The Lean Solutions Podcast

In this episode, David Larsen and I discuss respect for people, and CI in the office. What You'll Learn: 1. Share about your professional journey and background. 2. Tell me about your day job… 3. Recently you spoke at the Lean and Six Sigma World Conference in Orlando…. Why did you seek the speaking opportunity? 4. What do you think sets your work or approach apart from others in your field? 5. What brings you joy? About the Guest: David is a certified Planning and Scheduling Professional, certified Project Management Professional (PMP ®), Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, content creator, public speaker, writer, podcast guest and subject matter expert with more than 20 years of experience with projects, process improvement, data analytics, and facilitation across industries including government, manufacturing, healthcare, human resources, and finance. Links: Click here to connect with David Larsen on LinkedIn Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit

In this episode, Ovidiu Contras and I discuss tangled environments and how to work through them effectively. What You'll Learn: 1. What’s your Lean career path? 2. What’s a tangled environment? 3. What are the challenges in improving work in a tangled environment? 4. What helped in guiding teams to significantly improve work in the tangled environment? 5. VSM for non-repetitive work? How is that working? 6. Any recommendations for those wanting to try this in their business? About the Guest: Ovidiu Contras is a Lean Coach and Author. He has Authored 2 Books: Navigating the Lean Transformation and Untangling with VSM, both reflecting his own experiences. He has been involved in more than 20 years of Lean, as a continuous improvement employee. Links: Click here to connect with Ovidiu on LinkedIn Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit 

In this episode, Paul Dunlop and I discuss the value of visual management and the effectiveness of an SQCD board. What You'll Learn: 1. What is the value of visual management? 2. What is an SQCD board? 3. What are the steps to developing a good SQCD board? 4. How do we know if our SQCD board is working? 5. What challenges have you experienced in rolling out SQCD boards with your clients? About the Guest: Paul brings with him over 20 years of management and manufacturing experience in a broad range of industries. In his operational management and consultancy roles Paul has led successful Lean implementation and transformations using the principles of the Toyota Production System. Links: Click here to connect with Paul on LinkedIn Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit 

In this episode, The Lean Solutions Podcast host Patrick Adams discusses the ingredients necessary to fuel a mighty flame of continuous improvement in an organization as well as his book Avoiding The Continuous Appearance Trap, which received the Shingo publication award earlier this year. In the show notes, there is an article that Patrick wrote regarding the topics he speaks about in this episode. What You'll Learn: The Tinder Stability in processes and leadership. (You cannot improve chaos.) The vision must be clearly communicated. Standards, accountability, and expectations are clearly stated. Targets to achieve business goals are set. The Kindling Choose a high-value target area. Empower committed employees to change. Leaders enable action by removing roadblocks. Deploy structured problem solving. (Constant learning is the norm.) Generate small, simple improvements. Celebrate success on small wins. The Firewood Continuous and frequent “touches.” Hard work. Inspect what you expect. (Audit.) Sustain, replicate, and integrate the improvements. About the Speaker:  Patrick is an internationally recognized leadership coach, consultant and professional speaker. He is best known for his unique human approach to sound team building practices, creating consensus and enabling empowerment. Links: Click here for Patrick's Article Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit 

In this episode, Chad Bareither and I discuss the importance of a continuous improvement mindset. What You'll Learn: What is continuous improvement? Is a continuous improvement mindset anchored more in the hard skills (tools/systems) or the soft skills (behavior/thinking)? How does an organization get started with Continuous Improvement? How would that same organization sustain the benefits? What are some of the challenges you see in the world of Continuous Improvement? About the Guest:  From an early career as a Quality Engineer, Chad Bareither quickly found his niche and passion in Continuous Improvement. Now, with years of experience as an internal change agent for larger organizations, including three Fortune 500 companies, he takes that operational excellence mindset beyond the “shop floor”. As the owner and principal consultant of Bareither Group Consulting, he enables continuous improvement through the application of Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. Chad partners with his clients to clarify and deploy their strategy, make process improvements to achieve those goals, and establish a system for daily management of the business. Links: Click here to connect with Chad on LinkedIn Click here for more information on Bareither Group Consulting Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit 

In this episode, Tom Passaro and I discuss him and his team's early lean journey, and the challenges and wins they have experienced. What You'll Learn: 1. Tell us about your company. 2. What products/services do you provide? 3. Who is your ideal customer? 4. Why did you decide to embark on your own lean journey? 5. What challenges have you had? 6. What have the results been? 7. What do you have to celebrate? About the Guest:  Tom is the President and co-founder of Innovative Power Products, located in Long Island New York. He has been an entrepreneur for over 35 years in the RF and Microwave industry. Him and his team embarked on their Lean journey about 2 years ago. Links: Click here to connect with Tom on LinkedIn Tom Passaro's email: tpassaro@innovativepp.com Click here for more information on Innovative Power Products Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit 

