The Lean Solutions Podcast

This week I’m speaking with Mike Leigh, who is the President of OpX Solutions, a performance improvement company that helps manufacturers remove the barriers that prevent them from achieving their goals by developing leaders and improving processes. In this episode we talk about Kaizen events, including why they are important and how to ensure that the outcome of the event is successful. What You’ll Learn This Episode: What are Kaizen events and what is their purpose How to define success at a Kaizen event The main factors that influence success and how to determine them How to hold a successful Kaizen event Having the right mindset during a Kaizen event Inviting leaders to participate in Kaizen events About the Guest: Mike Leigh started OpX Solutions to help manufacturers and other organizations be more successful. Prior to starting his company, Mike had a 13-year manufacturing career where he held a variety of operational supply chain leadership roles.  Prior to that, he served in the US Navy as a surface warfare officer where he specialized in nuclear propulsion, and later retired as a Commander in the reserves. Additionally, Mike writes a monthly article on business operations for Valley Business FRONT magazine, was recognized as the Virginia Small Business Veteran of the Year by the state SBDC organization, and his business is currently the #1 franchise in the Americas with Leadership Management International. When not working, Mike enjoys hiking, traveling, and following the Green Bay Packers. Important Links: Company Website:  https://opxsolutionsllc.com/ Linked-In Sites: OpX Solutions:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/opx-solutions-llc/ Mike’s profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeleighopxsolutions/

This week I’m speaking with David Mann, who has over 25 years of consulting on lean and lean management implementations in a wide range of manufacturing, health care, enterprise business processes, and extended value chains. In this episode we talk about David’s book and one of my favorite lean books, Creating a Lean Culture and how you can create the behaviors and practices of a lean management system in your own organization. What You’ll Learn This Episode: What inspired David to write Creating a Lean Culture The specific behaviors and practices that instilled a lean management system Mindset shifts for implementing lean systems The most important aspect in sustaining a lean culture Where David has seen the elements of lean management applied About the Guest: David Mann is the principal of David Mann Lean Consulting. In 15 years of lean experience at Steelcase Inc., Mann developed the concepts and tools of a lean management system, supporting 40+ lean manufacturing value stream transformations, and then leading an internal team that completed over 100 successful lean conversions in administrative and business process value streams. He established a consulting practice in 2005, serving organizations across industries worldwide. David is an implementer, consultant, coach, teacher and the author of the book Creating a Lean Culture, in which he won a Shingo Award. Important Links: https://dmannlean.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Lean-Culture-David-Mann/dp/1482243237

This week I’m speaking with John Dyer, an author, speaker, teacher and consultant in team based continuous process improvement. With over 30 years experience, he is the President of John Dyer & Associates where he works with leaders in many different industries in the area of process improvement and leadership development. In this episode we talk about the different styles of leadership and how they apply to transforming the overall culture of an organization. We also chat about John’s book, The Façade of Excellence, and how it relates to different types of leaders and sustainable process improvement. What You’ll Learn This Episode: How continuous improvement has changed over the years Culture of continuous appearance John’s book, The Façade of Excellence, and why he wrote it The main ingredient to making any improvement initiative successful Why leaders need to adapt to different situations About the Guest: John Dyer is the President of John Dyer & Associates, where he works with  leaders in a variety of Continuous Improvement and Operational Excellence initiatives.  John is also the author of the book The Façade of Excellence, Defining a New Normal of Leadership. Important Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-dyer-75a646/ https://twitter.com/JohnDyerPI https://www.amazon.com/Fa%C3%A7ade-Excellence-Defining-Normal-Leadership/dp/0367145332/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3VPWAXQE0RTYB&dchild=1&keywords=the+facade+of+excellence+john+dyer&qid=1622834304&sprefix=the+facade+of+%2Cstripbooks%2C163&sr=8-1

This week I’m chatting with Katie Anderson, an internationally recognized leadership coach, consultant, author and professional speaker. Katie is best known for her focus on helping individuals and organizations lead with intention. Katie is also the author of “Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn” and wrote the forward for my book. In this episode we talk about being an intentional leader, and creating a structure for your learning and practice. What You’ll Learn This Episode: What it means to be an intentional leader 3 skills to becoming a more intentional leader Finding your clarity The importance of asking questions Creating a habit of reflection The shift from PDCA to SAPD About the Guest: Katie Anderson is an internationally recognized leadership coach, consultant, author and professional speaker.  She has over 20 years of experience in supporting change and improvement in organizations across a range of industries, though her primary focus has been on leading transformational change in healthcare organizations. Katie launched KBJ Anderson Consulting in 2013, to help individuals and organizations gain clarity on their goals, deepen their problem solving skills, and develop more effective leadership habits. Important Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbjanderson/ https://kbjanderson.com/

This week I’m chatting with Paul Dunlop, a Lean expert and Principal Consultant with over 20 years of management and manufacturing experience across a broad range of industries. In this episode we talk about focusing on accountability and performance management to improve your overall productivity. We also chat about why it’s so important to build your improvement on a solid foundation so that you can move from chaos and lack of structure to calm productivity. What You’ll Learn This Episode: How to build improvement activity on a good foundation The importance of accountability Performance management and why it’s needed The idea of perfection and why it may be stopping you Fear and leadership Making behavior visual About the Guest: In his operational management roles Paul Dunlop has led successful Lean implementation and transformations using the principles of the Toyota Production System and is green belt certified. Paul’s passion for operational excellence using Lean tools and methodology has helped drive sustained continuous improvement and financial performance at many businesses. Paul’s human centered approach focuses on engaging the ongoing support and commitment of both frontline staff and senior management through effective Lean leadership to facilitate engagement and inclusive problem-solving cultures. Paul supports and encourages organizations and individuals to go from chaos to calm productivity. Important Links: https://www.dunlopconsultants.com.au/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dunlopconsultants/

