Stories of Leadership, Lean, and Learning
I often meet people who are interested in the work I do, and sometimes, these conversations turn into future business opportunities. One statement I hear quite frequently goes something like this: “I see you’ve made great strides working with manufacturers in [insert industry here]. But we’re different, so I want to know what experience you have in my industry.”
Read MoreOnce the workers in Mississippi saw how quickly the reliability techniques made their line safer and more efficient, they became unstoppable.
Read MoreThe hourly operator knew more about the science of board drying than anyone on the benchmarking team. This ownership correlated to the best running factory in our company.
Read MoreWith focused questioning, we were able to eliminate a process that was challenging, dusty, and unsafe. And, we saved the plant over a million dollars.
Read MoreWe created a beautiful, highly complicated product that no one bought. In the end, it led to many great innovations.
Read MoreWhen 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.
Read MoreWe 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%.
Read MoreWe 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.
Read MoreWhat appeared to be the hardest and hottest job in the company was the one valued most by the technician doing the work.
Read MoreThanksgiving 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.
Read MoreThere 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.
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