Abbott Laboratories is a global, broad-based healthcare company, which discovers, develops, manufactures and sells pharmaceuticals and medical products. In this presentation, you will hear about a comprehensive Operational Excellence system able to develop a daily basis continuous improvement culture. Learn an innovative way to implement Lean through five maturity stages for a sustainable change, and how to make people the center of the strategic action plan to support value creation. Discover the main entrepreneurship recipe’s ingredients to transform Lean knowledge and culture to achieve Excellence Inside to win competitiveness challenges.

AccuRounds is not your average precision machining company. When founded in 1976, they focused on simple Swiss screw machining. Today, they manufacture all types of complex shafts, pins and valves in a variety of materials. In 2006, AccuRounds became the first metalworking company in North America to receive the Northeast Shingo Prize Silver Medal, by reorganizing their entire operation, both physically and organizationally. See how the implementation of a new floor layout designed around value streams, and supported by a Lean management system, provided the platform for dramatically decreasing lead times by more than 50%, reducing cost of quality to well below 1% of sales, improving on-time delivery to greater than 97%. Learn how they were able to sustain Lean in an ever-changing business environment through the application of Leader Standard Work, Visual Controls, Idea Generation and much more.

See what Acuity Brands Lighting has achieved by using 4-M Leadership thinking, Man, Machine, Material and Method - Gemba Leadership. See how the use of visual management and how developing accountability and ownership can drastically change the entire supply chain and your ability to compete in the global market place, by using fundamental Lean tools. Learn how auditing standard work to improve previous poor results gives Acuity Brands Lighting a true advantage over those who wait on results to determine corrective actions. In this presentation, you will see examples of their activities and programs designed to achieve a Lean supply chain through two completely different methods.

Aidmatrix leverages unique supply chain technologies to help corporations and humanitarian aid organizations transform over $1.5 Billion worth of surplus food, medicines and other needed items into valuable humanitarian aid, impacting the lives of over 35 million people each year. Enhanced Tax Benefits for donating surplus product, rising disposal costs and demands for corporation to execute on “green” objectives are making the donation of surplus product an ever more compelling value proposition for manufacturers, donors and retailers. Executives from industry and The Aidmatrix Foundation will share success stories, where employing world-class processes and technologies to the “supply chain of giving” have driven significant bottom-line corporate returns from doing good. Aidmatrix have won numerous awards, including Supply Chain Distinction Award 2009 (World Trade Group, European Supply Chain & Logistics Summit) and CSCMP Supply Chain Innovation Award (2007).

Gain new insight into how one of the world leaders in eye care has build Excellence Inside their processes. Majority owned by Nestle? S.A., Switzerland, with U.S. operations based in Fort Worth, Texas, Alcon has over 15,000 employees worldwide, and develops, manufactures and distributes hundreds of eye care products, in more than 180 countries. This presentation highlights Alcon’s Lean Value Stream toolset, used to achieve improved customer satisfaction. Learn how a focus on customer service and utilizing Lean tools reduced, and finally eliminated, customer back orders, while improving quality, reliability and cost. See the practical applications of Lean tools, like Value Stream Analysis, 5S and Poka-Yoke, along with innovative tools created by Alcon. This presentation also provides a virtual tour of operations through pictures and videos of the Lean transformation process.

Andersen Corporation is the largest window and door manufacturer in North America. Their presentation will center around a concise, behavior-based model and Lean management tools used daily to run and improve the plant's operations. This Lean management is built on a tier structure with practices, tools and behaviors that strengthen integration of the hardware and software of Lean for sustained success. Hear how to make cultural, organizational and managerial changes, resulting in a process-dependant Lean management system, and the articulations and interdependency of the main Lean management elements: tier management supporting PDCA and A3 thinking, layered leader standardized work, and accountability systems based on the supportive leadership model.

Anderson Packaging has been a dedicated contract packager to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries for over 35 years, with seven pharmaceutical and specialty packaging facilities. Empowered employees, starting on the front line and working up to the President, is extremely powerful. Keys to success are training, coaching, Lean identification and continuous improvement process, quick implementation, and rewards and success recognition. Learn about the value of regularly measuring the culture and techniques to improve it, with a model which significantly reinforces the values and importance of each individual to the organization. Leave with the knowledge to plan and implement value streams, Kaizen events and quality circles and a framework for respecting all employees, making improvements through the workforce and measuring results and culture.

