

KaiNexus: Continuous Improvement, Leadership, and More
KaiNexus
We deliver practical insights and real-world strategies for Lean, Six Sigma, and Operational Excellence. Through lessons from KaiNexus webinars and conversations with customers, improvement leaders, and team members, each episode explores what it takes to build a resilient culture of Continuous Improvement. Learn how organizations engage employees, strengthen problem-solving capability, and sustain meaningful operational results across industries. Whether you're new to CI or leading major transformation, this podcast offers tools and perspectives you can put to work immediately.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 20, 2021 • 59min
How to Have a Successful KaiNexus Rollout: Panel Discussion with UMass Memorial Health and Crosby's
From May 20 -- See the video version
Presented by
Robert Pitney, Process Improvement Engagement - System Co-Owner at UMass Memorial Health Care
Jon Brown, Continuous Improvement Manager at Crosby's
Moderated by
Mark Graban, Senior Advisor, KaiNexus
KaiNexus has such an interesting and diverse customer base, and this Customer Month webinar certainly highlights that! Join us to hear two leaders share about their continuous improvement practices, how the pandemic has impacted them, and how KaiNexus is a big part of their approach and success.
Crosby's: While molasses continues to be the mainstay of the business, Crosby’s has an ever-expanding line of dry-sugar-based products and syrups, with distribution in Canada, the New England States, and other international locations.
UMass Memorial Health: The largest health care system in Central Massachusetts offering the region’s most sophisticated medical technology & support services.
LINKS discussed during the session:
Our published customer impact numbers…. Cumulative across all customers over 10 years
Eric Dickson on Lean and their turnaround strategy

May 18, 2021 • 1h 1min
[Webinar] An Innovative “Patient First” Vaccination Clinic Design (Dr. Joy Dobson)
A webinar presented on May 18, 2021
Presented by Dr. Joy Dobson, Senior Physician Consultant at 3sHealth in Saskatchewan, Canada
See slides or video: https://www.kainexus.com/continuous-improvement/innovative-patient-first-vaccination-clinic-design/webinar/thanks
Learning Objectives:
Become familiar with a “care comes to the client” concept as applied in Canadian vaccination clinics
Use lean concepts embedded in a “Patient First” model to improve value in clinics of any size
We know there will be many innovative practices shared that will have application possibilities across borders and outside of vaccination work and settings.
The Q&A section included discussion of:
Having just one month to prepare for vaccination
How does their long-standing "idea process" work?
About the U-cell: How does it address 30 minute observation vs 15?
What are the causes of the variation in cycle times? Pre-filled syringes were a big part of that, other factors
Do you start the day by filling up the pod or by pacing patients in at the cycle time?? They learned this over time...

May 12, 2021 • 12min
Dr. Joy Dobson - Webinar Preview
This is a preview of a webinar that will be presented on May 18th...
Learn more and register: https://info.kainexus.com/continuous-improvement/innovative-patient-first-vaccination-clinic-design/webinar/signup
An Innovative “Patient First” Vaccination Clinic Design
May 18 from 1:00 - 2:00 pm ET
Presented by Dr. Joy Dobson, Senior Physician Consultant at 3sHealth in Saskatchewan, Canada
Learning Objectives:
Become familiar with a “care comes to the client” concept as applied in Canadian vaccination clinics
Use lean concepts embedded in a “Patient First” model to improve value in clinics of any size
We know there will be many innovative practices shared that will have application possibilities across borders and outside of vaccination work and settings. We hope you can join us!
Dr. Joy Dobson
Joy is a former anesthesiologist and critical care physician who now restricts her practice to health system care. She has held a variety of leadership roles and been part of a large-scale lean transformation in Saskatchewan. Since February, Joy has been part of the quality improvement team tasked with optimizing the vaccine rollout to 1.2M citizens in the province.

May 11, 2021 • 10min
Morgan Wright: Why I Joined KaiNexus
Welcome to one of our newest KaiNexians, Morgan Wright!
You can also read a blog post she wrote about joining the company, just a month ago now.
Morgan is Customer Marketing Manager at KaiNexus. Welcome to the team!!!

Apr 15, 2021 • 25min
Additional Q&A: Building a Better Way, Every Day: The Value of Small Improvements
Additional Q&A time with Evan Graczyk and Bob Bell from Woodfin.
How do you ensure leaders don't focus solely on bottom-line savings?
How do you use the system to escalate problems that cannot be solved within the team itself?
How do we know what is the "best" solution?? At point do you just have to test some things and see?
Have you had issues with frontline staff coming up with ideas to solve a problem but management not agreeing with the idea so it does not move forward? If so, do you have any system in place to adress this issue?
Note: OFI = Opportunity For Improvement

Apr 15, 2021 • 51min
[Webinar] Building a Better Way, Every Day: The Value of Small Improvements (Evan Graczyk and Bob Bell)
Presented by Evan Graczyk and Bob Bell
See and download slides: https://www.kainexus.com/continuous-improvement/the-value-of-small-improvements/webinar/thanks
In this webinar, you will learn about:
Developing a Continuous Improvement Culture
Why small ideas are important
How rigid should the improvement structure be?
How to evolve this culture based on internal and external input
Managing a Continuous Improvement Culture
Challenges in a complex organizational structure
Unique challenges in construction
About the Presenters:
Evan Graczyk
Continuous Improvement Manager, Woodfin Heating & Oil
Evan has a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University, along with a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification from Clemson. Previous roles include being a Lean Process Engineer at Schaeffler Group and a Lean Manufacturing Engineer at BorgWarner.
Bob Bell
Financial Planning and Analysis, Woodfin
Bob has a BBA in Marketing from the University of Georgia, a PBC in Information Technology from the University of Richmond, and an MBA from the UVA Darden School of Business. He earned his Six Sigma Green Belt while working at Circuit City. His background includes Retail (Operations & Finance), Information Technology, Inventory Management and Financial Planning and Analysis.