In this episode, Matthew Singh and I discuss PI initiatives and programs as well as positively influencing culture. What You'll Learn: 1. What do you think are some important elements of a successful PI program? 2. How does one go about impacting positive cultural change? 3. What insights can you provide about the sustainability of a program? 4. What's been your greatest challenge in your PI endeavors? 5. What has been your greatest win in the PI endeavors? About the Guest:  Matt Singh is the Director of Operational Excellence and Master Black Belt for the Department of Administrative Services in the state of Nebraska. Over the last 20 years he has previously served in a variety of progressive management roles including sales & service, operations, and supply chain. He is certified as a Master Black Belt in Six Sigma, Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, Certified Lean Sensei, and holds the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential.  Links: Click here to explore Nebraska's Center Of Operations Page Matthew Singh's email: matthew.singh@nebraska.gov Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit 

In this episode, Ken Segel and I discuss the importance of continuous improvement principles as they apply to patient care. What You'll Learn: 1. Can you tell me a little bit about Value Capture’s mission and history so our listeners can get a sense for your work in healthcare, and how your firm combines leading with safety and Toyota Production System principles or lean?   2. How about your personal story?  How did you get connected to this mission? 3. Can you say a little bit more about the state of lean in healthcare?  What challenges are you seeing?  What are your health system clients doing to try to break through?  How are you advising them? 4. How about the current state of safety in healthcare?  There have been some scary headlines recently about patient safety not having progressed much in 20 years … 5. Last summer we both spoke at a conference where in a keynote you and Mark Graban announced that this is an ideal time for folks in any industry to grab WORKFORCE SAFETY as an imperative to revive or strengthen lean journeys.  Can you say why? 6. Where do you think the Operational Excellence movement should go next, to move deeper into the work and not risk being a series of the latest flavors of the month? About the Guest: Ken is the Chief Executive Officer and a co-founder of Value Capture. In this role as CEO, Ken provides support to CEOs of healthcare organizations dedicated to eliminating injuries and improving quality as a means to dramatically raise the clinical and financial performance of the entire institution. Prior to forming Value Capture, Ken served as the founding director of the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative (PRHI). PRHI achieved best-in-nation regional results in the elimination of several classes of risk for patients. Before helping to create PRHI, Ken served for five years as Senior Program Officer at the Jewish Healthcare Foundation of Pittsburgh, where he guided many community health improvement initiatives and initiated the Foundation's formal public policy program. Earlier in his career, he served as an aide to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives, directed the overnight operations in the 1992 Clinton-Gore presidential campaign “War Room,” and served as Policy Director and speechwriter for the Democratic Party. He also taught political organizing and election monitoring in Ukraine and Russia. He is also a Certified Facilitator of the Shingo Institute. Links: Click here to connect with Ken Segel Ken Segel's email: Ksegel@valuecapturellc.com Click here for more information on the "Leading With Safety" Seminar Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit 

In this episode, Adam Lawrence and I discuss the Wheel of Sustainability and its elements. What You'll Learn: 1. Which element of the Wheel of Sustainability do you find most challenging for your Kaizen teams to engage with and why? 2. How do you help your Kaizen teams deal with this element (Clear Benefits) 3. What are you trying to accomplish with this element during a Kaizen event? 4. Do you have some stories how using this element of the Wheel of Sustainability helped avert or avoid problems? 5. How does Leadership Commitment support and work with this element? About the Guest:  Adam Lawrence is the Managing Partner of Process Improvement Partners, LLC. He has 30+ years of experience in process improvement activities, targeted at manufacturing and business processes. Having facilitated 300+ Kaizen events in multiple industries around the world, Adam aligns with leadership, engages teams, and creates sustainable results. Adam is also the author of The Wheel of Sustainability.   Links: Click here to connect with Adam Lawrence Click Here to learn more about the Wheel of Sustainability Click here for the Process Improvement Partners LLC Website Click Here for Adam Lawrence's YouTube Channel Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit 

In this episode, Mike Leigh and I discuss the application of lean as well as the implementation of a lean mindset within organizations. What You'll Learn: 1. Can you describe your Lean journey so far? 2. How has your attitude toward the application of Lean changed? 3. What is your approach to helping companies move forward on their Lean journey? 4. You're not a big fan of Six Sigma. Why is that? 5. What advice would you give to Lean practitioners who want to make a difference in their organizations? About the Guest:  Mike Leigh 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.  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. Links: Click here to connect with Mike Leigh Click Here to learn more about Opx Solutions Click here for the OpX Solutions YouTube page Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit