SSAA (Six Sigma Academy Amsterdam) International

Origin The G21 project was a largescale project that enfolded at Toyota in the 1990’s. The aim was to navigate Toyota through the advent of the 21 st century, by creating a vehicle (catalogue) that could withstand the challenges of the upcoming 21 st century, including ever growing resource scarcity.   Many of you have seen one of the most prominent fruits of this project on the road. Perhaps, you or someone you know, even drives it. We are of course referring to the Toyota Prius. Less well known is another “fruit” of the G21 project, namely the “obeya” ( 大部屋 ) which translates to “big room” and was the brain child of Takeshi Uchiyamada, the chief engineer of the G21 project.   As the project advanced, Uchiyamada started to experience the same frustrating situation over and over again. Toyota was not a small company. In fact it was an industrial behemoth. A vast variety of experts, leaders and stakeholders wandered around in that gigantic ecosystem, both in and outside...

  The picture was sent by one of my students who couldn’t attend his exam. I have heard the most creative excuses from students who were too late for their exam. “My dog ate my contact lenses” from 2014 is so far the most memorable. But the one I heard last month was unique! A student was scheduled for an oral exam. About 30 minutes before the exam, he emails me: “Sir, I can’t make it. I am in the train and my jeans have split in two parts. I have to head back home. I can’t show up like this…..” Once at home, he sends me the picture I’m showing here. Turns out that this was the second time this happened with his jeans. My student wasn’t lying because I was there the first time it happened. It happened in class as he bent to pick up his ear pods that fell on the ground. The jeans split into two parts on the backside. Inflation is the increase of the aggregate price level and is generally tracked by the so-called CPI. In the most simple terms, products and services become more expe...

The Toyota Production System places a lot of value on the avoidance of mistakes in an attempt to reduce the need for costly rework and repairs, as well as the expensive inspections that precede and follow the repair and rework. This process of “mistake proofing” is called “Poka Yoke” (ポカヨケ). In the video below, we show an example of this poka yoke principle that Toyota used in the past in their manufacturing process. It should be noted that today’s technology obviously allows for much more sophisticated solutions.   

I really hate to fly longer than 2-3 hours, but in 2025 I found myself yet again on board of a plane, this time being imprisoned for almost 14 hours as it would fly from Amsterdam to Tokyo. This already long flight had become even longer due to the fact that certain airspace had to be avoided due to political factors. Be it as it may, with such an ocean of time at my disposal, I drafted a new offline course and I watched Joker Folie a Deux, not once but twice. I actually appreciated it too, contrary to the vast majority of people. In fact, I found it to be a masterpiece!  I wanted to make the trip to Japan for years, but every time something had come up and I couldn’t get the factory access that I wanted. But this time was different and I managed to secure a good mix of factory tours and interviews with professionals and academics. The trip was worth the hassle. On the third day of the trip, I left an extremely hot Tokyo to travel to an even hotter Nagoya. I would have never im...

It was a rainy evening in Maastricht, a not particularly big city in the South of Holland. It had been raining non stop for 3 weeks and if you wouldn't know better, you would wonder why the heavens do not run out of water! Maastricht is a city that seems to have been stuck with one leg in the early 20th century and it is exactly that which gives it its charm. For me, a trip to Maastricht is not just a trip in space. It is also a trip in time! Anyways, enough with the city marketing, especially because they did not pay a cent to sponsor this article!   I had a busy day in Maastricht discussing a possible partnership with a Belgian e-commerce company. Long story short, we did not agree on a cooperation, but we had a few laughs and shared some valuable experiences and that too is not a bad outcome. Without an agreement, but with a cup of coffee in my hand, I was waiting in the central station of Maastricht, waiting for the train that would take me back home. Then I hear "hello si...

"Is Lean more suitable than Agile for my company?" This is like asking: "Is mashed potatoes better than restaurant?" Agile is first and foremost 4 values, namely: Individuals and interactions  over processes and tools   Working software  over comprehensive documentation   Customer collaboration  over contract negotiation   Responding to change  over following a plan As you can clearly see, these are not very rigidly defined. They leave a lot to the ones implementing these values. It's up to them to come up with the right tools and techniques to give shape to these 4 values. This is where Lean might come in (but please realize that it does not have to ). Lean has an impressive library of tools and techniques that can help to give shape to some of these values. So Lean might complement Agile, but choosing between either Lean or Agile is not relevant.    www.ssaa.nl