40 Insightful Workshops
You will learn proven, practical solutions at the AME Baltimore 2010 Conference. Enjoy the 40 pre-conference and post-conference Workshops and gain insight into new ways of applying Lean. Our Workshops are led by some of industry's leading consultants that have applied Excellence Inside into their areas of expertise. Each Workshop Leader is selected based on his or her industry-endorsed reputation. Are there lessons that an investigation of something new will help you along your journey to greatness?
Test your Lean change skills
Patrick Lucansky, Value Innovation Partners, Ltd.
Robert Burke, Value Innovation Partners, Ltd.
In this advanced simulation class you will learn "What's next after Lean 101?" This full day workshop is promoted by the speaker as the most fun learning experience by far that you will have at this year's conference. See advanced techniques in Lean and Six Sigma. Learn how to deliver superior results in a safe, fun atmosphere. Take your company to the next level of performance by utilizing your advanced skills with the guidance of Pat's expert facilitation. Learn how to transform your company by implementing advanced concepts where customer satisfaction is exceeded.
Total productive maintenance & maintenance excellence concepts
John Kravontka, Fuss and O'Neill
In this full day workshop, we will show you the basics of managing a Lean maintenance department. If you are just starting out, or wanting to take your group to the next level this is the workshop for you. You will learn how to develop a maintenance vision, how to identify critical equipment and skills, how to locate maintenance waste, and how to perform solid preventive maintenance. We will provide useful tools that you can take back with you, that will help you begin to make improvements immediately.
Right people. Right place. Right time
Elizabeth King, ESCO Corporation
How do you build organizational capability and tap into human potential to support an environment focused on continuous improvement? ESCO Corporation has been actively practicing the principles of Lean for almost 10 years. This workshop will describe the flow, accountability and execution that ESCO uses to have the right people in the right place at the right time, to execute on strategic initiatives. How do you achieve Excellence Inside? Start with a process to manage your talent.
A Lean management workshop for factory or office processes
David Mann, David Mann Lean Consulting
A key change in lean transformations is shifting a results-only focus to an emphasis on process. Difficulties sustaining lean comes from unchanged pre-Lean management practices. Lean sensei and how-to books offer little guidance, leaving managers wondering, "What does that mean? How do we do it?" This hands-on workshop addresses these questions through a concise, behavior-based model, specific steps and tools. Lean management, along with process changes of Lean implementation, leads to a Lean culture, integrates hard and soft sides of Lean and sustains success. This workshop moves participants from concept to application by practice creating tools and routines of Lean leaders.
Engaging team mates to improve business performance
Joe Barto, Training Modernization Group
Nick Nunes, Training Modernization Group
This workshop will show how to understand your team and build a high performance team that is continuously seeking improvement as part of their organizational DNA. It will provide steps to maximize engagement and organizational/team stability through goal alignment, leader development, team engagement, overhead reduction and improved employee performance. It will cover methodologies for analyzing return on investment for human capital management programs and assessing internal cost drivers associated with implementation. These methodologies will be shown though case studies and discussions on how to synchronize and integrate people improvement programs into and in direct support of every LEAN initiative.
Hoshin planning issues/resolution and elimination of red-yellow-green scorecard induced firefighting
Forrest Breyfogle, Smarter Solutions, Inc.
In a December 2009 Economist article, "Toyota Losing Its Shine," it was stated, "Unless Akio Toyoda can find an answer to Toyota's problems, the Japanese company's reign as the world's biggest carmaker may be brief." Toyota has done many good things, however, their implementation of Hoshin planning and red-yellow-green scorecards can be part of the reason for their current issues. This session will highlight these issues and provide a methodology that even Toyota can benefit from. Learn how to utilize an enhanced project execution roadmap where the tools of Lean and Six Sigma are integrated, and learn the application of a predictive-reporting metric system, which can be use to show the value of Lean and Kaizen-event improvement projects.