Mar 24, 2021 • 31min
Q&A from the Webinar "Kata in the Community"
For the presentation audio, see the previous episode...

Mar 24, 2021 • 49min
[Webinar] Toyota Kata in the Community (Deondra Wardelle)
The Q&A will be in the next episode
Slides and more: https://info.kainexus.com/improvement-disciplines/kata/kata-in-the-community/webinar/signup-0
Presented by Deondra Wardelle
President & CEO, "Kata Geek"
The webinar will cover:
1) Introduction to Kata – define Kata and explain the Improvement Kata steps and include industry-examples of Kata in practice. This session of the webinar will be designed for people who are curious about Kata, just started their Kata journey, and/or may have been 1st-time attendees at the recent KataCon from Lean Frontiers.
2) Kata Community – share Coaching Kata best practices, tips, and tricks I’ve picked up from other Kata Geeks.
3) Kata in the Community – provide examples of how the Improvement Kata can be used for non-manufacturing processes.
Deondra R. Wardelle is a visionary leader, problem solver, organizer, motivational speaker, and owner of On To the Next One Consulting, LLC. Her specialty is empowering and developing individuals and groups toward achieving their personal and professional goals. She also coaches individuals and organizations in achieving and sustaining transformative change.
Deondra has a diverse professional background. Her former roles include Chief Strategy Officer at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and Director of Performance Excellence for a global leader in the paper/packaging industry. While working in the Performance Excellence space, she and her team led Continuous Improvement projects for more than 70 facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia. Deondra has also worked as a corporate trainer, project manager, and banking manager and has held various operations management roles.
A graduate of Western Kentucky University, Deondra possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree in Corporate and Organizational Communications. She has also pursued Leadership Studies at the Louisville Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned her Health Coach certification from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.
Deondra’s purpose is to help organizations, groups, and individuals overcome obstacles and achieve their grandest visions and goals – one step at a time. Deondra’s current passion project is the #RootCauseRacism movement, a global initiative to end systemic racism and social injustice.

Feb 25, 2021 • 1h 25min
Panel Discussion: #RootCauseRacism “The Colors of Love”
As a continuation of the first “Sharing Our Vision and Voices to #RootCauseRacism” blog series, Deondra Wardelle and her network of colleagues from the continuous improvement community reunite to provide additional insights to dismantle systemic racism through education, awareness and the application of Lean principles.
The third blog series, The Colors of Love, focuses on the core concept of Lean - respect for people. This blog series aims to celebrate Black History Month in the U.S. and LGBTQ+ History Month in the UK while heightening awareness about the importance of valuing humanity, regardless of race, sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), through demonstrating respect for people. The action of valuing the individual is vital to practice in education, health care and the workplace. Everyone should have the opportunity to thrive in an environment that encourages people to be true to themselves without the need for code-switching or fear for their well-being, advancement opportunities, or psychological and physical safety.
Beginning the week of February 22, several authors will pen blogs that stress the importance of demonstrating respect for Black people in the LGBTQ+ community. They also will challenge readers to be intentional allies and cultivate environments where every person’s potential can flourish.
Panelists will include continuous improvement experts who will be prepared to discuss how you can make a significant change in your workplace and community by demonstrating respect for people “one small improvement at a time”!
Moderators: Deondra Wardelle Mark Graban Panelists: Madison Mobley Paul Critchley Scott Bogan Alexus Bertrand Jeff Welch Karla Parker
Panelist bios: https://info.kainexus.com/continuous-improvement/rootcauseracism-the-colors-of-love/webinar
#RootCauseRacism site: https://rootcauseracism.com
Blog posts from the panelists: https://www.rootcauseracism.com/blog

Feb 22, 2021 • 12min
Panel Preview with Deondra Wardelle: #RootCauseRacism “The Colors of Love”
Register and learn more about the panelists: https://info.kainexus.com/continuous-improvement/rootcauseracism-the-colors-of-love/webinar/signup
Here is a preview of our next panel discussion:
February 25 from 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET
Presented by Deondra Wardelle
As a continuation of the first “Sharing Our Vision and Voices to #RootCauseRacism” blog series, Deondra Wardelle and her network of colleagues from the continuous improvement community reunite to provide additional insights to dismantle systemic racism through education, awareness and the application of Lean principles.
The third blog series, The Colors of Love, focuses on the core concept of Lean - respect for people. This blog series aims to celebrate Black History Month in the U.S. and LGBTQ+ History Month in the UK while heightening awareness about the importance of valuing humanity, regardless of race, sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), through demonstrating respect for people. The action of valuing the individual is vital to practice in education, health care and the workplace. Everyone should have the opportunity to thrive in an environment that encourages people to be true to themselves without the need for code-switching or fear for their well-being, advancement opportunities, or psychological and physical safety.
Beginning the week of February 22, several authors will pen blogs that stress the importance of demonstrating respect for Black people in the LGBTQ+ community. They also will challenge readers to be intentional allies and cultivate environments where every person’s potential can flourish.
Panelists will include continuous improvement experts who will be prepared to discuss how you can make a significant change in your workplace and community by demonstrating respect for people “one small improvement at a time”!
Panelists:
Alexus Bertrand
Paul Critchley
Madison L. Mobley
Karla Parker
Jeff Welch


