The Bottleneck

I met Andrew Koenig, the CEO of CITY Furniture, at a virtual Lean conference during the pandemic. We immediately hit it off, and he invited me to help strengthen the Kaizen culture at his company.

For two years, I facilitated Kaizen events on a monthly basis. It never ceased to amaze me at the number of improvements and breakthroughs that could be accomplished in a company that has been living Lean and continuous improvement for many years. More than that, the energy of team members was inspiring and infectious. I was warmly greeted by associates on every trip and many of them proudly showed off prior improvements and how they were sustaining the gains from our Kaizen events.

Getting More Than They Bargained For

My first Kaizen event with a new client in Oregon came as result of my site visit the month before. We were going to apply 5S to an area of their plant that was well behind budget. During my visit, I noticed that although prior efforts had been made to improve organization, they hadn’t stuck. With the appropriate use of Lean principles and the Wheel of Sustainability, I felt I could help them get back on track.

Go to Gemba, Even If You Don’t Want To

In 2019, I was asked to facilitate the annual Value Stream Mapping (strategic planning) event for a leading consumer brands manufacturer at their facility in Central Pennsylvania. I had facilitated their event the prior year and it was our intent to build on the prior results and drive their continuous improvement culture forward during the event.

Macon Progress

Once upon a time in 1998, I helped a team in Macon Georgia improve the reliability and safety of one of their production lines. The work was exciting, the team was enthusiastic, and we were making breakthroughs beyond what I ever imagined could happen. Something was missing, however. For some reason our sponsor, the Business Unit Manager, never came out to the line to see what we were doing. Although the team didn’t seem to mind, it really bothered me. After all, we were doing things so quickly and effectively, and solving so many problems that others weren’t able to solve, I wondered why he didn’t appear to be interested in our progress. If you know me, you could predict I would do something about it. And, I wouldn’t be subtle about it.

The Strength of Ownership

My focus in continuous improvement has always been to help teams solve problems in a sustainable way. Early on in my career, I learned many facilitation techniques through trial and error, mostly error. One of the biggest errors I ever made during a Kaizen event was to be too directive with a team. When one of the team members said, “Adam wants us to do this…,” I knew I was in trouble.

Overcoming Resistance to Change

Process Improvement Partners was brought in to help a consumer goods manufacturer cut their changeover time (the time it takes to switch tooling and equipment over from one product to another) in half. By doing so, they would be able to reduce inventory and improve process performance.

Owning Their Solution in the Weld Shop

I have conducted many workplace organization Kaizens (5S) over the years. The results have always been dramatic. All of the teams were made up of production operators or office workers, with some mechanics assisting the team. The production operators or office workers owned the areas needing organization and the mechanics were able to do some of the more complex tasks needed during the Kaizen. All of the teams, that is, until I met my Weld Shop team. Five mechanics and an engineer, who underestimated what we could accomplish.

Sometimes It’s a Financial Question

A global ceilings manufacturer was building a plant in China. Things were going pretty well until they realized they were going to be two months late starting up. The team wasn’t sure what they could do to get back on schedule, so I was invited to join them and use Lean thinking to help solve the problem.

Breaking Through - The Edge

In 2005, I was asked to help a team reduce the changeover time of a painting operation at a ceiling tile manufacturing plant in Oregon. The approach I used was SMED – Single Minute Exchange of Die. The goal was to reduce the existing changeover time by 50% or more, while improving the safety of the work.

How to Use Kaizen to Ensure Teams are Invested in Process Improvements

In 2005, I was helping a team improve the safety and productivity of their operating line. During a 4-day span, each of the team members was able to try and implement many different ideas that arose from their creativity.

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