Presentation 1 (VS2)

Autoliv’s process of policy deployment, combined with the implementation of a world class leader standardized work program, is driving amazing levels of employee engagement and business results. Since 2004, the Autoliv Americas Division has dramatically increased its operational income and increased total units produced by 45%, all while seeing a 14% reduction in overhead, a 40% reduction in premium freight expense. The AOA facility received the Shingo Prize for the 2nd time in 2009. In addition, the plant implemented over 94,000 employee’s suggestions in 2009 alone! Results were achieved by creating a culture of CI at all levels. The critical role of management to succeed is included in the presentation, including a discussion of the role visual management plays in daily problem solving and the execution of the company’s CI strategy.

Presentation 2 (VS7)

Autoliv has been at the forefront of car occupant safety since 1954, and today is the leading producer of automotive safety products worldwide. This presentation will discuss the notion of putting down a conventional and well-known tool of intimidation and demand, in exchange for embracing and partnering with a supplier to grow and teach them. The reality and pressure of supply chain situation causes many different types of changes and strategies to surface. All of these reductions/rebates, given to the customer year after year, cut into the bottom line of the organization, often wiping out the entire years improvements or savings. Learn of the importance of taking control of your ‘system’-‘ic’ potential and create or recover the losses due to quality leaks that find their way into your customers’ hands.

Recently awarded ASTD's (American Society for Training and Development) 2009 Excellence in Practice Award for Performance Improvement, Ball Metal has transformed its Leader Performance Improvement Program into a world class, benchmarking program. Their team recognized troubling workforce/production trends and made a long-term commitment to design, develop, pilot and roll out a system to attack them. Through careful, measured program management, these trends have reversed and plant's performance has dramatically improved. The real impact of the Performance Improvement System is the improvement to the company's bottom line, where exceeding production goals is now more frequent and more consistent with the same size workforce. Since June 2008, the plant has realized a return on the investment of over 350%, while decreasing spoilage by over 24.5%, and improving customer complaints by 50.4% from the previous year.

Barry-Wehmiller builds great people, who do extraordinary things for their customers of packaging, corrugating and finishing equipment and engineering services. Their Lean journey aligns with their vision to “measure success by the way we touch the lives of people.” More than tools alone, they have accelerated and sustained their Lean journey through people-centric recognition programs, internally developed training modules taught by frontline experts, and a cross divisional benchmarking structure to leverage ideas and accountability. Achieving business success of over 19% returns for more than 20 years requires a sustainable message and dedicated processes to ensure follow-up. Learn how a sustained culture of learning is a vital aspect of remaining a strong business, even during an economic downturn, and how reflection upon challenges led to additional growth, creating value streams and new ways to define what it means to succeed.

Bredero Shaw is a division of ShawCor Ltd., a growth-oriented energy services company focused on technology-based products for the energy industry. Finding True North is a unique journey and their story starts out just as many Lean journeys often do, with a compelling need for change – they initiated the ShawCor Manufacturing System (SMS). The practical application of 5S, SOPs, process mapping, standardized metrics, SMED and other initiatives delivered tangible results. So why change? Hear how they began to understand the meaning of culture and its role, and gain an understanding of how to implement a strategically aligned, systematic approach to Lean deployment, with a focus on leadership, culture and process.

Recipient of the Commission On Cancer's Outstanding Achievement Award, for their unwavering focus on improving the needs and values of patients (customers). Cancer Treatment Centers of America® has truly built Excellence Inside their four walls, with what they call "The Mother Standard" of care. Learn how this standard has empowered CTCA® stakeholders to provide maximum value for their patients, through continuous enhancements of their processes.

Catalent offers integrated, single-source development capabilities across the drug development and manufacturing spectrum. Catalent RTP is a pharmaceutical testing laboratory division of Catalent Pharma Solutions. When faced with several voice of customer issues, they implemented a Lean System for Managing (LSFM), an integration program for organizational mobilization, sustaining and growing the process improvements throughout.  Designed to manage departments and people, and identify daily work requirements in supporting customer promises, as well as basic management training, the use of this tool increased overall effectiveness of leaders and employees, allowing them to reach required goals & objectives on a daily basis. Today, Catalent RTP is a model for efficient and effective delivery of biopharmaceutical development services.

Cogent Power Inc. is the largest supplier of transformer core components in North America and a leading supplier to power and distribution transformer customers. Creating a reliable and capable flow of material, with minimal waste can be a real challenge in any business. In this presentation, Cogent will share experiences in setting up pull systems with suppliers, some novel applications of technology to create an internet kanban and the lessons learned. Hear how it has dramatically reduced its inventory of materials, eliminated redundant stock and created a highly reliable and capable set of pull systems, both inside its organization and with its key suppliers. In 2009, Cogent received the Canadian AME Award for Manufacturing Excellence.