This week I’m chatting with Pennie Saum, a process improvement expert currently in the transportation field about her experience with Lean and how her past personal struggles have influenced her today. In this episode, we talk about Pennie’s work with process improvement, employee engagement, and A3 thinking. We also go into detail about her work as an author and speaker working with survivors of trauma and abuse. What You’ll Learn This Episode: A3 thinking The importance of personal development Engagement and productivity improvement Penny’s experience with trauma A3 thinking in your personal life and personal development Knowing your “why” The Be Loud Movement About the Guest: Penny Saum is a continuous process improvement expert currently in the transportation field with an emphasis on employee engagement and productivity improvement. Pennie has focused heavily on employee mentoring, employee development and driving continuous improvement through the training of employees. Throughout her career in Lean, Pennie has developed strategy, people, process and structural solutions that have met business needs by analyzing the organization’s current states and utilizing continuous improvement methodology. She has had successful implementation in employee development, streamlining business processes, enhancing operational efficiency, implementing cost control measures and enhancing the employee experience. Pennie Saum is also the author of Brave and Unbroken, a speaker, advocate, law changer, and voice seeker who has dedicated her life to helping victims use their voice to move through trauma and grief. She has a passion for helping child sexual abuse victims thrive.  Pennie is determined to impact those who are struggling the trauma of child sexual abuse. Important Links: Ted Talk Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l7R3Zuv8Is http://penniesaum.com/ http://www.braveandunbroken.com/

This week, I’m talking to lean expert Tim Schipper about his book Innovative Lean Development and The Highly Effective Office and how you can incorporate lean into your office. In this episode we talk about how to use lean techniques in the office and admin side of business to eliminate excess waste so your business and team can be at their optimal performance. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Using lean in your office and the administrative side of business Eliminating motion waste and excess processing Lean focus for optimizing flow in the office Value stream maps in the office How to engage team members from the beginning The value of exposing waste Visuals for daily management About the Guest: Tim Schipper is the author of Innovative Lean Development and The Highly Effective Office.  He also served on the Board of Directors for the Lean Product and Process Development Exchange, an organization promoting the exchange of information between companies in the areas of lean product and lean process development. Tim is an agile and lean expert, teacher, and coach. Important Links: https://www.amazon.com/Timothy-Schipper/e/B0026GSQTI?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1621458548&sr=1-1 https://www.linkedin.com/in/timschipper/

This week, I’m speaking with the founder and CEO of Impruver, Inc. Calvin Williams. Calvin founded Impruver Technologies after working for 20 years as an Operations Leader and Engineer with some of America’s premier manufacturing companies, generating Billions in growth opportunities and cost savings for those he has served. In this episode we talk about daily improvement and self discipline to leverage your continuous improvement journey. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Impruver and the benefits of using software in lean The connection between lean and fitness Daily habits for daily improvement The importance of self-discipline Time management and making time to improve About the Guest: Calvin Williams is the Founder and CEO of Impruver, Inc. and has also worked as a continuous improvement coach and consultant after spending many years as an industrial engineer and CI practitioner. Calvin built Impruver to address the challenges all companies seemed to face in their efforts to get better. These challenges include: lack of CI skills development throughout the enterprise, lack of leadership support and engagement, and lack of sufficient tools and information. Important Links: https://impruver.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/calvin-l-williams/

This week, I’m speaking with certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Project Management Professional and CI Instructor Katie Labedz, about her new book “How to Improve Absolutely Anything.” In this episode we talk about Katie’s recent book and the importance of continuous improvement including how to integrate it into your everyday life even outside of the office. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Visual leadership and how to use it How you can use continuous improvement in your everyday life including at home How Katie got her start in Lean and Six Sigma Katie’s favorite lean tools from her book What inspired Katie to write her book About the Guest: Katie Labedz is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with over 20 years of experience implementing continuous improvement solutions within non-manufacturing and manufacturing environments.  Her company is Learning to Lean. Katie also has her Master's certification in instructional design, her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification through PMI and is a certified instructor/facilitator through Langevin. Important Links: https://www.learningtolean.training/ https://www.amazon.com/How-Improve-Absolutely-Anything-Improvement/dp/B08ZDV42RF/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=katie+labedz&qid=1618940328&sr=8-1

This week, I’m speaking with Karyn Ross, the author of How to Coach for Creativity and Service Excellence: A Lean Coaching Workbook, and coauthor of the Shingo Award-winning,  The Toyota Way to Service Excellence: Lean Transformation in Service Organizations. Karyn is an internationally acclaimed consultant, coach and lean practitioner, and focuses on teaching organizations of all sizes and sectors how to use creativity combined with Toyota Way principles, practices and tools. This powerful combination enables organizations to create better, more effective and efficient ways to work. While many other Lean consultants focus on implementing tools, Karyn teaches teams how to use Practical Creativity™ to continuously strive towards service excellence. Karyn is on a mission to 'Help People Improve the World'. In this episode we talk about the important link between leadership and kindness, how to practice kindness in community and the impact listening can have when you’re in a leadership role. Important Links: https://karynrossconsulting.com/ https://loveandkindnessproject.org/ http://bit.ly/2R2qvo9 https://karynrossconsulting.com/announcing-the-new-school-for-kind-leaders-2/ https://womeninlean.org/