In this episode, Deb Coviello and I discuss Leader Standard Work and how best leverage this tool as an Executive Leader: even the creative & innovative process needs Leader Standard work; not to thwart the creative process but to ensure you have enough time for it without burnout. Deb is the founder of Illumination Partners, Author of the book CEO’s Compass - Your Guide to Getting Back on Track and the host of The Drop In CEO Podcast. In this episode, you will learn: How should Leader Standa...
May 17, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 85
In this episode, Adam Lawrence and I discuss the power of proper chartering prior to launching into a project or kaizen event of any sort. This is Adam's second time on The Lean Solutions Podcast; the first time was back in episode 50 where we talked about his book, The Wheel of Sustainability. In this episode, you will learn about: What is chartering and why does it mean so much to you? What are the 4 key components of chartering? How does chartering lock in leadership commitment? How does char...
May 10, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 84
In this episode, John Rooney and I discuss Nummi and its impact on European workers during his time as an executive at General Motors. What you'll learn during today's episode: What is Nummi? The impact of Nummi on the GM European plants True Lean vs. the appearance of lean Has manufacturing changed? What one bit of advice would you give to a company starting out on its lean journey? What do you most enjoy about helping companies improve? About the guest: John Rooney had 40 years Automotive Expe...
May 03, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 83
In this episode, I talk with Lee Campe about some of his favorite problem solving examples. This is Lee's second time on the show. Previously, in episode 56, we discussed how to maintain a high standards in Lean and Six Sigma. Today, we talked about his experiences in problem solving with many different industries. What you'll learn in this episode: Are PDCA and A3 the same as 6 Sigma? What’s the best way to identify the 8th form of waste? Do we still need a team of people to do a project? Why d...
Apr 26, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 82
This week I’m chatting with Michael Parent, a Master Lean Six Sigma Black belt and managing director of Michael Parent Consulting Services in Michigan. In this episode we talk about Lean and Human Centered Design and the value it offers Continuous Improvement in your business. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Operational Definition: What Human Centered Design Is Exploring Human Centered Design The value Human Centered Design offers for Lean, Six Sigma, and Continuous Improvement What Human Center...
Apr 19, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 81
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Michael Ballé, a business writer, executive coach, organizational researcher and Lean expert with 30 years of experience. In this episode, Michael and I talk about how you can use Lean strategy in your organization and how it can give you an advantage and how Lean can be applied to product development. What You’ll Learn This Episode: How Lean is a strategy How it gives companies a competitive advantage to use Lean as a strategy Michael’s book The Lean Strat...
Apr 12, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Today on the podcast, I’m sharing a conference presentation I gave to the Lean Six Sigma World Conference about the importance of keeping it simple and visual when it comes to Lean. In this episode, I talk about the importance of good leadership and how you can do small things to create the right culture within your organization. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Why you need to keep things simple instead of complex The 3 points to keeping it simple The importance of keeping a clear vision of wher...
Apr 05, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 79
Today on the podcast, I’m sharing a presentation I did for the Cincinnati ASQ, a professional association representing Quality professionals in the Cincinnati, Ohio and Northern Kentucky area, about avoiding the continuous appearance trap. In this episode, I talk about my book and how you and your team can avoid the continuous appearance trap by asking certain questions and changes that will affect your overall organization. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Why leaders need to enable action Why y...
Mar 29, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 78
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Drew Erdmann who served as the chief operating officer of the state of Missouri from February 2017 to April 2021. Under two governors, he was responsible for leading the management transformation across the state of Missouri's 16 Cabinet departments, which equates to roughly 45,000 employees. In this episode, Drew talks about both private and public sector continuous improvement, his transition between the two and how to bridge the gap between the private s...
Mar 22, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with John Thacker Jr. who has two decades of experience working in supply chain including managing factories, regional distribution centers, tier one automotive equipment, manufacturing, building trades, food, pharma and consumer goods. John is also the co-host of A Quality Podcast. In this episode, John talks about the importance of Operational Excellence and how companies can move toward a more Lean environment that focuses on value and a healthy environment f...
