The Lean Solutions Podcast

Katie Anderson is back for another episode where we talk about her chain of learning and the importance of leaders doing the little things.  Katie is 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: The importance of going out of your way to help others. Going beyond your job description. Chain of Learning  Katie's 2-year anniversary celebration of her book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn   Katie's learnings and discoveries since writing her book. New things coming in 2023 for Katie. 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/

In this episode, Jonathon Andell and I discuss his involvement with Motorola when Six Sigma was first introduced.  Jonathon was a young engineer at Motorola at that time and shares some great memories about his learnings early on. We also discuss how Lean and Six Sigma has shaped his problem solving approach over the years and he shares his biggest factors impacting effectiveness of lean transformations.   What You'll Learn: Jonathon's experience with Six Sigma at Motorola early on. Lean and Six Sigma's impact on his approach to solving problems. If you could counsel your earlier self in LSS, what advice would you give? What do you consider the biggest factors impacting the effectiveness of Lean transformations? About the Guest: Jonathon Andell is an accomplished operational excellence leader and an exceptional instructor, coach, and mentor in all aspects of lean-six sigma and continuous improvement. Jonathan is a master black belt with a track record of millions of dollars of bottom-line impact across many organizations in multiple industries.  He has served as an operational excellence practitioner across many organizations such as Motorola, Boeing, Verizon, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Bristol Myers Squibb, and now Vistra.  Connect with Jonathon Here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathon-andell/

Dawn Holly Johnson is a returning guest on The Lean Solutions Podcast.  Back in episode 46, we discussed operational excellence and, at that time, Dawn was getting ready to release her book, What CEOs Need to Know: The #1 Reason Startups Fail and All Organizations Underperform.  Well, now that Dawn has released her book, I am excited to catch up and learn how things have been going. What You'll Learn: 1. The reasons that companies struggle with OpEx. 2. What should OpEx leaders do instead? 3. Learn about Dawn's new book, What CEOs Need to Know: The #1 Reason Startups Fail and All Organizations Underperform. And why she wrote it. 4. How can OpEx leaders bring enterprise-wide change? About the Guest:  As an Organizational Engineer with transformational experience in every major industry and in every size company, Dawn has been the catalyst for businesses to realize over $6B in cash flow improvements. She is the CEO of 3D value group and the author of the book, What CEOs Need to Know: The #1 Reason Startups Fail and All Organizations Underperform.  Website: DawnHollyJohnson.com Book: Click Here for Amazon

Due to my travel schedule this week, I wanted to share a throwback to a conversation I had with Paul Akers this past year. Paul is an author, entrepreneur and the founder and president of FastCap, a product development company specializing in woodworking tools and hardware for the professional builder. In this episode, Paul and I go over how Lean can be applied to improve your work environment and why you need to focus on small consistent changes when trying to make improvements. What You’ll Learn This Episode: How Lean helped Paul in Ironman  FastCap and the inspiration behind the company  The importance of listening to customers  Making time to fix what’s bothering you  2 second improvement and why it’s simple  The inspiration behind Paul’s videos  What it takes to be a good leader in an organization with Lean culture  Paul’s advice for someone just starting on their Lean journey About the Guest: Paul Akers is the founder and president of FastCap, a product development company specializing in woodworking tools and hardware for the professional builder. FastCap was started in Paul’s garage in 1997 when he simply “fixed what bugged him” and developed his first product: the Fastcap Cover Cap. From humble beginnings, and no MBA, FastCap has thousands of distributors worldwide in over 40 countries. Paul’s intense curiosity on how things could be improved paved the way for him to become a prolific innovator and today he holds many US and International patents. FastCap launches approximately 20-30 innovative products per year and has won business of the year in 1999 and 2010. In June 2011 Paul won Seattle Business Magazine’s prestigious Business Executive of the Year award. He wrote his first book, 2 Second Lean, about creating a fun, Lean culture, that is now available in 15 languages. In 2015, he wrote his 2nd book, Lean Health, in 2016, he wrote Lean Travel and in 2019, he wrote Lean Life and Banish Sloppiness. In 2016, Paul’s book, 2 Second Lean, was recognized by the Shingo Institute and won the Research and Professional Publication Award. Important Links: https://paulakers.net/books/2-second-lean https://paulakers.net/ https://apps.apple.com/us/app/2-second-lean-play/id1503694993 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.leanplay