Currier Plastics Inc. is a custom plastic molding company, differentiating itself by focusing on customers who take advantage of its three core competencies of design, blow and injection molding in electronics, packaging, consumer and medical markets. Moving from a soft culture to performance-oriented one is usually a long process. Culture change comes about through an integrated, systemic approach applied in a consistent, persistent yet patient way. They achieved profitability six times the previous company best, 19% improvement in efficiency and 73% in quality, through a combination of strategy development, excellent people practices and a variety of Lean enterprise approaches, while improving Quality of Worklife (QWL) by 18%. This culminated with the receipt of three industry awards, the most significant of which was AME's 2009 Manufacturing Excellence Award, Mid-Atlantic Region. Their practices will be reviewed in a way that can be applied in any company, in any industry.

Daman Products will shed light on an evolving perspective on their journey, including mistakes and adjustments, and the evolution of trust, central to developing a culture of customer focus. By sharing their introspections, Lean professionals will gain a deeper understanding of why an effective Lean organization is so powerful. The revelations also will enlighten the novice, who searches for understanding about what Lean may mean, placing Lean tools in proper relation to the concept of culture, so organizations may become more agile, self-adjusting and continuously improve to exceed customer expectations throughout all aspects of the supply chain. Recipient of AME's 2009 Manufacturing Excellence Award, Great Lakes Region, as well as recognized as a Growth 100 Company 1998, 1999, 2004, St. Joseph County Small Business of the Year 2004, and honored as one of the Top 50 Indiana Companies to Watch 2008.

An organization feels an inherit sense of accomplishment when they complete their first Lean transformation. But also a sense of failure as things start to regress. Time to take a step back - the process is the fun stuff; tweaking, brainstorming, identifying waste and improving, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore the intangible side of the puzzle. When applying Lean, it is impossible to ignore the soft skills. If you design a wonderful Lean process, but leave traditional management styles and methods in place, then you are setting up for failure. Dell encountered just this issue and spent the time getting buy-in from the executives. Hear how they focused on the very simple changes that occurred in management styles and methods, to make Lean more successful. Awarded Fortune's Most Admired (2005).

Lean is the discipline behind Toyota Production Systems, and Denver Health is one of the earlier pioneers in applying Lean in healthcare. Since 2005, they have conducted over 225 Lean Rapid Improvement Events. Physicians, nurses, technicians and front line staff participate to implement new improved processes, designed to improve patient flow, assure high quality and improve safety. Denver Health provides intensive Lean training for its clinical and non-clinical leadership positions. These "Denver Health Black Belts" utilize Lean to conduct daily Kaizens within their daily roles, which has netted a cumulative $38 million in new cost savings and new revenue. Learn about their Lean journey, including case studies, lessons learned, results obtained and verified, and a description of the structure developed to deploy Lean in a complex healthcare organization.

Presentation 1 (VS5)

From its humble beginning in 1946, Disc Makers has evolved into a full service provider for independent musicians and filmmakers, including design, engineering, authoring, manufacturing, distribution and fulfillment of physical and digital content. Learn about the experimental methodology and behavioral challenges in implementing a single piece cellular flow in an office environment. Results will include significant improvements in internal communication, quality, customer lead time, on time delivery and responsiveness in support of evolving customer demand. Customer needs were foremost in developing this cell. A holistic view was required and the resultant single piece cellular system achieved significant improvements to the customer fulfillment value stream, improving the skill-set. The key behavioral element was the ability of team members to adapt as the system evolved.

Presentation 2 (VS7)

In this presentation by Disc Makers, learn the methodology to implement a sequenced pull system in a highly variable job shop environment with multiple parallel flows, including mapping of the current system, calculation/location of the buffers, design/sizing of the Kanban and system auditing. Hear of the training and implementation strategy to overcome the challenges associated with managing change, utilizing a traditional batch and queue push system. Results included significant improvements in manufacturing lead time, on time delivery, quality, flexibility and agility in support of evolving customer demand.

A 2006 Shingo Prize winner, DJO, LLC is a global medical device manufacturer that has used the key elements of the Shingo Prize business model to transform its culture. Since starting its Lean journey in 2000, DJO, LLC has benchmarked Shingo Prize winners and other Lean companies, in order to see what is required to truly change the way a company does business. Following the Shingo Prize model, their leaders created the DJO Way, or the way that the company goes about driving its mission and business objectives. This cultural transformation has resulted in a business that has tripled in revenues, while just doubling in costs over a 4-year period. DJO. LLC has received many awards, including, Great Places to Work Institute, #1 Best Place to Work in Mexico (2010); AME Excellence Award (2009); Shingo Prize Silver Medallion (2009); Shingo Prize Recipient (2006); PDMA Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award (2005); Industry Week Best Plants Winner (2004, 2005).