Fixing the E.D. and learning Lean principles while doing it; CI culture within Lean implementation
Steve Hoeft, Altarum Institute
Brock Husby, Altarum Institute
In this hands-on Workshop, fix the Emergency Department using Lean principles. After four rounds of applying Toyota-style principles, the ED really starts to flow. Participants will see the benefits of foundational tools like visual management, waste elimination and problem solving, then graduate to batch size reductions, quick room turnover and more problem solving. Then see the real power of Lean applying flow, pull, work balancing, cross-training and built-in-quality. Clear metrics and end-of-round discussions drive home the powerful "thinking" techniques. Don't miss this fun, hands-on simulation developed specifically for applying Lean principles in healthcare.
Using Lean team tools for profit, people and planet
Mike Rothmeier, Simple Solutions Consulting
Green Projects, such as lighting improvements or recycling options, need teams of personnel, yet once their project A3 is completed, these teams often disband. This workshop focuses on providing technical-level employees with tools and techniques to achieve results in a Green Team environment. Learn how to develop and implement a program geared to help your customers, suppliers and other partners “Go Green”. See demonstrations of hands-on activities presented during courses and discuss tailoring for local deployment. Recognize the value of going green!
Prepare for the future
Anthony Manos, Profero, Inc.
George Alukal, Alukal Partners
Want to learn more about Hoshin Kanri and policy deployment? This workshop will walk you through this powerful strategic planning program, with a system that goes beyond basic Hoshin, including other powerful systems such as Baldrige, Balanced Scorecard, Porter's Five Forces and Strategy Maps. Hoshin planning will help an organization develop breakthrough innovations, is a cornerstone to communication, builds buy-in and strengthens deployment throughout all levels. By following a case study and being able to apply these concepts in a team-based atmosphere, you will have a thorough understanding of the Hoshin Kanri principles.
Creating and managing a skills based workplace
Robert Wrona, TWI Institute
Patrick Graupp, TWI Institute
With the surge of information describing how Toyota became the leader in low cost, quality production by adhering to the Taiichi Ohno mantra "Without standards, there can be no improvement", the role of the TWI Job Instruction in developing and sustaining standard work at Toyota is now public knowledge. However, in spite of increased understanding, companies struggle to get TWI implanted. In this workshop the authors of The TWI Workbook will share their experience implementing TWI in companies across the U.S. and in countries around the globe, identifying critical elements of implementation and the challenges that arise.
David Koichi Chao, Lean Sensei International
Lean strategy is perhaps the most widely talked about, but least understood element of Lean principles. Many claim to understand Lean methodologies, such as value stream mapping and kaizen but very few have deep insights about the true nature of Lean thinking and Lean strategy. Hear how top Lean companies use holistic strategy to build the vision and direction, utilize methodologies such as kaizen and kaikaku to build the product and processes, and manage people through specialized people development framework. Learn about Hoshin Kanri, Lean leadership style, the power of hansei, world-class hiring/development process and Lean problem solving trends and techniques. Discover the true secret and insights to Lean strategy, based on the proven and highly respected VALUES methodology (Vision, Alignment, Leadership, Unity, Execution, Sustainment). The true secret of deploying Lean strategy is revealed in this highly rated workshop.
Streamlining materials flow from upper tier suppliers first-in, first-out, to customer points-of-use (POU)
James Price, Just-in-time Enterprise Institute, Inc.
David Price, Just-in-time Enterprise Institute, Inc.
This workshop will discuss how Toyota's Lean manufacturing and "just-in-time" logistics principles and techniques are applied to orchestrate complex, low volume, high variety product multi-tiered supply chain flow. Discussions will focus on traditional manufacturing push replenishment supply chain, production control and internal materials management. You will also learn how leveled demand operations and logistics management approaches can be used. This will be reinforced by experiencing actual complex, low volume, high variety, multi-tier supply chain component flow through four tiers of a simulated supply channel. Learn how to optimize your entire enterprise.
Brian Montanari, Habco, Inc.
Paul Murphy, Habco, Inc.