In this episode, I talked with Jim Huntzinger about the importance of Lean Accounting Management within any organization.  Jim helps listeners dig into their own accounting systems to ensure they are making decisions based on correct costing data.  What You'll Learn: How did you get involved with lean accounting? How did the Lean Accounting Summit come into being? How do lean accounting and process development connect? What work still needs to be accomplished in these areas? What else can process development impact? About the Guest: Jim Huntzinger began his career as a manufacturing engineer with Toyota and then was transplanted to North America to support Toyota.  In 2005, Jim founded Lean Frontiers. He developed and operates the immersive Skillpoint Workshops for Job Instruction and Toyota Kata. He has also authored many books to include, Lean Cost Management and Roots of Lean.  Lean Accounting Summit: https://leanfrontiers.com/2022leanleadershipweek/ Other Lean Frontiers Summits: https://leanfrontiers.com/summits/ Jim's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-huntzinger-7001581/

In this episode, Dan Davis and I discuss what its like to manage a continuous improvement culture in a large global company.  We talk about both successes and challenges of being in this role. Dan also provides the listeners with some tips and tricks to help other leaders develop their own CI culture. What You'll Learn: What it's like to manage The Center of Excellence for Continuous Improvement for a large publicly traded company? What is the key in opening the door to CI culture? How are you generating small improvements? What's Dan's favorite topic to train people on in CI? What's Dan's favorite quote and why? About the Guest: Dan Davis has dedicated over 25 years of his career to supporting lean initiatives and developing CI culture at various companies.  He is extremely passionate in teaching and simplifying concepts to help companies shift their culture to make it a place that it is everyone’s responsibility to improve. Mr. Davis rejoined Xylem in 2021 and leads up the Continuous Improvement, Center of Excellence and  is responsible for driving CI utilizing the Xylem Production System. His key focus areas include driving the vision and roadmap for the Company’s CI  culture while overseeing initiatives, implementing robust tools and measurement methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma, and leading Xylem toward best-in-class status in operations, commercial and transactional activities. Prior to his current role Mr. Davis was responsible for the CI program at Watts Water Technology.   He held several leadership roles at FMC Technologies, including CI Leader & Plant Manager. Prior to that, he served in a series of increasingly responsible leadership roles in the industrial businesses for the Stanley Black & Decker, Global CI  Leader and Plant Manager Responsibility. At Tractor Supply Company, Mr. Davis was responsible for launching their CI Program (Tractor Value System). Mr. Davis earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineer from Milwaukee School of Engineering. Email: dan.davis@xylem.com

In this episode, I talk with Muhammad Khurram from Pakistan about Lean Daily Management Systems.  Muhammad and I discuss the importance of daily management to support sustainment of improvement initiatives for any lean journey What You'll Learn: Lean Daily Management – LDM System is the key to sustain a Lean Culture What are the objectives of a good Lean Daily Management System? Key Elements for a Lean Daily Management System Who should have Leader Standard Work – LSW System How to handle the Daily accountability huddles? Why should Leadership conduct audits? About the Guest: Muhammad Khurram has a vast amount of experience as an agile Industrial Engineer in a diverse range of industries; within these different industries, he has worked on Production Planning & Control, Cost reduction, effective resource  capacity utilization, and has experience with the Toyota Production System. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and has a strong expertise in Lean Manufacturing and process accuracy.   He is a highly resourceful and strategically agile Industrial Engineer with over 15 years’ experience in diverse range of industries like FMCG, Automotive & Textile. He has in-depth knowledge and experience working in Production Planning & Control, Cost reduction, effective resource utilization, Toyota Production System and Capacity enhancement. As a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Muhammad has strong expertise on Lean Manufacturing and process accuracy. He has proven ability to establish engineering systems to achieve efficient operations with an emphasis on manufacturing processes.  Email: engineer_khurram@outlook.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/engineermuhammadkhurram/

