Today's Lean Manufacturing

Focus is a necessary condition of outstanding performance. This seems to be common sense, but unfortunately dosen't always make its way into practice in many organizations. A Booz & Company survey found that: Forty-nine percent of respondents said  their company  had no list of strategic priorities. Sixty-four percent of respondents said they had too many conflicting priorities. Eighty-two percent of respondents said that functional departments had to many competing demands from different business units. "Karen Martin, 2012, Focus, The Outstanding Organization, McGraw-Hill" Here is another great podcast from Karen Martin, this one on the topic of FOCUS. Topics covered in this podcast: The Hidden Costs of Being Unfocused "Switchtasking" The Beauty of Not Doing Reward Systems and High Visibility Displays of Individual Heroics Setting Priorities Prioritization Considerations as a Tool to Learn What to Focus On Project Ownership Measurable Objectives Building Consensus with "Catchball" Focused Project Management Focused Meetings   This and much, much more are discussed in this interview with Karen.  Please visit her website www.outstandingorg.com and and avail yourself of her books and other great resources.  

Karen Martin author of: The Outstanding Organization: Generate Business Results by Eliminating Chaos and Building the Foundation for Everyday Excellence The Kaizen Event Planner: Achieving Rapid Improvement in Office, Service, and Technical Environments And her newest book: Metrics-Based Process Mapping: Identifying and Eliminating Waste in Office and Service Processes Karen shows us how Continuous Improvement isn't haphazard but rather all begins with achieving clarity in our organizations. Clarity around: Telling and seeking the truth: by being honest and not being tempted to use “soft” language that may run the risk of introducing imprecision and ambiguity into the situation and by staying away from “Fuzzy Words”, phases I think, Maybe, and I've heard can be symptoms of fuzzy thinking. Clarity around: Performance and key performance metrics and the necessary tools used in organizations that seek to become outstanding. Clarity around: Measuring quality and work effort in terms of process time, speed in terms of lead time  and quality in terms of percent complete and accurate. Clarity around: Visual management that provides baselines and other visual essentials for process management around where we are headed as an organization. And Clarity around Vision Clear, Specific, Differentiation and Inspiring.  Clear vision galvanizes our workforce toward achieving our goals in the Outstanding Organization and our markets respectively. Join me as we listen in with Karen.

 ISO 9001-2008 Stage II Audit preparation: Part 2 In this podcast we discuss with Mark Thompson of ATN the steps necessary in getting your company ready for a Stage II ISO audit. What to expect from an outside auditor. Is your Quality System effective? The benefits of ISO certification for your company. And much more...

ISO 9001 2008 In this podcast, Mark Thompson from ATN walks us through the ISO 9001 2008 certification process.  He starts with the reasons why a company would decide to commit the necessary resources to get an ISO certification project done.  Mark then describes what a company needs to do to get prepared, and how to select an ISO registrar.  Finally he shares how to begin the process for a Stage I audit, and beyond. So where did the ISO name come from? Because 'International Organization for Standardization' would have different acronyms in different languages (IOS in English, OIN in French for Organisation internationale de normalisation), the founders decided to give it the short form ISO. ISO is derived from the Greek isos, meaning equal. Whatever the country, whatever the language, the short form is always ISO.

Karen Martin is helping companies design and build better, more efficient operations by pinpointing why performance improvement programs usually fail.  Chaos, the sneaky but powerful force that frustrates customers, keeps business leaders awake at  night, and saps company morale. In her new book: The Outstanding Organization: Karen offers a toolbox for combating chaos by creating the organizational conditions that will allow a company’s improvement efforts to return greater gains. Karen’s system focuses on for key behaviors Clarity, Focus, Discipline, and Engagement. Show notes: Four causes of chaos Lack of Clarity Lack of Focus Lack of Discipline Lack of Engagement CLARITY Words Matter, Truth, telling/seeking Nice, is not always honest Fuzzy Words: I think, Maybe, I've heard They.... Culture Indicators and Key Words CLARITY: Key Performance Metrics Percent Complete and Accurate: (%C&A) Process Time: (PT) Lead Time: (LT) Achieving clarity visual management - go and see FOCUS The hidden cost of being unfocused The beauty of "Not Doing" Building Consensus with Catchball Focused Meetings: No calls, texts, IM's emails etc. DISCIPLINE Predictable performance You’re already working hard PDSA - Everywhere "Community of Scientists" Standardization ENGAGEMENT Organizational climate and systems Three C's Connection, Control, Creativity Your hired - the on boarding process Process Pairing Blue Angels - Pensacola Florida – example of an Outstanding Organization Never canceled do to maintenance issues  