Why do the majority of organizations embarking on Kanban training fail to successfully implement Kanban in their organizations? Because most trainees do not know where and how to begin these implementations in their businesses. This workshop can help. The KAN-Do™ Kanban Simulation workshop is a capstone role-playing simulation that provides the instruments and instruction you need to get your core Kanban implementation team started on their first area. It is a simulation that bridges the gap between understanding the theory and its practical implementation. In order to ensure that these key fundamentals are fully understood, participants will play the KAN-Do™ supply chain game — a newly released simulation game that gives participants the ability to negotiate with suppliers, implement pull systems, course correct as necessary and understand the financial benefits of implementing Kanban. This unique game will ensure that the tools taught become tools implemented to achieve great results in your businesses.
Eric Lockhart, Dell, Inc.
Michael Van Hill, Dell, Inc.
Leader Standard Work (LSW) is an integral part of a Lean Culture, as it establishes roles and responsibilities, serving as a positive example for the workforce. Defined, it specifies actions to be taken by all leaders to focus on the VALUE delivered daily. This workshop will walk attendees through the components of Leader Standard Work, including defining % strategic vs. % tactical work, Daily Management System, Improvement Management System, Layered Process Verification, Area Walks and Establishing Leader Priorities. Designed by Dell’s Business Excellence Organization, this workshop provides hands-on time and instruction for attendees to set up their own LSW, which can then be used at their own workplace.
Vincent Polito, Simpler Healthcare
Jim Rowland, Simpler Healthcare
Early adopters of Lean in healthcare achieved truly breakthrough results. What's next for these masters? This advanced, thought-provoking session will cover the new uses of Lean, including Lean Design. Lean Design will be taught through a recent case study from a community hospital that used Lean to create the ideal practice clinic facility from an idea on paper to reality. Best uses of resources will be discussed including space, people, equipment and supplies.
How Human Resources develops a culture of continuous improvement
Cheryl Jekiel, Flying Food Group
Chris LePak, Pathways
Organizations that pursue strategies of CI or Lean implementations often leave Human Resources on the sideline. As they seek to change their cultures, it requires everyone to change their approach to work, which demands Human Resources play a vital role in developing a new culture. Not only can HR help make needed changes, but the success depends on aligning all key messages with new ways of working, which can defeat culture change efforts if overlooked. The Lean Human Resources workshop goes through seven common principles of Lean cultures and how to thread them through the HR strategy and Culture Design, providing detailed methods for building Lean principles into job competencies as a basis of all core HR programs. Evaluate how well your current HR processes drive a culture of CI, including the areas of Recruitment, Training, Performance Management and Rewards.
Unleashing the power of quality information
Mike Orzen, Steady Improvement Inc.
Steve Bell, Steady Improvement Inc.
Effective use of information assets is essential for a sustained CI program, but IT can also be the source of tremendous waste, cost and risk. Explore how Lean IT tools and methods can enhance your success, addressing how to support the CI of business processes in manufacturing, service and non-profit industries, how Lean can improve IT performance, including the delivery of services to internal and external customers, effective enterprise software implementation and software development projects and how to transform challenging economic conditions into strategic opportunity, not only through cutting costs and headcount, but by investing in people, processes, systems and capabilities.
Taking the safe path to Lean
Robert Hafey, RBH Consulting
Lean thinkers agree it is the cultural changing employee engagement activity that leads to long-term Lean success. This workshop suggests a different path to Lean success - a safe path. By using some of the common tools in a Lean thinker's toolbox, focusing on safety instead of cycle time, you start to build an understanding and the acceptance of Lean while improving safety. Attendees will participate in group exercises to help redefine the safety program in their facilities; developing a job description for a safety manager in a CI culture, process mapping an incident/ accident investigation process, writing a safety cultural vision statement, creating an employee safety engagement survey, developing an outline for a safety improvement program.
Nick Katko, BMA, Inc.
