Episode #198 is a discussion with Harry Kenworthy about his work bringing Lean into local and state governments. We had a great conversation that touches on the influence of Dr. W. Edwards Deming and many other concepts that might be of interest even if you're not interested in “Lean Government” and the work happening there. Harry is Principal and Manager of the Quality and Productivity Improvement Center (QPIC, LLC), a consulting organization he founded in 1984 and has been with full time since...
May 15, 2014•39 min•Season 1Ep. 198
My guest for episode #197 is a hospital leader I really respect, Kim Barnas, author of the new book Beyond Heroes . Until very recently, Kim was a Senior VP at ThedaCare , leading Appleton Medical Center and Theda Clark Hospital. I've seen Kim speak to groups at ThedaCare and a few conferences and she has a lot to teach us about Lean leadership, using her stories and experiences in a way that's very powerful. I hope you'll check out the book. Read a press release about it here . In the podcast t...
Apr 29, 2014•36 min•Season 1Ep. 197
My guest for episode 196 is Jim Huntzinger , founder of Lean Frontiers . Today, we're talking about the Training Within Industry methodology and his new website WhatIsTWI.com . We are discussing topics including what a typical TWI “journey” looks like for an organization, how TWI is such a fundamental Lean concept/method, and some examples of how TWI is helping organizations in various industries, including healthcare. What's the latest in the seven years since our first podcast on this topic ? ...
Mar 18, 2014•33 min•Season 1Ep. 196
Joining me for episode #195 is my friend Steve Montague from LifeWings. Steve and I met initially through our shared interest in Lean and, like Ron Pereira, we discovered we both lived in Keller, Texas (I've since moved to San Antonio). Steve is a retired Navy pilot and currently flies for a major commercial airline. He's also been involved, through LifeWings, in the movement to bring aviation safety practices (and culture) to healthcare via "Crew Resource Management" or "TeamSTEPPS." He's also ...
Mar 02, 2014•39 min•Season 1Ep. 195
My guest for episode #194 is Paul Piechota, Director for the Center for Competitive Change at the University of Dayton School of Engineering. Piechota has authored over 30 publications with such titles as Transforming the Enterprise, Getting to the Future First!, and Establishing a Method for Process and Culture Change in the Military. His most recent publication is the book titled, Keeping Your Business in the U.S.A.: Profit Globally While Operating Locally. In this episode, we'll talk about to...
Feb 21, 2014•34 min•Season 1Ep. 194
My guest for episode #193 is Mark Jaben, MD, talking about our brains, Lean, and change. Mark has been a guest blogger for me before and it's great to talk to him today about his research and experiences. In our conversation, Mark talks about "the troublesome features of our brain's operating system" (such as our "hidden brain"), how the A3 problem solving process fits with the way our brains work, and how to deal with "resistance" to change. Mark has also helped talk to some healthcare organiza...
Feb 06, 2014•35 min•Season 1Ep. 193
Joining me for podcast #192 is John Torinus , author of the excellent book, The Company That Solved Health Care: How Serigraph Dramatically Reduced Skyrocketing Costs While Providing Better Care, and How Every Company Can Do the Same . John is the chairman of Wisconsin-based Serigraph Inc., a graphics parts manufacturer with ownership in ten plants in the U.S., Mexico, China and India with over $130M in annual sales. John has served as business editor and columnist at the Milwaukee Journal Senti...
Jan 26, 2014•37 min•Season 1Ep. 192
Joining me for podcast #191 is my friend and fellow LEI faculty member Mike Orzen ( @MikeOrzen ), co-author of the Shingo Award-winning book Lean IT: Enabling and Sustaining Your Lean Transformation . I recently crossed paths with Mike in Columbus, Ohio, because we're both mentoring students in the Ohio State University MBOE program . We have a lot in common, it seems! Mike is also collaborating with the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value for a new workshop: “ Leveraging Information, People &...
Jan 13, 2014•33 min•Season 1Ep. 191
My guest for episode #190 is a returning guest (from episode #151 ), my friend Karen Martin , talking about her (co-authored by Mike Osterling ) newly-released book, Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation . You can order via Amazon and can learn more via Karen's website . In the episode, we talk about topics including how this book fits with her others , some common struggles that people face when mapping value streams, why it's importa...
Jan 06, 2014•36 min•Season 1Ep. 190
Audio remastered June 2022 Episode page Joining me as my guest for episode #189 is Rich Sheridan , CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations , a software development company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Rich is author of the new book that I'm really enjoying: Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love. Learn more about the author and the book at www.menloinnovations.com/joyinc . You can also download a free chapter here . There's so much to love about his book and what they are doing at Men...
