2007)

By Jon Miller - June 22nd, 2007

This was a particularly interesting week in kaizen-related news, so here’s a roundup: One Thousand Kaizen Events and Counting… Ariens Company of Wisconsin celebrated their one thousandth kaizen event this week. That’s

God called down the rain

By Ron Pereira - June 22nd, 2007

I’ve had a crap week and need to vent.  Earlier this week in Keller, TX we received about 7 inches of rain in about an hour.  Normally this would create a small lake in my back yard that would soon run off into the street. 

Honda needs some kaizen

By Ron Pereira - June 22nd, 2007

From the very cool This is Broken blog we read about Honda’s crap customer service.  For the record, my Toyota dealership has screwed me before but never this bad.

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.

How to apply the one sample t-test

By Ron Pereira - June 21st, 2007

Last night we discussed the history and background of the one sample t-test.  As promised, tonight we will discuss how it is you actually use the slick little hypothesis test.  At the end of this post is a free case study available f

How Many Ways Can You Do Kaizen at Your Company?

By Jon Miller - June 21st, 2007

The theme of kaizen and the human brain is one of our favorites here at Gemba, and this week’s post by Mike Lopez at the Lean blog takes on the important topic of Psychology & Lean. Mike points out that the way in which you d

How beer influenced statistics

By Ron Pereira - June 20th, 2007

Back in the early 1900s a certain W.S. Gosset, an Englishmen, was tasked with brewing better beer.  Really, I’m being serious. Gosset was a bright man, with two degrees from Oxford, and was hired by Guinness to help them brew

What Does the Observer Have to Do with the Observed?

By Jon Miller - June 20th, 2007

The fact that light is both a wave and a particle at the same time has been puzzling physicists for decades. More recently, managers have been puzzled by the fact that work is both value and waste at the same time. This wonderful video

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

The Pugh Matrix

By Ron Pereira - June 19th, 2007

By Rob Thompson The Pugh matrix was invented by Stuart Pugh at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. It was designed as an approach for evaluating multiple options against each other, relative to a baseline option. It goe

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

We interrupt this Blog

By Ron Pereira - June 18th, 2007

I apologize for the technical difficulties today.  My hosting company (name starts with a color and ends with the word host) has failed me the last few weeks.  Today the site was down for much of the afternoon.  Needless to say I wi

Job Instruction for Lean Transformation Leaders

By Jon Miller - June 18th, 2007

The new book by David Meier and Jeffrey Liker titled Toyota Talent is full of nuggets. Perhaps the best thing I got out of the book is an explicit understanding of the four-step approach to teaching that is Job Instruction. Now I see h

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

Dealing with Non Normal Data

By Ron Pereira - June 15th, 2007

Robin, over on the iSixSigma blog, had an interesting post regarding hypothesis testing. Specifically, the question posed was how to deal with non normal data. Typically, most Six Sigma practitioners are taught to use “non parame

Half of the intel in Google is wasted

By Jon Miller - June 14th, 2007

You know you’re a jaded TPS sensei too long in the Lean business when you read a headline like the one on 13 June 2007 in CNet News announcing Half the electricity in a PC is wasted: Intel, Google and your first thought is “

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