Gemba Academy

Undivided Wholeness in Flowing Movement

By Jon Miller - October 31st, 2006

Scientist, philosopher and author David Bohm presents challenging ideas on the nature of reality. They are challenging not in that they are difficult (if you are patient with the Calculus) but in that they challenge how we perceive, th

Reflection (Hansei) is the Noblest Teacher

By Jon Miller - October 30th, 2006

Hansei is a Japanese word meaning “reflection” as in reflecting on ideas or experiences in order to learn from successes or failures to improve oneself in the future. It is a key step in kaizen, both personal improvement an

Don’t Talk to Us About Toyota

By Jon Miller - October 28th, 2006

“Don’t talk to us about Toyota” demanded a new customer recently. Their reasoning was that Toyota’s level was unachievable for them. This client does not build cars. But they were asking for world class benchmar

Continuous Improvement Video from Genie Industries

By Jon Miller - October 26th, 2006

Here is a quick follow up to yesterday’s post on 3P. Genie Industries is a local company that makes lifts. They have been doing kaizen for several years with great results. I have toured them and spoken to their continuous improv

How to Use 3P to Work Out Process Design Alternatives

By Jon Miller - October 25th, 2006

Apoorva from India asks, “Generally how many alternatives are worked out in 3P?” Production Preparation Process, or 3P as it is known, is the name used to describe the American consulting market’s understanding of the

Kaizen Suggestions at Nokia Factory in India Improve Quality

By Jon Miller - October 24th, 2006

There is an article in the Hindu Business Line on October 23, 2006 titled Smart Ideas at Work. The 3,500 workers at the Nokia factory in Chennai, India gave 1,800 kaizen ideas as part of their suggestion system. Many kaizen ideas seem

Educating People is Key to Operational Excellence

By Jon Miller - October 23rd, 2006

TPS is a system of training. These are the words from an article by Toyota on the TPS. The source escapes me at the moment, if anyone knows of it please add a comment. It’s my personal belief that the thing that sets Toyota apart

Lessons from Toyota’s IT Strategy

By Jon Miller - October 22nd, 2006

There are some interesting lessons from Toyota’s IT Strategy in the minutes from the Third IT Economics Salon of the Economic and Social Research Institute which is part of the Cabinet Office of the Japanese Government. The guest

Gemba Keiei by Taiichi Ohno, Chapter 32: Operational Availability vs. Rate of Operation

By Jon Miller - October 20th, 2006

In this chapter Taiichi Ohno introduces another concept that is mixed up by people. It is the difference between operational availability and rate of operation. I introduced this concept in some depth in a previous post on this blog, a

Things They Say at Toyota: Ask “Why?” Five Times

By Jon Miller - October 19th, 2006

One of the ways to judge whether a company is succeeding in their journey towards being an organization that embraces continuous improvement based on the Toyota Production System model is how often people ask “why?” as part

How Wipro Adapted the Toyota Production System to IT Work

By Jon Miller - October 17th, 2006

An article titled How Wipro Took a Leaf Out of Toyota’s Book in DNA – Daily News & Analysis on October 15, 2006 talks of how Wipro has successfully implemented the Toyota Production System in an IT business. Wipro is an Ind

How Do U Spell Quality?

By Jon Miller - October 16th, 2006

I spent four nights recently at Quality Inn, an American hotel chain. It was a pleasant stay, and not without its lesson in kaizen. I came back to the hotel one night to notice the following: I couldn’t resist taking them up on t

Gemba Keiei by Taiichi Ohno, Chapter 31: There is a Correct Sequence to Kaizen

By Jon Miller - October 15th, 2006

Taiichi Ohno explains in this chapter that there is a correct sequence to kaizen, and it is as follows: 1) Manual work kaizen 2) Equipment kaizen 3) Process kaizen “Manual work kaizen means thinking of better ways of using the ex

The View from the Other Side: Stop the Kaizen!

By Jon Miller - October 13th, 2006

The Job Schmob blogger gives us (kaizen people) a view from the other side in his (her?) October 2, 2006 post The Business of Change Management and Corporate Propaganda: Part 1. The Job Schmob blog person takes issue with a quote by ma

Learning English the Toyota Production System Way!

By Jon Miller - October 12th, 2006

You know Toyota Production System has hit the big time in Japan when there’s an English language learning book out based on TPS. It’s titled “Mastering the Toyota Production System through English Speech Practice̶

Free Turnaround Advice to All Struggling Airlines

By Jon Miller - October 11th, 2006

It started out as a routine one hour flight delay and missed connection. Snowstorms in the winter, thunderstorms in the summer. When you are traveling by air through the Midwest, plans that don’t go according to plan are almost a

Scottish Local Authority Wins Award for Kaizen

By Jon Miller - October 10th, 2006

Congratulations to the Aberdeenshire Council on winning the top Performance Improvement Award from UDITE – The Association of European Local Authority Chief Executives for their kaizen efforts. Kaizen in the public sector, how sweet

Operational Excellence Requires Kaizen and Respect for People

By Jon Miller - October 9th, 2006

Kaizen is easy. Respect for people is hard. I don’t know why. I just don’t see a lot of companies talking about and doing the latter. Talking about only, perhaps. What does respect for people really mean, anyway? At Toyota

Toyota Production System as a Learning System

By Jon Miller - October 8th, 2006

There is a new working paper by Michael Balle, author of The Gold Mine, that explores how the Toyota Production System (TPS) is a learning system. The paper takes a hospital in France as a case study and highlights the importance of st

Not Trying to Coin A New Buzzword, But…

By Jon Miller - October 6th, 2006

I’m thinking of phrases to replace the one we are avoiding this month… Contiunously Improving Operation, Rational Manufacturing, Intelligent Operations, Smart Production, Holistic Production, Adaptive Manufacturing, Non-loc

Copy + Kaizen = Yokoten

By Jon Miller - October 5th, 2006

Here’s my understanding of one of the winning behaviors of Toyota, namely copying and improving on kaizen ideas that work. We’ll call this yokoten since it’s more precise than “copy” or “horizontal d

Applying the 80-20 Rule to Kaizen

By Jon Miller - October 3rd, 2006

I’m fond of the 80-20 principle. Any time an understanding of statistics, laws of physics or human biology can make day to day decision making easier, it’s a welcome thing. The same is true in applying the 80-20 rule to kai

Things They Say at Toyota: Protect Your Own Castle

By Jon Miller - October 2nd, 2006

One of the expressions I’ve come across working with and reading the writings of Toyota people is “Protect your own castle” 「自分の城は自分で守れ」. You could also say “You are responsible for prote

My Early Kaizen Days

By Jon Miller - September 27th, 2006

Thirteen years ago this month I nervously stepped into the lobby of the Sheraton at Hartford, Connecticut airport. It was the first day of my first Shingijutsu kaizen event. I did not know what to expect. I remember the first words out

Gemba Keiei by Taiichi Ohno, Chapter 30: Seiri Seiton Seiso Seiketsu Shitsuke

By Jon Miller - September 25th, 2006

“Seiri (Sorting) is throwing out what you don’t need and Seiton (Straighten) is arranging items so that they are ready when you want them. Arranging things neatly is only Seiretsu (lining up in rows) and proper shop floor m

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