Jan 02, 2014•29 min•Season 1Ep. 189
My guest for Episode 188 has been a leading voice in the Lean community for 25 years, Daniel T. Jones , founder and chairman of the Lean Enterprise Academy , based in the UK. Dan collaborated with Jim Womack on the books The Machine That Changed the World , Lean Thinking , and Lean Solutions and published other books through the LEA . Currently, Dan is helping promote Lean in healthcare and government and is learning about the Lean Startup community by becoming an advisor to the company Elastera...
Dec 18, 2013•31 min•Season 1Ep. 188
Joining me for episode #187 is Joe Swartz, my friend and esteemed co-author for our books Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen: Leadership for a Continuously Learning and Improving Organization . You can learn more about our books here . Joe is Director of Business Transformation at Franciscan St. Francis Health System in Indianapolis (his full bio is here ). In the episode, we talk about his background w...
Sep 26, 2013•32 min•Season 1Ep. 187
Episode page My guest for episode #186 is my friend Jon Miller , CEO of Kaizen Institute and long-time blogger at Gemba Panta Rei. Today, we're talking about his upcoming book, Creating a Kaizen Culture: Align the Organization, Achieve Breakthrough Results, and Sustain the Gains (co-authored by Mike Wroblewski and Jamie Villafuerte). I can't believe I haven't had Jon on the show before… hopefully, this won't be the last time. In this episode, we'll talk about “ artifacts ” of a Kaizen culture an...
Sep 18, 2013•38 min•Season 1Ep. 186
My guests for episode #185 are Karen Dunn Skinner and David Skinner and our topic, for the first time on the Podcast , is Lean in law firms and the legal profession. David and Karen are husband and wife, attorneys, from Quebec, and consultants for their firm Gimbal . I had a chance to meet up with them in Montreal earlier this year, after connecting via social media, and they're a delight to talk to – in person and in our podcast. I think there are a lot of fascinating parallels between Lean in ...
Sep 11, 2013•49 min•Season 1Ep. 185
It's great to have Dr. John Toussaint back for episode #184 of the podcast (see links to previous episodes below). He is, of course, CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value and the author of two Shingo Award-winning books, On the Mend: Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the Industry and Potent Medicine: The Collaborative Cure for Healthcare . In this podcast, we start by hearing John's thoughts on some of the top issues that healthcare CEOs are facing today, such as ...
Aug 13, 2013•32 min•Season 1Ep. 184
My guest for episode #183 is Scott Sambucci , who I met at the 2012 Lean Startup Conference . Scott is author of an excellent book, Startup Selling: How to sell if you really, really have to and don't know how . Scott is also founder of SalesQualia , a firm that helps people improve sales performance. His latest project is the Sales Model Canvas , an online tool. Scott and I talk about getting better at sales (something I've honestly struggled with, as an engineer, during my time with KaiNexus )...
Aug 06, 2013•35 min•Season 1Ep. 183
Joining me for episode #182 are Michael Grogan and Dr. Brenda Dmello, joining me via Skype from Tanzania where they are working together to use Lean to improve health care at the Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) . Michael is Irish born and left his career in the United States to work in Africa (which you can read about in his guest post that I published earlier this month ). In the episode, we talk about their mission to reduce maternal death rates and “needless s...
Jul 30, 2013•36 min•Season 1Ep. 182
My guest for Podcast #181 is a good friend, Ron Pereira of Gemba Academy , an outstanding provider of online Lean (and now Six Sigma) education. Ron's blog posts can now be found at the Gemba Academy blog . I was recently a guest on episode #8 of his podcast series. Ron was also the guest host for episode #143 of my podcast , where he interviewed me with follow up questions from a webinar I did for Gemba Academy on SPC . Before I moved to San Antonio, Ron and used to live just about five miles a...
Jul 22, 2013•30 min•Season 1Ep. 181
Joining me for episode #180 of the Lean Blog Podcast is Dan Florizone, who served from 2008 until last month as Deputy Minister of Health in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Dan has just recently transitioned into his new role as the Deputy Minister of Education and he will also focus on the application of Lean principles across all departments of the government. Dan previously had over 25 years of healthcare management experience, including a five-year stint as CEO of the Five Hills Healt...
Jul 15, 2013•34 min•Season 1Ep. 180
My guests for Podcast #179 are my friends Judy Worth and Tom Shuker, two of the co-authors of the book Perfecting Patient Journeys , which was published earlier this year by the Lean Enterprise Institute . About the book: “Perfecting Patient Journeys” is a guide for leaders of healthcare organizations who want to implement lean thinking. Readers will learn how to identify and select a problem, define a project scope, and create a shared understanding of what's occurring in the value stream. Read...