Eaton Corporation is a diversified power management company and a global technology leader in electrical components and systems for power quality, distribution and control; hydraulics components, systems and services for industrial/mobile equipment; aerospace fuel, hydraulics/pneumatic systems for commercial and military use; and truck and automotive drivetrain and powertrain systems for performance, fuel economy and safety . Discussions will focus on taking continuous improvement to the next level by engaging all employees using a top down and bottom up approach. Operational alignment with the strategic plan aligns resources to focus on the key measures that define the business. Learn about Eaton's 8 daily management tools and their aggressive program for kaizen events. Other topics will include their design for visual PDCA boards and an effective improvement suggestion system. Winner of the AME Manufacturing Excellence Award.

E-Z-GO, a Textron Inc. company, is a leading manufacturer of golf cars, utility and personal transportation vehicles. In order to improve customer satisfaction and business results, E-Z-GO had to undergo a complete Lean transformation. The changes over the last six years have occurred throughout the company, resulting in significantly improved customer satisfaction and business results. While their approach to Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement has changed, the focus on a changed culture and unleashing the people through involvement and engagement remains the same. Recently, the company received the Enterprise Wide Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence, as well as being named a Top 10 Plant in North America by IndustryWeek Magazine.

The construction industry's inefficiencies and need for improvement are well documented. Research has pointed to an incidence of waste due to a variety of losses including workforce underutilization, cost overruns, safety-related incidents, construction defects and late delivery. As the annual value of construction worldwide is approximately US$4.0 trillion ($1.2 in the US) the potential for savings is indeed great. This presentation will explain the superiority of Lean project delivery to traditional approaches in the construction industry (Sutter Healthcare case study to be included) with regard to customer satisfaction, quality, productivity, safety and profitability; and provide guidelines for the effective implementation of a Lean Project Delivery System.

When customers win, we all win. Sounds simple, but many organizations struggle not only to truly understand value through the eyes of the customer, but to deliver it. Fres-co System USA, Inc. has always been differentiated by offering a "systems" approach, designed to add value for their customers. But what more could they do to deliver on their promise of value to customers? Based on what they learned, and going well beyond simply offering great service, they crafted a strategy to create excellence in their customers' operations, putting them on a new journey that would prove to be quite challenging. They needed to view roles differently, help customers do the same, and significantly expand skills. Share in their lessons learned and how they were able to generate more than $1M in savings for their customers. Winner of the Golden Cylinder Award from the Gravure Association of America (GAA) multiple times, most recently in 2008.

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. In 2007, one of their Clinical Systems Service Teams implemented Lean Strategy Deployment methodologies. Their 3-year journey saw the attainment of unprecedented goals. Through the alignment of their key resources to their top strategies with the methodology, they moved their external customer satisfaction ratings from last place to first place in two years, while simultaneously doubling employee satisfaction scores. All this while hitting aggressive top line revenue and bottom line margin goals as a third focus of their strategy. The discipline of Breakthrough Objectives, Annual Improvement Priorities, Action Plans and Bowling Charts resulted in the alignment of team goals and objectives across the organization, coupled with an efficient and effective monthly review mechanism to assure tracking of results. Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year, 2008.

GE Transportation has been building locomotives in the heartland of America for 100 years. Their focus on excellence has seen them make massive strides in driving significant cycle reductions on their main process and build a model for their other factories. But it wasn't until they started experimenting with a powerful process within TPS called 3P (•Production •Preparation •Process) that they saw huge change. Learn how you also can apply 3P into your world.

This presentation will describe GMCR's philosophy and methodology in deploying continuous process improvement principles and tools throughout their New Product Development business process. Hear how Lean methodologies were used to redesign their innovation pipeline, and how the development of standard work is essential to a streamlined New Product Development business process. Learn how 1 Vertical Value Stream Map, 8 Rapid Improvement Events and 10 cross functional teams targeted explosive growth and improved the journey of an idea into the marketplace.

Established in 1920 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, today the company has over 200,000 square feet of fabrication facilities, along with state-of-the-art sheet metal, sprinkler fabrication and miscellaneous metal working shops. In this presentation, you will learn about process sustainment in ever-changing landscapes. In Lean construction, the process involves multiple steps and timetables, and a need to change the mindset of employees from auto pilot to setting and achieving specific daily goals, whether in a shop, office or field environment. One highly effective tool used is the “DAILY HUDDLE (Pre-Task Plan)” card. See how they have achieved outstanding results of 50% reduction in the costs of compensation claims, and costs in service, by spending less processing time, due to better planning and being more time productive on the job.

