Gemba Academy

How Can American Government Meet Its Productivity Challenge?

By Jon Miller - August 13th, 2006

So asks a white paper by the same tile by the folks at global management consulting giant McKinsey & Company. The white paper cites an interesting statistic. The 2005 U.S. federal budget outlay was 20.3% of the GDP of the United S

I Mean It. Be Dissatisfied in the Work You Do

By Jon Miller - August 12th, 2006

Reader Jeff made a good point in a comment he left a end of one of the articles here at Panta Rei. I suggested replacing “Take pride in the work you do” signs in the workplace with “Be dissatisfied in the work you do&

Visit Got Boondoggle? for the 10 Lessons to Kaizen the Kaizen

By Jon Miller - August 11th, 2006

There’s a great post and invaluable advice on how to kaizen the kaizen event from Mike Wroblewski at the Got Boondoggle? blog today. Mike was happy with the results from a kaizen event at an aerospace firm in Indiana, where his k

Top 3 Ways Kaizen Events Enable Culture Change

By Jon Miller - August 9th, 2006

“What is your approach to culture change?” we are often asked when clients are first getting to know us. It’s always tempting to pull out a PowerPoint presentation and go through our 12-Step Program for Culture Change

Kaizen in Software Development: Start by Seeing the 7 Wastes

By Jon Miller - August 8th, 2006

It’s worth repeating time and time again that what makes an organization Lean is not whether they have implemented the methodologies, tools and procedures that people recognize as part of the Toyota Production System model. In ot

Learning Lessons from Big Mistakes

By Jon Miller - August 7th, 2006

I made a big mistake last week. Apologies were made. Lessons were learned. Errors in judgment are revealing mistakes to learn from, since in your your state of mind at the time you were not in error. The kaizen philosophy requires that

Gemba Keiei by Taiichi Ohno, Chapter 29: Become a Reliable Boss

By Jon Miller - August 4th, 2006

“I never get angry at the workers. However, I will get very angry at supervisors and above.” Some people say that Taiichi Ohno was not a very nice man. Ohno had a reputation for being very tough on his students, and some ev

One Key to a Lean Culture: Be Dissatisfied in the Work You Do

By Jon Miller - August 3rd, 2006

We met today with a long-term client of ours who has a small fabrication shop near our office. They make prosthetics (artificial limbs) which are each truly “one of a kind”, custom fit to the individual. As a small, growing

When did Toyota Get to be a Company Like This?

By Jon Miller - August 2nd, 2006

Toyota does not sell cars because people crave their sleek design or because the Camry is a status symbol. People buy and drive Toyotas because they are reliable and they have a high resale value. They are well-built and reasonably pri

One Definition of Lean Manufacturing

By Jon Miller - July 31st, 2006

During a conference call to plan the agenda for a global meeting of Lean manufacturing leaders at one of our clients, they identified their desire to establish “one definition of Lean manufacturing” at their company. This m

Lean Manufacturing, Chicken Knife. Six Sigma, Cow Knife.

By Jon Miller - July 29th, 2006

I learned a new Chinese expression this week from a Six Sigma Master Black Belt from Taiwan. We were discussing how Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma fit together, and how sometimes there can be misunderstandings and conflicts between t

Error Proof the Pokayoke to Build in Quality

By Jon Miller - July 26th, 2006

In order to have a just in time production system function properly you need to work towards zero defects and build in quality to every process. Otherwise the lack of extra buffer inventory will shut down the material flow when a defec

Getting in the Habit of Change

By Jon Miller - July 24th, 2006

People often say that sustaining the gains of kaizen and Lean manufacturing is the hardest thing. How well you sustain kaizen is really about how well you adapt to change. Kaizen and Lean manufacturing are not “one time and done&

Standard Work is Kaizen Instruction for Managers

By Jon Miller - July 21st, 2006

Standard Work may be the most important Lean manufacturing tool that you don’t know enough about. Built on the three elements of takt time, work sequence, and standard work in process (standard WIP), it is the cornerstone of the

Kaizen Song: g.e.m.b.a

By Jon Miller - July 20th, 2006

g.e.m.b.a. (to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”) Young man, there’s no need to feel down I said, young man, pick your reports off the ground I said, young man, ’cause your boss ripped you a new one There’s no nee

What’s Next After Lean?

By Jon Miller - July 18th, 2006

When I saw the article I thought surely one of the other Lean bloggers would jump all over it. Perhaps it was too easy. So I let it slide for a few days. Then I changed my mind. What’s next after Lean? Asks the interview with aut

Gemba Keiei by Taiichi Ohno, Chapter 28: Wits Don’t Work Until You Feel the Squeeze

By Jon Miller - July 17th, 2006

“When I’m sitting in the board room I have no idea what’s happening on the gemba.” Taiichi Ohno begins, and proceeds to tell the story of what would happen when he was sitting in another office, Production Control. When his eye

Kaizen Secrets of the Toyota Mind

By Jon Miller - July 16th, 2006

There have been many books on the bestseller list with variations on the theme of “how to become a millionaire”. A fellow named T. Harv Eker rolled through Seattle a few years ago and gave a free seminar on the subject. It seemed l

Words of Taiichi Ohno Sensei, Part 3: The Top 8 Pearls of Wisdom on Kaizen

By Jon Miller - July 13th, 2006

Taiichi Ohno loved wordplay. He would take a few choice Japanese words and pack in as much kaizen wisdom as he could. He chose his words carefully, even though in much of his writing he was informal and direct, and not highly articulat

Words of Taiichi Ohno Sensei, Part 2: Foreword from the First Textbook on the Toyota Production System

By Jon Miller - July 12th, 2006

This is an image of the first textbook ever written on the Toyota Production System. The title reads Toyota Style Production System – The Toyota Method. The Toyota Education Department published this in January 1973. Taiichi Ohno wr

Words of Taiichi Ohno Sensei, Part 1: “I Never Said There Were 7 Types of Waste”

By Jon Miller - July 10th, 2006

One has to be careful these days when making statements about the origins of TPS and check the facts, or else be pinned to the mat for a count of three by the investigative tag-team of Art Smalley and Isao Kato. So I’ll confess t

Spending Money to Hinder Leadership

By Jon Miller - July 7th, 2006

I recently went to Japan with a group of directors from an aerospace company to see Toyota and other leaders of Lean. One of the results of the trip was that the director or engineering really saw the waste walls cause in the office an

How Toyota Used IT to Cut New Product Development Time in Half

By Jon Miller - July 5th, 2006

This is a follow up to a previous post on How Toyota Uses Information Technology (IT) for Kaizen based on an interview with Toyota CIO Amano in the Nikkei BP magazine. This one is titled The Role of the CIO is to Change the Way We Work

Every Day is a Good Day for Daily Kaizen in Lean Healthcare

By Jon Miller - July 3rd, 2006

Today is a good day for Daily Kaizen! The intranet blog for the Lean healthcare team at Group Health Cooperative is now open to the public. The authors are Lee Fried, internal consultant who is spearheading the Lean effortsat Group Hea

No One Does Lean Like the Japanese

By Jon Miller - July 1st, 2006

Or at least that’s the title of an article in the July 10, 2006 BusinessWeek. It’s good to see Lean production being featured in mainstream business magazines like this even if it’s likely to stir up the emotions of q

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