Traditional Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) does not meet the needs of Lean companies because it was designed for MRPII push and mass production. The purpose of Lean Sales, Operations and Financial Planning (SOFP) is to provide an integrated and effective planning process that addresses the unique needs of Lean organizations. Based around customer value and value streams, focused on creating level flow, and addressing the operational, financial and capacity impact of Lean improvement, SOFP is the standardized work for planning a Lean operation in manufacturing, healthcare, financial services and other Lean organizations. Attendees will be able to apply the concepts to improve company's sales, operations and financial planning processes to create a single company-wide game plan.
A Lean office overview with live simulation
Drew Locher, Change Management Associates
This workshop will provide an overview of how Lean concepts applied to office and administrative processes will dramatically improve your office. The participants will be introduced to the various Lean concepts, and be provided the opportunity to apply them in a live simulated office environment. At the end of this workshop participants will have gained the knowledge on how to measure the impact of their improvement effort in their office and administrative processes.
Advanced tools for maximizing speed, profitability & quality
Ron Mascitelli, Technology Perspectives
In the current economic climate, doing more with less is a mandate for virtually any firm, particularly with respect to new product introductions. Much of the effort expended by product development teams is often wasteful. Firms that have embraced the practical, waste-eliminating methods of Lean product development have reported up to 50% reduction in launch schedules, dramatic improvements in gross margin and enhanced customer satisfaction. This all-new workshop provides a step-by-step methodology for integrating the powerful waste-eliminating tools of Lean Product Development and Lean Design/3P into any product development process. The workshop is based on the presenter’s forthcoming book, Mastering Lean Product Development, and provides a revolutionary event-driven approach to deployment. This methodology will be described and demonstrated through extensive simulation exercises to allow attendees to experience these powerful standard-work events first-hand. Case examples are provided that will emphasize the practical nature of this improvement methodology - see how this can be applied where you work.
Information that will improve the ability to make the best decisions
Jean Cunningham, Jean Cunningham Consulting
Janice Frampton, Jean Cunningham Consulting
Learn how the adoption of Accounting for Lean provides you with better information for analysis and superior way to make decisions. See specific examples of accounting without standard cost and statement templates. Learn all about the benefits to finding alternatives for inventory valuation. Participants in this workshop will also learn how to take specific Lean accounting actions to conserve cash that might not be obvious with traditional standard cost accounting.
Experience essential breakthroughs in behaviors for Lean
Sherrie Ford, Power Partners, Inc.
Steve Hollis, Power Partners, Inc.
To complement tools for Lean, tools to create the needed workculture exist that when deployed across an organization, can foster the behavioral fundamentals that support culture change for Lean. This Workshop will give attendees an immersion into a challenge that requires deeper than normal thinking about visual devices, standard work, role clarity, importance of planning and a strong feel for interpersonal workstyles in conflict or in harmony. Understand the power of balanced feedback in enhancing individual productivity, express the importance of humor and fun when attempting to alter beliefs and behaviors, understand the impact on speed of executing a complex task by using standard work, visual devices, clarifying roles, understanding individual workstyles and individual accountability.
A structured approach for building a team-based, CI culture within Lean implementation
Barry Rubin, TeamPath
Rodrigo Montano, Johnson Controls
Gerardo Guajardo, Johnson Controls
In order to sustain and build on hard-earned Lean results, it's essential to focus on the cultural aspect. A collaborative, team-based workforce focused on performance gains and continuous improvement is critical to getting the most out of your Lean investment. This "how-to" real case-based workshop, presents a proven, structured "whole system" approach to developing a team-based, continuous improvement culture. See how Lean-team organizational design and front-line leader development, helps empower, build, and involve teams in successfully applying continuous improvement. Learn how developing the "roadmap" needed to build leadership that is focused on a team's performance makes a difference.