If a company of less than 40 employees can embark upon Lean by using Policy Deployment as the backbone of their implementation, your company can use Policy Deployment to find true business success. Come to this high energy presentation, by two nationally recognized Lean practitioners, to find how they used Policy Deployment to be the guiding force that led the company to organically handle 65% growth in one year, in addition to being the recipient of the 2009 AME Excellence in Manufacturing Award in the Northeast Region, and the only company in CT to ever win the Supplier of the Year Award from NASA (through the United Space Alliance).

Harland Clarke, formed in 2007, offers an expanded suite of direct marketing services, delivery and anti-fraud products, contact center services and checks and check-related products to the financial institution market.  Imagine you have just acquired a competitor and are absorbing their work in-house. You find you are unable to take all the work due to lack of equipment capacity. The CEO and Board of Directors reject your request to purchase additional machines, and proclaim, “You have to get better with what you have.” Hear how Harland Clarke not only did what was asked, meet and exceed the needed capacity to complete the acquisition, but gained an additional 23% efficiency over the next two years. See how they layered Lean on top of continuous improvement efforts, completing workplace organization through 35 “5S” kaizen events over 10 months. Not only did they meet their goal, they exceeded it by $1.8 million. Now that’s Excellence Inside!

Hartfiel Automation attributes their success to a strong focus on building their customers' profitability, with a philosophy that the fastest route to growing their own business is by helping customers grow their own first. They developed a customer value proposition strategy, known as CPR® (Customer Profit Reinforcement), to build the profitability of strategic customers, which also helped Hartfiel grow their own market share. Learn how the CPR® process works, and explore how your organization might strengthen its existing customer relationship model and improve profitability through a win-win strategy.

As a leading manufacturer of secure identity solutions and contactless smart card technology, HID Global is focused on creating customer value. In this presentation, you will gain a new perspective about how to get the big picture, your continuous improvement enterprise. Every company is different, yet the same guiding principles and alignment of certain activities have a tremendous impact on an organization. Learn how tying together the continuous improvement building blocks will help you execute your overall Lean strategy. The focus will be on the “do’s” and “don’ts” that are required when applying continuous improvement tools throughout the enterprise. Learn how to create an overall perspective that encompasses your Lean Culture, Lean Tools, Lean Strategy and Lean Principles. Awards include: 2009 National Gold Shingo Medallion; 2008 National Silver Shingo Medallion; 2007 Connecticut Gold Shingo Award; 2006 Connecticut Bronze Shingo Award; 2005 Commendation for Culture & Leadership from Shingo

Presentation 1 (VS6)

Campbellsville Operations is a business unit of Industrial Technologies Sector of Ingersoll Rand, manufacturing reciprocating and rotary technology air and gas compressors and vacuum pumps for retail, commercial and industrial markets. Implementing a Lean six-sigma visual daily management system has provided a common structure, tools and methodology, driving continuous improvement. New daily work team metrics and simplified reporting methods, plus radical new visual management controls have had a $500,000 annual impact to the business in improved quality and productivity.

Presentation 2 (VS7)

Ingersoll Rand is a 100-year-old, $13 billion global diversified industrial company, driven by employees who are proud to offer products and solutions people use every day to create a positive impact in their world. Implementing a Just-In-Time Kitting process has provided a methodology for efficiently getting parts delivered to an assembly line. This process minimizes usage of direct labor employees on indirect tasks, making assembly line employees more productive. JIT kitting has directly improved assembly operator efficiencies ranging 5% to 29%, while improving footprint utilization and assembly quality.

Littelfuse is in its 8th decade of operations and is the worldwide leader in circuit protection products and solutions. Hear how they initiated a "train-the-trainer" program, to develop the skills and knowledge for a select group to lead their continuous improvement efforts. They have led kaizen and mapping events throughout and begun the process of creating a self sustaining CI culture. Value stream mapping and kaizen events provided a 10x return on investment in the early stages, and has realized a $2.2 million cost savings. Learn how they structured the program, selected individual internal facilitators and identified initial value steams for improvement.

Daily Value Stream Management focuses on use of Lean principled, visual daily management approaches. Management, which is exercised through daily oversight, quickly highlights problems then defines immediate response protocols and/or countermeasures, when out-of-tolerance performance in Key Performance Indicators (KPI) surface. Lockheed Martin practices these principles within their Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) manufacturing program. Discussions will center on how KPIs are used daily to track and manage production operations, and how team activities foster effective decision-making. Shingo Award Winner.

