The Bottleneck

The COO loved my work, but couldn't afford to bring me down to his company every week. He challenged me to upskill his employees to take over the Kaizen event responsibilities. Challenge accepted!

Lean, leadership, Kaizen Success Stories, Customer focus, LearningAdam LawrenceSeptember 12, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCVoice of the Customer, Teamwork, Kaizen

Living in the Moment

My project manager liked to tour new places and I found out how much he liked Formula 1 racing. While in Belgium, we found one of the most famous tracks in the world, Nürburgring. We walked in like we owned the place and had a blast taking it all in.

Kaizen Success Stories, Customer focus, Lean, Learning, leadershipAdam LawrenceSeptember 5, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCteamwork, innovation, Voice of the Customer, Adventure

Leadership Commitment in a Challenging Situation

When my team leader came down with COVID, I thought it would be wise to delay the Kaizen event. He wanted to push through and joined us virtually on the first day. Even without him physically in the room with the team, we didn't miss a beat and made some significant improvements.

Kaizen Success Stories, Customer focus, leadership, Lean, Learning, OperationsAdam LawrenceAugust 29, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCleadership commitment, Safety, 5S, Teamwork, Kaizen

Go with your Gut

I bought 200 ninja stress relievers to bring to a conference. My marketing mentor thought it was a bad idea. I decided to make the best of my "bad" investment.

Customer focus, Innovation, Kaizen Success Stories, Lean, LearningAdam LawrenceAugust 15, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCVoice of the Customer, Alignment, Teamwork

Getting More than they Bargained for

We were conducting the first 5S Kaizen at the plant. With so much disorganization and clutter, it was affecting the team's changeover performance. When I introduced the concept of Spaghetti Diagrams, it opened their eyes to the possibilities and reduced the changeover time by more than 50%.

Customer focus, Kaizen Success Stories, leadership, Lean, OperationsAdam LawrenceAugust 1, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCteamwork, Effectiveness, Kaizen, Changeover reduction, 5S

Five Tips for Effective Meetings

Do you dread going to meetings? If so, follow these five tips and you'll have more effective meetings and your teammates will thank you.

leadership, Customer focus, Lean, LearningAdam LawrenceJuly 18, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCleadership commitment, Effectiveness, Alignment, Purposeful design, continuous improvement

Carrying a Heavy Weight on my Shoulders

We had a challenging relationship between our hourly workers and management. I never realized how much it affected me, until I left and my neighbor saw the difference in me.

Kaizen Success Stories, leadership, Lean, Learning, OperationsAdam LawrenceJuly 4, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCleadership commitment, safety, Alignment, teamwork

A Picture is Worth More than a Thousand Words - It's Priceless

The leadership team didn't seem too interested in what I had to offer, until we showed them the before and after photos from their sister facility. Then, things got exciting!

Kaizen Success Stories, Customer focus, leadership, Lean, LearningAdam LawrenceJune 20, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCVoice of the Customer, leadership commitment, Alignment

A Challenging Place to Work

What appeared to be the hardest and hottest job in the company was the one valued most by the technician doing the work.

Kaizen Success Stories, leadership, Lean, Learning, Customer focus, OperationsAdam LawrenceJune 6, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCBenchmarking, Lean, Leadership

An Unlucky Break

Thanksgiving was always my nemesis at work. Things always seemed to happen over the holidays. This time, a water main break in the city of St. Helens Oregon shut our plant down and we had to figure out a way to get things running again without more disruptions.

Customer focus, Kaizen Success Stories, leadership, Learning, OperationsAdam LawrenceMay 23, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCteamwork, lean, leadership

Go to the Source

There were twelve different reports from eight different states all due at the same time. The only way to stay compliant was to contact each state agency and ask for their help.

Operations, Learning, Lean, leadership, Kaizen Success Stories, Customer focusAdam LawrenceMay 9, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCVoice of the Customer, customer focus, compliance, leadership commitment

Like a Pro

One of our team members was shy and reserved and didn't want to present during the report out. We were able to convince him and he was so passionate about our improvements, the audience was inspired.

Kaizen Success Stories, leadership, Lean, Learning, OperationsAdam LawrenceApril 25, 2024Process Improvement Partners LLCteamwork, Kaizen, lean, Wheel of Sustainability

Perfection Isn't Always a Good Idea

We brought robots into our dining room table factory, thinking that they could make a much better looking and consistent product than we could by hand. They succeeded, only to be rejected by our customers.