Achieving environmental, energy and cost savings through Lean implementation
Laura Poole, U.S. Environmental Protections Agency
This interactive workshop will equip you with practical tools to get better environmental results from Lean manufacturing initiatives, focusing on energy reductions. EPA has partnered with several companies implementing Lean to identify successful strategies and techniques for connecting Lean and environmental initiatives to achieve better business and environmental results. They further developed specific Lean tools to maximize energy savings. They will expand on the basic concepts of Lean manufacturing, including waste identification, value stream mapping, kaizen improvement events and 5S/6S, focusing on strategies and techniques for incorporating environmental considerations, building on the concepts laid out in the Lean and Environment Toolkit, the Lean and Energy Toolkit, the Lean and Chemicals Toolkit and the Environmental Professional's Guide to Lean and Six Sigma.
True continuous flow
Gordon Ghirann, JDSU
Judy Kay, JDSU
Line balancing has been a challenge ever since Henry Ford created the first assembly line. Self-Balancing production is a breakthrough in achieving continuous flow, developed to handle complex manufacturing processes (including batch processes, mixed model, and fluctuating yields). By being able to pull and take a hand-off of the unit, the division of labor is constantly optimized, and most of the problems of trying to balance a line are solved. It removes the hidden waste of waiting when the slowest station or Operator is setting the pace. In-Process queues/buffers are also eliminated. In this workshop, you will learn how to setup your own Self-Balancing line, from simple to complex manufacturing environments.
Making your accounting system work for you, not against you
Brian Maskell, BMA, Inc.
The purpose of this Workshop is to show the problems caused for Lean companies by standard costing methods and how they can be solved using simple Lean accounting methods. Most companies pursuing Lean transformation recognize that the traditional methods of standard costing (or any full absorption product costing) are complex, time consuming, wasteful and misleading. But the problem is far worse than this. Standard costing is actively hostile to Lean transformation because it motivates the anti-Lean, batch-and-queue production it was designed for. While you are working hard to increase flow, reduce batches, eliminate defects and decimate inventory, your accounting systems are showing information that motivates you to undermine your Lean improvements and go back to the culture of batch-and-queue. This interactive, hands-on Workshop takes you through a live case study of a company transitioning to Lean accounting, to gain practical experience calculating and using Value Stream accounting and solving the standard costing problem.
Your success or failure will be determined by the size of your communication gap
Rod Overall, M&O Lean Communications
What you think you are communicating and what you are actually communicating may be two different things. The size of the gap between assumptions you make and what customers actively think determines your success. Whether it is communicating your core values to your existing customers, your beneficial values to potential customers or essential values to your internal customers, those who communicate their values effectively will succeed and thrive, those that do not tend to suffer from the gaps poor communication creates. Do you know exactly what your customers value most about you vs. your competitors? Learn how to accurately measure your key beneficial and core values and the six essential steps to communicating more effectively, assuring there is a Lean continuous process flow of excellent communication being sent to your customers.
Value stream mapping for administrative and office processes
Drew Locher, Change Management Associates
A Lean Enterprise relentlessly drives 'Non-Value-Added' waste by improving the flow of materials and information. By redesigning key business processes, tremendous benefits to the organization can be realized. This workshop is based on the Shingo Prize winning book of the same title, reviewing the eight basic wastes in the context of non-production processes. The manner by which Lean Thinking is applied to information intensive processes is then explored by making use of Value Stream Mapping - the assessment and planning tool of lean practitioners. Learn to use this tool to define the current state of an existing business process, redesign the process based on lean concepts; develop an Implementation Plan for the future state model.
Five ingredients missing in most improvement recipes
Michael Bremer, The Cumberland Group
Businesses hope to beat the competition and grow market share by implementing performance improvement initiatives. But studies show most of these initiatives fail to yield the expected leap in performance vs. the competition. Why? From our experience it is because most organizations only do an average job of improving relative to their competitors...it's simply a mathematical fact.
In this workshop Michael will show you how focusing on the power levers for each of the five missing ingredients needed to implement performance initiatives-will dramatically help improve your competitive advantage. Find out how to develop more effective performance measurements, and learn about the executive mindset necessary to extract optimal value from an organization's process improvement efforts. Organizations that effectively incorporate their five key ingredients do achieve a competitive advantage, we guarantee it!