Presentation 1 (VS4)

MillerCoors is a joint venture owned by two parent companies, SABMiller and MolsonCoors, brewing and selling in excess of 50MM barrels of beer annually. As the second largest brewer in the US, MillerCoors continually looks for competitive advantage. This presentation will explain the concept of leading and managing change, its primary tools and how they can be used to build enhanced, cooperative relationships that identify the components of successful change. Attendees will gain an understanding of the Collaborative Leading and Managing Change process, the change model and associated tools, how to employ them in a real-world environment, and how to involve all stakeholders in the change process.

Presentation 2 (VS6)

The MillerCoors Trenton Brewery possesses some of the fastest and most productive lines, and is a mix of the latest technology and long-held industry standard equipment. With a capacity of 10.9 million barrels of beer annually, they rely on safe and dependable production lines. In this presentation, see how the production teams are empowered to manage the needs of the day-to-day business operations, utilizing structured communication, electronic performance measurement tools and a performance gap closure tool. The tools have positively impacted the Trenton Brewery business performance, which enabled the brewery to be named “Brewery of the Year” three consecutive years.

Milliken & Company is a 144-year-old manufacturer, internationally recognized for its achievements in safety and operational excellence. Learn about the Milliken Performance System or MPS, based on lessons learned through Lean and Six Sigma methodologies, as well as JIPM and Total Productive Maintenance. This data utilization gathered from the DMS has reduced working capital by 30% and reduced failures and costs. Milliken & Company is the only American company that has won the top manufacturing award in both the United States and Japan – The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the U.S. and the TPM Excellence Award sponsored by the Japan Institute of Plan Maintenance. Also named as one of the Best Companies to Work For in FORTUNE magazine’s Annual Top 100 and one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere magazine.

The New York City Health and Hospitals System (HHC) adopted Lean in late 2007, as a means to significantly accelerate the pace of improvement across the system. Rollout of Lean activities at 14 sites, and the corporate headquarters, has resulted in over $30 million in new revenue and cost savings, more than 40,000 minutes of patient and staff waiting and tremendous improvements in 11 value streams. Lessons learned from efforts in perioperative services and charge capture value streams under various conditions will be explored, including the application of specific tools and strategies used.

Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding Newport News (NGSB-NN) is engaging its people in providing more value to both their internal and external customers by deploying a Continuous Improvement System (CIS), to serve as a guide to help change the culture of the shipyard into one that searches out opportunities and acts proactively to improve the way they perform day-to-day jobs. They are being challenged to hire thousands of new employees to replace long-time skilled workers who are retiring. Training Within Industry (TWI) has been selected to address those challenges, providing the ability to implement and train in small bites, large complex jobs. They face challenges familiar to any heavy-industry producer: pricing pressure, variability in workload demand, and changing products and product lines. Learn how TWI will help to build a CI philosophy required to deliver on challenging customer commitments and their goal to become the best Lean$Green Shipbuilder.

As a Service and Recognition company, O. C. Tanner ships approximately 85% of its orders as one piece. Challenged to cost effectively produce 13,000 different items a day, one at a time, with no customer forecast and 6,000,000 possible product options, their Lean journey began. Today all processes, including those considered immovable monuments, are in one-piece flow cells controlled by a Lean information system. Hear about their remarkable results, the most significant being engaged people. One Piece Flow is talked about as a basic principle of Lean and they will demonstrate and document the results of years of continuous improvement efforts to truly achieve One Piece Flow. In this presentation, video will be utilized to show and explain the benefits of One Piece Flow. Honored as Utah’s Outstanding Manufacturing Company and winner of the Shingo Award.

Over the last three years, Renaissance Marble & Granite Inc. has taken on the challenge of implementing such Lean concepts as cellularized manufacturing, pull manufacturing, visualized flow, inventory and production kan-banning, as well as level scheduling in an environment that does not readily make apparent the ability to do so. Attendees at this presentation should leave feeling more knowledgeable about where to start and how to apply a visual pull system, completely controlled at the employee level in a highly variable work environment, and how not to resort to solving issues that appear unsolvable due to variability with batch producing and excessive safety stocks of inventory and work in process.

S&C Electric Company is an employee-owned electric industry manufacturer, with innovation at its core. Learn how S&C moved from innovation of products to innovation of processes quickly over the past three years. Transformational thinking built a continuous improvement team from scratch and developed to a well-executed CI strategy and model line. Learn how Kamikaze Kaizen to Rapid Improvement transformed this Chicago midsize manufacturer from a good company into a great company.