This episode is a recording of a conversation I had with a global team about my best selling book, "Avoiding the Continuous Appearance Trap."  A team from Xylem Inc. spent the past few months studying the questions in the book and discussing their answers and learnings for application across the enterprise.  The team had some great questions for discussion.  Xylem Inc. is a leading global water technology company dedicated to solving the world's most challenging water issues.  They are an international team unified in a common purpose: creating advanced technology and other trusted solutions to solve the world's water challenges.  To learn more about Xylem Inc. you can visit www.xylem.com In this episode, you will learn: The background on my book, "Avoiding the Continuous Appearance Trap." CI Culture and Assessments at Xylem Is it possible to measure organizational culture? Have any companies "arrived" at becoming a company of continuous improvement as defined in the book? How do we best support lean in the future with all the recent changes in work environments? Why is it important to make things visual? How to develop stability with standards and why its so important. If I could write an additional chapter, what would it be? What's Patrick's next book? Some tips to drive CI virtually.

This is a "Throwback" to one year ago when I interviewed Dr. Jeff Liker about The Toyota Way 2nd Edition.  This episode is in the top 5 of most listened to episodes since we launched this podcast.  What You Will Learn: We discuss his newly published second edition of The Toyota Way. Dr. Liker and I talk about sustainment of continuous improvement initiatives, specifically, CONTROL vs. LEARNING environments.   We also discuss how Dr. Liker is using virtual reality to teach The Toyota Way. About the Guest: Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker is Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan and a professional speaker and advisor through his company Liker Lean Advisors, LLC, a network of associates to teach and consult in the Toyota Way. He is author of the new second edition of the international best-seller, The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer, McGraw Hill, 2004 and the companion (with David Meier) Toyota Way Fieldbook, Mcgraw Hill, 2005. His book with Jim Morgan, The Toyota Product Development System, Productivity Press, 2006, was the first that details the product development side of Toyota. In 2018, Morgan and Liker published Designing the Future: How Ford, Toyota, and Other World-Class Organizations Use Lean Product Development to Drive Innovation and Transform Their Business. Authored 3 books focused on the people side of lean: (with David Meier), Toyota Talent: Developing exceptional people the Toyota Way (May, 2007) (with Michael Hoseus) Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way (January, 2008) and The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership (with former Toyota managing officer Gary Convis). 2 additional books in 2011 are The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement (with Jim Franz) and the first inside account of the recall crisis--Toyota under Fire (with Tim Ogden). And in 2016 (with Karyn Ross): The Toyota Way to Service Excellence. Articles and books have won thirteen Shingo Prizes for Research Excellence and The Toyota Way also won the 2005 Institute of Industrial Engineers Book of the Year Award and 2007 Sloan Industry Studies Book of the Year. In 2012, Dr. Liker was inducted into the Association of Manufacturing Excellence Hall of Fame and in 2016 inducted into the Shingo Academy.

In this episode, Rick Foreman and I discuss Rick's Lean Leadership journey to include his learnings as the V.P. of Lean Development for Federal Heath.  Rick truly exemplifies the qualities of a servant leader and has been successful in his many roles throughout multiple industries. What you will learn in this episode: What's the purpose behind your Lean Leadership journey "Behavior is the echo of belief. Do our beliefs as a Lean Leader match up with what we model daily? If not, why not, and how do we adjust?" What do you believe to at the core of successful lean transformations?  How do you work to keep Lean engaged in the culture at Federal Heath? What's your biggest struggle in deploying lean at Federal Heath? About the guest: Rick Foreman is the V.P. of Lean Development for Federal Heath Sign Company and a John Maxwell Team certified speaker, coach, and trainer. Rick has over 32 years of lean leadership development experience within aerospace, telecom, sign, medical manufacturing, service industries, supply chains, and community engagement. This in-depth practice of utilizing coaching techniques and mastermind studies to develop people-centric leaders and engagement across multiple locations has led to cultural transformations, with team member, profit and organizational growth. During this period, two of the Texas facilities received recognition for “Lean Enterprise Excellence” from TMAC, while realizing significant, positive business results. Rick has a BA in Management Ethics, a MAM in Business Management, and over 30 years of serving others through coaching, mentoring and helping them reach their full potential and purpose. Contact Rick by email at rforeman@federalheath.com. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-foreman-24a4a3a/