Mark Graban   Mark is a consultant, author, keynote speaker, and blogger in the word of Lean Healthcare.  He is an experienced consultant and change agent with a background in industrial and mechanical engineering.   Since August 2005, Mark has worked exclusively in healthcare, where he has coached Lean teams in North America and the United Kingdom. Mark recently joined the software company KaiNexus as Chief Improvement Officer, to help further their mission of  "making improvement easier"  in healthcare organizations. In this interview we covered material from both his books: Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen.                                            Join us as we talk with Mark Graban, here are a few of the points covered: Renewed Purpose - Dr Jacob Caron - "Lean and Loving... a mission impossible"? Henry Ford 1922 - "It is not at all certain whether hospitals as they are now managed exist for patients of for doctors" Lean is helping hospitals improve Problems in Healthcare Good Quality Costs Less Value and Waste Standardized Work as a Foundation of Lean, can that really happen in a hospital - where every day is different?...... Preventing errors Improving Flow Getting Started

Staying Relevant in an Ever Changing World.    Colleen is the author of the book “From Bedlam to Boardroom” “Companies are no longer look for good generalists but rather very specific problem solvers. They are looking for individuals who have a proven track record of solving deep problems in very specific areas such as international tariffs and trade or operational excellence in Lean, for example”. Colleen explains the "Must Have Ingredients" to online branding and visibility. As an executive talent search expert, and owner of  Devon James Associates, Inc. she has served such companies as: Amazon, Visio, Cranium, Avenue A, and dozens of other start-ups. Disruptive ideas and edgy theories landed Colleen on the pages of Fast Company, SmartMoney, Forbes, Fortune, Inc, Wall Street Journal, and CEO Magazine. Show notes: some points from interview: Found not hired Narrow & Deep Assessment testing Discover the silver thread in your career On line profile 83% use the web Key words, Kaizen and your search Six degrees of separation LIFO – last in, first up on the web 500 connections Groups Discussions – forums – Engage your community: Lean Manufacturing, Operations etc. Please join me in welcoming Colleen Aylward to Today's Lean Manufacturing Podcast.

A3 a Lean Continuous Improvement Problem Solving Tool   This week I welcome back Mark Thompson with ATN, Alabama Technology Network, to discuss A3.  A3 is a Lean continuous improvement tool made famous by the Toyota Motor Corporation in the training of its engineers and floor supervisors.   The power of using the A3 a (11’’ x 17’’) paper size work sheet is multifaceted. It serves as a problem solving report that guides the users in clearly and concisely identifying the problem at hand by writing a clear problem statement, then taking all important steps of action. It then moves to an objective section by clearly identifying the desired outcomes which enables an individual or team to keep their efforts focused.  This is followed by a clear depiction of the current state, followed by a description of a future state condition sought by the problem solvers. The goal of the A3 is to focus on root cause problem solving.  At this point other Lean tools may be employed by the team to identify and discover the true cause or condition of the problem or improvement sought such as asking the five whys, a fish bone diagram and so on. The A3 drives collaborative efforts for problem solvers to address the real root cause of a problem. Mark does a great job in this podcast of describing the benefit and effective use of A3 to any organization.  I am delighted to have Mark back on the show to share with us his experience with A3, a continuous improvement tool.   A3 Project Plan

Henry Ford the Father of Lean   Ford is sometimes known as the father of the automobile, but to me his enduring contribution is the fact that he is really the father of continuous flow.  In a sense he could be thought of as the father of Lean. In my podcast today, I talk again with Mark Thompson covering the fascinating book by Henry Ford, “Today and Tomorrow”. “Many of the ideas we call “just-in-time” came from the way Henry Ford organized his production process.  In 1926 it took his workers only 81 hours to go from iron ore to finished product.  Imagine it taking only three days and nine hours to produce an automobile.” -  Publisher’s Foreword – Productivity Press Portland, Oregon. That is an amazing feat even by today’s standards.  Other concepts like parts standardization, continuously improving work methods, doubling workers wages and enlisting their hearts and not just their brawn, are what make this book a seminal work in understanding the history of production in America and the pursuit of Lean.  Mark Thompson does a great job in bringing these and more topics out in our conversation together.