Jul 09, 2013•30 min•Season 1Ep. 179
Joining me for Podcast #178 is Drew Greenblatt , President and Owner of Marlin Steel Wire Products , a manufacturing company based in Baltimore. I was really impressed with Drew's keynote talk at the recent AME Southwest Region conference here in San Antonio. Drew's company is successfully competing against cheap Chinese imports by using Lean and “ theory of constraints ” methods, being passionate about serving customer needs, and making a commitment to (and investment in) his employees. Whether...
Jun 24, 2013•30 min•Season 1Ep. 178
My guest for Podcast #177 is a returning guest, Bob Emiliani. In this episode, we're talking about one of his latest eBooks: Nobody Is Exempt From Improvement . Check out our previous podcasts together – Episodes 132 , 77 , 48 , 38 , and 30 . Bob is a professor at Central Connecticut State University and a prolific author on Lean management. Also check out his new book – “The Lean Professor.” For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/177 . For earlier episodes, visit the main ...
Jun 10, 2013•24 min•Season 1Ep. 177
Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/176 Remastered June 20201 Today, we discuss his latest book, The Harada Method: The Spirit of Self-Reliance . Joining me once again for episode #176 is my mentor good friend Norman Bodek , who has been a guest many times here . You can also learn more about the book and Norman's workshops at his website, PCSPress.com . As always, it's great to hear Norman talk about his interests and what he has learned in his trips to Japan, including Takashi Harada's work. ...
May 29, 2013•25 min•Season 1Ep. 176
My guest for podcast #175 is Mike Taubitz of the firm Sustainable Lean and FDR Safety . Mike is a retired GM employee (including a stint as Global Safety Director) and we met at the Michigan Lean Consortium conference in 2011. We quickly discovered our shared interest in Dr. Deming, Lean, and, most importantly, safety improvement. I hope you enjoy our chat about his background and lessons from his career, the integration of Lean practices and safety improvement, lessons from Paul O'Neill and oth...
May 17, 2013•28 min•Season 1Ep. 175
My guest for podcast #174 is John Hunter , a long-time friend and fellow blogger – at his Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog and, more recently, as a blogger for the W. Edwards Deming Institute . John has recently published a book through LeanPub.com titled “ Management Matters .” In this episode, John joins us from Malaysia, where he has been living, and we talk about his quality background – growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, influenced by his dad ( William Hunter ), Brian Joiner , George ...
May 08, 2013•38 min•Season 1Ep. 174
My guest for podcast #173 is Alan Gleghorn, CEO of Christie Clinic in central Illinois. Alan is one of the keynote presenters at the upcoming Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit , to be held June 5-6, 2013 in Orlando. Alan has been CEO for 14 years, leading Christie Clinic in their Lean journey that started in 2005 when he saw ThedaCare's current CEO Dr. Dean Gruner present at a conference. In this episode, Alan talks about how they got started with Lean, what they learned from Autoliv and the...
May 02, 2013•30 min•Season 1Ep. 173
Joining me for episode #172 is Jerry Bussell, previously a guest on episode #137 . Today, we're talking about his recent book, Anatomy of a Lean Leader . I just saw Jerry talk about the book yesterday at the AME spring conference here in San Antonio . Jerry talks about how he defines a “Lean leader” and why President Abraham Lincoln fits into that description. He'll talk about some of the modern CEOs he would put on the list of great Lean leaders, including the owner of the NFL's Jacksonville Ja...
Apr 17, 2013•26 min•Season 1Ep. 172
My guest for episode #171 is Chad Walters , a friend and a Lean consultant. He is owner of Lean Blitz Consulting in Augusta, Georgia, a firm focused on continuous improvement for small businesses and sports organizations. I'm a big fan (and frequent commenter) on Chad's blog and he's contributed guest posts here on my blog . He has been cited and mentioned on ESPN.com and CNBC.com . Today, we talk about how Lean principles can apply to sports operations, including the stadiums and events you att...
Apr 09, 2013•33 min•Season 1Ep. 171
My guest for episode #170 is Stephen Parry , joining us from England. He is a keynote speaker at the upcoming Lean Kanban North America conference in late April. I will also be a main stage speaker at the event. Parry has experience leading Lean transformation efforts in industries ranging from telecommunications, IT, shared services, financial services, and the public sector. He is the author of the book Sense and Respond: The Journey to Customer Purpose . In this episode, we talk about his exp...
Apr 02, 2013•32 min•Season 1Ep. 170
Joining me for Episode #169 is Leonard L. Berry, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Marketing in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. We are talking about his article that he co-authored with John Toussaint, MD Mayo Clinic Proceedings: 201CThe Promise of Lean in Health Care201D (PDF) - which I blogged about earlier. In this podcast, Len talks about his time being embedded in ThedaCare and the lessons he learned there... for example, why is it incorrect to assume that "standardized ...
Mar 27, 2013•32 min•Season 1Ep. 169