Mar 15, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Today on the podcast, I’m sharing a presentation I did for Inforum Affinity Group. I go over the principles and concepts of Lean and how they can be used today as well as in the future as technology continues to evolve. In this episode I also go over a brief history of Lean manufacturing and how it relates to today. What You’ll Learn This Episode: History of Lean manufacturing How can companies that are trapped in Lean appearance succeed Is Lean outdated and will it be relevant in the future How...
Mar 08, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Andy Olrich, a Continuous Improvement and Innovation Leader for the Hunter Water Corporation in Newcastle, Australia. Andy has over 25 years experience in engineering trades, health services, manufacturing, mining, logistics, processes and support. In this episode, Andy and I talk about the importance of leaders committing to standards when training a team and why it’s so important for leaders to not only set clear expectations but to also support and drive...
Mar 01, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Jake Harrell. Jake is a supply chain enthusiast and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. He is also the host of A Quality Podcast and the author of the book Chasing Excellence. In this episode, Jake talks about the importance of being funny and bringing humor into Lean to appeal to a wide array of people. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Jake’s background and how his podcast got started Sparking fun and humor in Lean Using memes for fun when talking about Lean Dealing...
Feb 22, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Karyn Ross, an internationally acclaimed consultant, coach, lean practitioner and author. Karyn is also the founder of the Love and Kindness Project which is a movement spreading kindness from person to person around the world. In this episode, Karyn talks about the movement and why it’s so important to focus on kindness, even in a Lean setting and how you can implement kind leadership everyday. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Why kindness in Lean matters K...
Feb 15, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Alessandro Lasi, whose career includes more than 10 years in continuous improvement leadership positions. Alessandro also earned a master's in industrial engineering and has a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification and is also a Kaizen facilitator. In this episode, Alessandro and I talk about the mindset and culture of Lean and Continuous Improvement including different tactics and techniques to support the continuous improvement culture. What You’ll Learn...
Feb 08, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 71
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Nigel Thurlow, a leading expert on Lean and Agile approaches. Nigel advises companies on successful transformation strategies and how to achieve effective and lasting change. As the chief agile at Toyota connected, he established the Toyota agile Academy and is also the co-author of The Flow System. In this episode, Nigel and I talk about Agile, how it relates to Lean and the flow from scientific thinking to Agile into the flow system. What You’ll Learn Thi...
Feb 01, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Gareth Shaw. Gareth is the President, UK & Europe of Doceree, the first global network of physician-only platforms for programmatic messaging. In this episode, Gareth and I talk about leading high performing work teams and how you can maintain your high performing teams digitally during the pandemic. Gareth also shares information about pharma marketing and technology in the pharma industry. What You’ll Learn This Episode: The definition of a high perfo...
Jan 25, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Anna Tagliapietra, an Italian Lean Office trainer and consultant. Anna mixes methods and tools from design thinking and design sprint to the traditional Lean tools using micro structures to help people interact and find ideas during their improvement projects In this episode, Anna talks about design thinking in Lean and how organizations can use micro structures. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Anna’s background in Lean What is a micro structure How you can...
Jan 18, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Dirk Fischer, an automotive General Manager, Lean Operations Engineering supply chain and Quality Manager expert with more than 25 years of experience. In this episode, Dirk and I go over system waste, what’s causing it and how you can avoid it. We also go over holistic business excellence and how it relates to system waste. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Dirk’s background in Lean and how he got started The definition of System Waste How to identify and el...
Jan 11, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 67
Patrick Adams is the author of the best selling book “Avoiding the Continuous Appearance Trap.” He is an international speaker, coach, and consultant. Patrick has been delivering bottom-line results through specialized process improvement solutions for over 20 years. He's worked with all types of businesses from private, non-profits, government, and manufacturing ranging from small business to billion dollar corporations. Patrick is a proven leader and highly experienced consultant with specific...