The Neutron Generator Production Center uses a Value Creation Process to perform Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle at the highest level, starting with a Strategic Plan using Hoshin Kanri. This has enabled them to focus on the critical Strategic Objectives to help perform their mission better. It has created alignment of all work in the organization to these objectives, developed a culture where every employee knows how their work fits into the larger context and how it contributes to their success, resulting in improved employee satisfaction. This system has also improved the decision-making process to disinvest in projects no longer needed, a difficult thing to do in many cultures. The Value Creation Process then takes this strategy and refines it into lower level objectives and provides a means to monitor and control progress, ensuring a closed-loop system for performing work. Winner of the Shingo Award.

ShawFlex, a division of ShawCor Ltd., is a world class manufacturer of control, instrumentation and low voltage power cables. The Daily Management Process (DMP) revolutionized the way they conduct daily business by comprehensively aligning performance metrics from the shop floor to high level company performance goals. By using the Visual DMP Plan-Do-Check-Act methodology, learn how out of control KPI conditions are immediately acted upon. Hear how in just 3 months, ShawFlex has seen a 10% increase in on-time delivery, 20% increase in schedule attainment, 50% decrease in over processing and 20% decrease in email traffic.

St. Joseph Health System began a transformational journey in continuous improvement in 2007. Their Lean Improvement System is called The St. Joseph Way. Over the next 18 months, all ministries in the SJHS were using this to align improvements. Each Value Stream is supported by a dedicated facilitator, executive sponsor and process owner. Their focus is on the development of a community of problem solvers engaged in daily continuous improvement. This presentation will provide an overview of SJHS roll out of Lean, as well as showcase two Value Streams that have achieved transformational results: Information Systems (St. Joseph Health System) and Emergency Services (St. Mary Medical Center).

Stoner manufactures specialty coatings, cleaners and lubricants used by manufacturers in the molding, electronics and auto care markets, and is the smallest company ever to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (2003). Stoner has been on the Continuous Improvement journey for decades, using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria as a structure to improve. Attendees will learn how they developed a culture to support their Lean journey. They will share much of what worked and what did not work so well. The company has built its Lean production system around the principle of respect for people. Stoner has also been listed on the Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania several times.

During 2008, the presenters led the definition, design and development of a Web Based Application that would support TMMS (Terex Material Management System). In April 2009, the Terex PFEP was deployed in multiple pilot locations supporting defined TMMS Standards, Procedures, and Policies. Their presentation will focus on the business drivers, the justification process, the technical delivery, cultural issues, functional design, tool capabilities, legacy system integration, and deployment challenges that were identified and resolved during this project.

ThedaCare was one of the first healthcare organizations in the United States to successfully adapt the Toyota Production Systems (TPS) and develop the Thedacare Improvement System (TIS). The goal focused on improving patient care by creating a community of problem-solvers. While achieving breakthrough results in many areas, something was missing: the goal of 10% productivity improvement per year, every year, was not being actualized over time. To ensure continuous improvement flourished, ThedaCare developed the ThedaCare Business Performance System, a systematic management system geared to sustain value stream results and create momentum around daily continuous improvement. This presentation will focus on the point in the Lean journey when a systematic management system is needed to sustain value stream results and create momentum around daily continuous improvement. The ThedaCare Model will be highlighted.

A typical Lean factory tour highlights kanban cards, 2-bin systems, and benches pushed together into ‘cells'. Applying Lean tools to an enterprise in a ‘support and delegate' environment will yield some improvements, but the gains will be difficult to sustain. Learn about Thermo Fisher Scientific's approach to rolling out a Lean program, highlighting their Lean Leadership initiative. Their cross-functional plant leadership teams are now required to engage; Metric boards; daily stand-up meetings; gemba walks; leader standard work. They will highlight the obstacles awaiting such tools and how the company overcame these challenges. Their results are growing and sticking. A revamped focus on Lean Leadership is one big reason the company is moving from Lean practitioners ‘dabbling in Lean' to leaders engaging and driving Lean across the organization.

Government agencies must become more productive in response to increasing customer demand, and likewise proficient regarding what these customers want and when they need it. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has been working to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its processes through relentless continuous improvement involving customer participation, and recognizes its remarkable effect on their organization and the satisfaction of its customer partners! Share in this USHUD success story when in Baltimore.

Ventana Medical Systems has been a national winner of the AME Manufacturing Excellence Award. They have integrated classical Lean tools, such as Hoshin Management, 5S, Poke yoke and Visual Management to concurrently perpetuate results within a fast-paced, high-growth and regulated environment. Ventana Medical Systems entered their Lean journey after their Leadership Team recognized that as the company grew, more improvements were needed and a culture of accountability was of the utmost importance. They began the next phase of their journey by developing eight cultural beliefs that embrace the culture Ventana wants to continue to grow throughout the organization. Three phases will be shared; foundation and basics, built systems and metrics, transitioning the culture and continuous improvement.

