Why Great Kaizen Starts Before the Event

How one frustrated engineer reshaped the way I prepare leaders for successful Kaizen.

Customer focus, Kaizen Success Stories, Leadership, Learning, ServicesAdam LawrenceDecember 29, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCChartering, Leadership Alignment, Kaizen Facilitation, Accountability to Standard, Process Discipline, Continuous Improvement

Don't Go Down the Rabbit Hole

How a tough day on the plant floor reshaped my understanding of leadership, focus, and trust.

Customer focus, Kaizen Success Stories, Leadership, Learning, OperationsAdam LawrenceDecember 15, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCLeadership, Focus, Operations Management, Team Ownership, Process Discipline, Manufacturing Leadership

Squarely in the Middle of the Action

How asking a better question and slowing things down unlocked a stubborn reliability problem.

Innovation, Kaizen Success Stories, Learning, OperationsAdam LawrenceDecember 1, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCReliability, Changeover, Root Cause Analysis, Equipment Performance, Continuous Improvement, Manufacturing Excellence

My First Kaizen Event as a Consultant

The early lesson that reshaped how I scope, support, and design Kaizen events.

Leadership, Learning, Kaizen Success Stories, Customer focus, ServicesAdam LawrenceNovember 17, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCValue Stream Mapping, Kaizen Facilitation, Leadership Development, Continuous Improvement, Event Design

Safety Taken to the Extreme

What a four-day asbestos audit taught me about discipline, resilience, and what safety really means.

Kaizen Success Stories, Learning, Operations, Customer focusAdam LawrenceOctober 20, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCSafety, Compliance, Risk Management, Manufacturing Safety, Leadership Discipline, Continuous Improvement

How I Accidently Became a Paid Speaker

Why stepping outside your comfort zone can open doors you never expected.

Customer focus, Kaizen Success Stories, Leadership, Learning, ServicesAdam LawrenceOctober 6, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCLeadership, Speaking, Personal Growth, Continuous Improvement Thought Leadership, Wheel of Sustainability

Technology Doesn't Have to be Scary

Kaizen Success Stories, Customer focus, Innovation, LearningAdam LawrenceJuly 16, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCVoice of the Customer, teamwork, Innovation

A Gemba Walk Like No Other

Kaizen Success Stories, Customer focus, Leadership, Learning, OperationsAdam LawrenceJuly 2, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCVoice of the Customer, Gemba walk, Kaizen, leadership commitment

Conference Challenge Accepted

Kaizen Success Stories, Leadership, Learning, Customer focusAdam LawrenceMay 7, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCExperimentation, leadership commitment, Leadership commitment

Pick Your Winning Team

Leadership, Kaizen Success Stories, Customer focus, LearningAdam LawrenceMarch 26, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCteamwork, Kaizen, leadership commitment

The Birth and Quiet Death of Definitions

The research and development team created a product that they thought would change the ceiling grid market. The bad news is that it was hard to produce and no one bought it. The good news is that it lead to future innovations that the market loved.

Customer focus, Innovation, Learning, LeadershipAdam LawrenceMarch 20, 2025Process Improvement Partners LLCVoice of the customer, manufacturing, efficiency

Know Your Niche

As a Kaizen Ninja, I like to believe I can help any team solve any problem. Maybe I can, maybe I can’t—but believing it was causing me to dilute my message to my target audience. Let’s face it: no one believes you can be all things to all people.

Leadership, Learning, Services, Customer focusAdam LawrenceOctober 16, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCVoice of the customer, Leadership commitment, Marketing, Innovation

Creative Problem Solving Happens at Any Age

Problems are everywhere. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and give up, thinking there are more problems than solutions. While it’s true we can’t solve everything—and some things are simply out of our control—my advice is to focus on the problems you can solve and be willing to experiment until you get the results you’re looking for.

Innovation, Customer focus, Learning, LeadershipAdam LawrenceOctober 2, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCProblem solving, Teamwork, Voice of the customer

A Good Story Provides a Good Opportunity

I’ve always been a storyteller. Some people enjoy my stories, while others wish I’d get to the point faster. I get it—my approach isn’t for everyone. But storytelling is how I communicate my ideas. Sometimes, it even helps me get my way or stumble into an interesting adventure. Here’s one of those adventures.

Leadership, Innovation, Customer focus, LearningAdam LawrenceSeptember 18, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCVoice of the customer, Teamwork, leadership commitment

Improving Safety from the Perspective of our Customers

Armstrong World Industries has a strong safety culture and is relentless in driving to zero injuries globally. Early on in the journey to zero, our factories focused on compliance, holding people accountable to wear their safety glasses, safety shoes, and follow various protocols. That took safety to a certain level, but the company performance plateaued. How could we get to the next level of leadership?

Learning, Kaizen Success Stories, Leadership, OperationsAdam LawrenceSeptember 4, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCsafety, voice of the customer, leadership commitment, learning

Firm in our Convictions

I was promoted to business unit manager in a union facility for Armstrong World Industries. The relationship between management and the hourly employees had been strained for many years. It was so bad that on my first day on the job, there was a sign that said, “the plant will be closing in two months.” I wondered why they had so little faith in me. The shop steward told me, “Adam, even if we could trust you, we didn’t trust the person before you and won’t trust the person after you.” It was like they had given up on any form of leadership and stability.

Learning, Operations, Leadership, Kaizen Success StoriesAdam LawrenceAugust 21, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCsafety, leadership commitment, teamwork

What do you do when you’re the Industry Leader – you Improve!

Armstrong World Industries is the global leader in suspended ceilings. That might not seem like much to you, but when you sell over a billion square feet of ceiling tile and the grid to suspend it every year, you’re making a big impact in the construction and housing market.

Innovation, Kaizen Success Stories, Operations, Learning, Customer focusAdam LawrenceAugust 7, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCinnovation, breakthrough, strategic planning, value stream mapping, Leadership

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

For part of my career, I worked for Dal-Tile in Dallas Texas. I was the environmental, safety, health, and mining liaison for our twelve manufacturing plants. My job was to help each plant stay compliant and safe, providing training and reporting support. We had a number of factories in Texas, and I visited each one and get to the know the employees and leadership. That way, I could develop a support plan that was mutually beneficial.

Learning, Operations, Kaizen Success StoriesAdam LawrenceJuly 24, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCreliability, ownership, Sustainability, leadership

Building Their Future

A leading global building products company reached out for assistance with a strategy session. When I spoke with Vince, the sponsor/team leader, I listened to his pain points and suggested facilitating a Value Stream Mapping (VSM) session for his team. He told me VSM wasn’t how he wanted to proceed. Even though I thought it would be the best approach, I listened to his concerns and modified my approach for his needs. I’m glad I did.

Learning, Innovation, Kaizen Success StoriesAdam LawrenceJuly 10, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCvoice of the customer, strategic planning, Leadership commitment

A Brilliant Invention

In my early corporate days at Thomasville Furniture, I was given the opportunity to try many things to improve the performance and quality of the operation. This story isn’t about me, but another engineer, who came up with something so creative, he saved the company millions of dollars and improved quality of the product for our customers.

Innovation, Kaizen Success Stories, Learning, Leadership, OperationsAdam LawrenceJuly 3, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCinnovation, creativity, voice of the customer