Adam Lawrence 8/1/21 Adam Lawrence 8/1/21

Line Up and Do the Right Thing

Sometimes you have to put yourself in the middle to protect the interests of the team.

An overhead view of a factory, with lengths of wood being cut and stored. The shipping doors are blocked with materials.

Adam Lawrence 7/21/21 Adam Lawrence 7/21/21

Kaizen every day

Most Kaizen events last anywhere from 2 hours to 4 1/2 days. This one lasted six months.

Multiple empty seats on a bus, with purple bars to hold onto.

Adam Lawrence 7/7/21 Adam Lawrence 7/7/21

Fix it and make a difference

In a factory with thousands of improvement opportunities, helping just one person made it all worthwhile.

A factory worker, wearing a brown jacket, pushing a large cube of products along a track. He's straining to make the product move along.

Adam Lawrence 6/23/21 Adam Lawrence 6/23/21

Color Coded Badges

How an area owner took it upon himself to ensure people were doing the right thing.

A worker identification badge, from the ACME company, attached to a black lanyard and laying on a table.

Adam Lawrence 6/9/21 Adam Lawrence 6/9/21

Let's see how things go

Standing by your convictions can lead to breakthrough performance.

An overhead view of a factory, with multiple conveyers and a palletizer, making large boxed products.

Adam Lawrence 5/26/21 Adam Lawrence 5/26/21

Listen to your People, People

Although you can't schedule invention, you can reduce waste in the process leading up to it.

Three people in business suits, talking around a meeting table. There is a white board to the right and a bottle of water on the table.

Adam Lawrence 5/12/21 Adam Lawrence 5/12/21

Shine a Light on the Problem

Truly understanding the problem to be solved helped the team come up with a breakthrough solution.

A well lit metal ceiling, with square lights placed every 4 feet.

Adam Lawrence 5/12/21 Adam Lawrence 5/12/21

If it Fits, it Ships

Using Tell, Show, and Do prevented a problem that would have created a poor customer experience.

A clean and organized warehouse, well lit, with everything on shelves and off of the floor.

Adam Lawrence 4/28/21 Adam Lawrence 4/28/21

This Stuff Works

Credibility was gained from the user of the system, rather than the "expert".

A series of tools, including wrenches, pliers, and gears, laid out on a table in an organized way.

Adam Lawrence 4/14/21 Adam Lawrence 4/14/21

Macon Progress

The day I learned a hard lesson about Leadership Commitment and almost got fired.

Shadow image of two people having a lively discussion.

Adam Lawrence 3/31/21 Adam Lawrence 3/31/21

Go to Gemba, even if you don't want to

This is the story of how I challenged the plant manager to go to the Gemba to verify his assumptions about the factory floor. Spoiler alert - he learned something he wasn’t expecting.

Four people, all wearing grey shirts, one female, three male, discussing an issue on a factory floor.

Adam Lawrence 3/17/21 Adam Lawrence 3/17/21

Gemba Walks

The story of how I helped a team from St. Helens improve their gemba walk and directly improve productivity.

Four people wearing yellow safety vests, one of the with a pad of paper in his hand, walking on a factory floor.

Adam Lawrence 3/3/21 Adam Lawrence 3/3/21

Best Event Ever

My catch phrase for Kaizen events caught on throughout the organization and created energy and excitement for process improvement.

Many people putting their hands on top of each other to signify teamwork and alignment.

Adam Lawrence 2/17/21 Adam Lawrence 2/17/21

Attention to Detail

This is story of how getting people to utilize standard work improved performance immediately and significantly.

An industry standard 5S audit sheet, with twelve categories to evaluate.

Adam Lawrence 2/3/21 Adam Lawrence 2/3/21

Call 911

By creating three questions, we were able to save critical minutes of preparation for the maintenance department.

A person using a desk phone to call someone. The handset is in his left hand and his right hand is pushing the number 6.

Adam Lawrence 1/20/21 Adam Lawrence 1/20/21

A Tasty Breakthrough

When our experienced engineer crushed cornflakes over the ceiling tile, we knew we had our answer.

Adam Lawrence 1/6/21 Adam Lawrence 1/6/21

Owning Their Solution in the Weld Shop

I had to create a significant emotional event to drive our team of welders to take ownership of their process.

A person welding a 90 degree bracket, wearing a face shield

Adam Lawrence 12/23/20 Adam Lawrence 12/23/20

Where is It?

We were arguing about a problem we were trying to solve when our Sensei walked over and told us to go to gemba to find it. I didn’t even know what it was!

Two people working at a table with post-it notes and colored pencils. One is pointing to his computer screen.

Adam Lawrence 12/9/20 Adam Lawrence 12/9/20

Go See For Yourself

When we saw what was actually happening behind the paint booth during changeover, we were horrified.

A painter, wearing a blue cap and safety glasses, holding a paint roller and getting ready to paint the room.

Adam Lawrence 11/25/20 Adam Lawrence 11/25/20

Training in the Moment

During a changeover reduction Kaizen at a gummy vitamin factory, the team learned how to use “Tell, Show, and Do” to solidify the training for the crew.