VIBCO Vibrators designs, manufacturers and markets a comprehensive range of electric, pneumatic and hydraulic vibrators. It has embraced Lean and realized unbelievable gains, such as dramatic inventory reductions, shortened lead times, and a focus on the whole end-to-end customer experience. Karl Wadensten, President of VIBCO, is a passionate, memorable, funny personality with big ideas and a take-no-prisoners attitude, and is the host of a daily talk radio show, The Lean Nation, on 790AM-WPRV in Providence, RI. His mission is to inspire his audience to embrace the power of Lean thinking. Karl’s high-energy presentation focuses on Lean business and cultural transformations, and inspires an audience to “learn to see” how to do more with less. VIBCO has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Rhode Island by the Providence Business News and Best Companies, is a winner of the Progressive Manufacturing PM100 Award, and past winner of a Providence Business News Business Excellence Award.

Primary care has long been a money-losing area of healthcare and often a good year means breaking even. General Internal Medicine (GIM) at VM was in the red for 34 years when the team used the Virginia Mason Production System principles (adopted from the Toyota Production System) to realign its work and focus on improving the flow of patient care. The changes allowed the GIM unit to see more patients in less time, drastically reduce lab turnaround and, for the first time in 34 years, realize a positive net margin. Recipient of the HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award (2010) and Award of Excellence in Healthcare Quality from Qualis Health (2010).

Warren Distribution manufactures, packages and distributes automotive fluids. They started their Lean journey in 1999, with a focus on reducing inventory levels, identifying and removing waste and capturing the ensuing financial benefits. Attendees will learn how the company created a sustainable Lean production system by implementing a Lean leadership system, including leader standard work, gemba time, leadership internships on the Lean team and training in the Lean principles. You cannot have a sustainable Lean production system without Lean leadership. Recipient of the Sears Partner in Progress Award (2000) and WalMart Vendor of the Year Award (2003, 2005)

Watlow began its Lean journey in 2004 with a rapid roll out across seven sites. Using a creative approach, which generated broad buy-in, they defined the critical values, principles and behaviors needed to support their Lean transformation and called it the Watlow Way, which helped re-energize their Lean journey. This is the story of the work and results generated over the past 18 months to shift from an event improvement approach to a balanced approach, that includes both events and daily front-line improvement. This later approach, "Managing for Daily Improvement," is now part of the Watlow Way.

Watlow-Hannibal manufacturers a wide range of industrial heater components and assemblies. See How Watlow-Hannibal took waste out of their quoting process and how this impacted the plant floor. With many products customized to meet specific needs, Watlow Electric processes hundreds of requests for quotes (RFQ), often taking days as input is required between customer service, engineering, production, sales, purchasing, etc. They recognized the need to make the process more effective. To price based on value, to make decisions based on value stream costs and box scores, and to differentiate their work with more attention paid to the more significant customer requests, this led to the development of the highly visual and cooperative "Opportunity Assessment" process. This presentation will show how it works, how it has greatly improved the speed and quality of the company's decision-making and increased overall business knowledge within the value stream.

Wenger Corporation,founded in 1946, supplies staging, choral risers, chairs, music stands, full stage shells, sound modules, instrument storage cabinets and marching band equipment to schools and theaters worldwide. About 30% of their sales are engineered to order, and thus subject to swings in mix, volume and ship dates, challenging manufacturing, but they pose an equal challenge to office functions. Learn how using visual management offers many ways to identify continuous improvement opportunities in the office, as well as the factory floor. Gaining visibility to current demand and day-to-day workflow changes can be difficult in non-manufacturing situations. Learn how they found ways for purchasing and planning to level load day-to-day activities, standardize departmental work, identify improvement opportunities, and recognize shifting demands. See how less firefighting equals increased time for value-added activities and greater on-time performance.

Wilson Transformer Company is highly focused on truly understanding customer requirements and delivering them consistently. They have developed systems that provide excellent levels of customer service through a supply chain, essentially independent of forecasts. This presentation will focus on how they have achieved many changes, including: 4.5x revenue growth; developing a supply chain independent of forecast; halved customer inventory levels; manufacturing cycle reduced from 14 days to less than 2; recognized as employer of Choice.  Recipient of various awards, including Excellence in Manufacturing (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009), Most Outstanding Business (2008) and Best Large Business (2009).