Jan 04, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 66
This week on the podcast, I’m speaking with Randy Otterbridge. Randy is the Chief Idea Officer at RBridge Business Institute, which is a Consulting and Business Creation company and is also an author and a podcast host. In this episode, Randy and I talk about how you can apply Continuous Improvement and Lean principles into not only your business but also your personal life in order to create a better lifestyle. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Randy’s experience with manufacturing and continuous...
Dec 28, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 65
This week on the podcast, I’m speaking with Jim Huntzinger. Jim is the founder of Lean Frontiers and has also launched new business in the free market healthcare arena through several virtual lean and free market healthcare events and the United in Care Summit. He is also the author of several books. In this episode, Jim and I talk about the relevance of Lean accounting and how TWI fits into the Lean business model. What You’ll Learn This Episode: The start of Lean Frontiers Jim’s background in ...
Dec 21, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 64
This week on the podcast, I’m speaking with Brian Bolen. Brian has 12 years of quality and CI experience. He's an ASQ, certified Six Sigma Black Belt. He also has his master's degree in operational excellence from Eastern Michigan University In this episode, Brian and I talk about why leaders need to be focusing on servant leadership and how it can help leaders be more effective in their roles. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Servant leadership, what it is and why it matters Brian’s experience w...
Dec 14, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 63
This week on the podcast, I’m speaking with Paul Akers. 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 in...
Dec 07, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 62
This week I’m speaking with Felipe Engineer, a registered Scrum master and trainer. Felipe also leads the Lean construction program at McCarthy Building Companies and is the CEO and podcast host of the EBFC Show, which is dedicated to Lean construction. In this episode, Felipe and I go into detail about integrating Lean into construction. We also talk about Scrum, what it is and how Scrum can be used when you’re in the construction industry. What You’ll Learn This Episode: The importance of Lean...
Nov 30, 2021•45 min•Season 1Ep. 61
This week I’m speaking with Andrew Van Breugel, an experienced manufacturing professional with a diverse range of skills and Lean experience that extends to plant management, operations management, product development, manufacture and quality. In this episode, Andrew and I speak about sustainability and leadership in Lean and how leaders can develop their leadership skills and also help their team with executing sustainable Lean culture. What You’ll Learn This Episode: Should Lean leaders be str...
Nov 23, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 60
This week I’m sharing some of the interviews and chats I got to have during my time at the 2021 Operational Excellence Summit in the State of Nebraska. I got the opportunity to speak with multiple leaders in the Lean and Operational Excellence community and I’m excited to share my interviews with you today. The state of Nebraska launched the Center of Operational Excellence in 2016 to change the culture in state government and train state teammates in Process Improvement. Since May 2016, the COE...
Nov 16, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 59
This week on the podcast, I’m talking with Chris Burnham. Chris has twenty years of experience with learning and coaching Lean and Continuous Improvement principles and his career has spanned a variety of roles from front-line servant leader to responsibility for Global Continuous Improvement Programs. Chris is also the host of The Lean Leadership Podcast. In this episode, Chris and I talk about growing technology in Lean and continuous improvement and how leaders and teams can adapt to the chan...
Nov 09, 2021•40 min•Season 1Ep. 58
This week I am chatting with Tony Hayes, an executive lean leader responsible for the Wabash management system, continuous improvement and quality at Wabash. In this episode, Tony and I talk about his experience with Lean and Lean culture as well as transformation and why it’s so important to create a story around transformation with Lean. What You’ll Learn This Episode: What makes a good Lean leader The characteristics of a bad Lean leader How to effectively scale during a transformation Spread...
Nov 02, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 57
This week on the podcast, I am speaking with Lee Campe. Lee is the President of Performance Excellence Inc. and a Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt. In this episode, Lee and I talk about his extensive training and experiences in Lean Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma. We also talk about the importance of maintaining high standards in Lean Six Sigma and advice on training in LSS. What You’ll Learn This Episode: What frustrates Lee about the current Lean Six Sigma offerings, or the current Le...
Oct 26, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 56