Become a transformational leader in your company
Steve Frech, CH2M HILL
Denny Stamm, CH2M HILL
The Lean Enterprise Manufacturing Simulation Model simulates the concepts of Lean and agile manufacturing. A live working factory model will be used to contrast the operating styles between a typical mass production plant and a Lean one. Attendees will learn how to re-engineer the factory by applying various Lean and agile techniques. This highly interactive workshop practices the concepts of continuous improvement, by empowering the team to implement the concepts through ideas that identify wastes and non-value-added activities within the manufacturing process.
Focus and align your organization
John Lawson, GenLaw Associates
Hank Czarnecki, Auburn Technical Assistance Center
This workshop will teach the proven planning and execution system of Toyota's Annual Planning Process. Attendees will gain a practical understanding of the planning tools through interactive group activities and business examples from Toyota & MBUSI. Your organization’s Business Model answers the critical planning questions: Who are we? Where are we going? How do we get there? How do we involve our team members? How do we sustain our activities? How do we learn from our successes and our failures? The success of your Lean production system hinges on the answers. This workshop will show how to focus and align activities, how to involve all levels and how to apply the PDCA to consistently achieve required results.
Mastering the process of continuous improvement, adaptation and innovation
Mike Rother, Rother & Company, LLC
How can a company stay adaptive, innovative and more in sync with dynamic, unpredictable conditions? What do managers and leaders need to do in order to mobilize the human capability in their organizations? This workshop, by the author of the new management book, Toyota Kata, and former Toyota Group Leader Bill Costantino, gives surprising and deep-reaching answers to this question. The workshop is intended for organizations searching for a better way to lead, manage and develop people, which produces continuous improvement, adaptation, survival and superior results.
Martha Purrier, Virginia Mason Medical Center
Taiichi Ohno has said that without standards, there can be no improvement. Learn how one organization is applying the rigor of Job Instruction to better design and train standard work. Hear why this 1940s method is gaining momentum again in the healthcare industry.
Learning to see the flow and waste
Don Guild, Synchronous Management
Using the case study in the Shingo Prize winning book, Learning to See, you'll learn how to identify a product family, how to see the entire value stream for that family, how to map the current state value stream to identify and eliminate waste, see what makes a value stream Lean, and learn how to develop a plan to achieve future state results
Learning To see the Lean and green value stream
Jennifer McClain, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding
This session will teach the fundamentals of value stream thinking and management relating to the basic principles of "learning to see" non-value added wastes and/or steps in your processes. This mapping process will drive a new focus on the elimination of waste by minimizing the consumption of resources to effectively maximize the creation of value for its customers, stakeholders and communities. Learn how to apply value stream analysis to identification, eliminate the 8 Lean wastes and the 7 green wastes often overlooked, which will help your organization achieve and sustain a Lean and green organization.
A systematic approach to full implementation
Don Guild, Synchronous Management
Most companies who attempt to implement pull/kanban struggle with two issues. How do we right-size our supermarkets to get the best flow and how do we ensure supermarket sizes are adjusted as product structures, manufacturing processes and customer demands change? What are the effects of production capacity on supermarket sizes? Resources are too often engaged in producing what we do not need. The expediting and firefighting continue and inventory levels remain static - even with kanban! What techniques are appropriate for signaling replenishment? Too often, cumbersome manual techniques are chosen, the pull system deteriorates or is limited, or we spend much non-value adding time making - and remaking - kanban cards! This workshop focuses on answering all of these questions.
Using the power of rapid improvement events to transform office, service and knowledge work environments
Karen Martin, Karen Martin & Associates
Mike Osterling, Osterling Consulting
Through discussion and hands-on activities, workshop participants will learn the step-by-step approach for planning and executing office-based Kaizen events. Take away the knowledge on how to create a sustainability plan with teeth, and find out how that plan will help you navigate through the common obstacles that are the roadblocks to your success.
