Authored by Dave Rizzardo, Associate Director, MWCC
What are the highest-performing lean organizations doing that others are either unable or unwilling to do? What enables them to develop what can accurately be described as a lean culture of continuous improvement?
In short, the highest performers have more employees moving the company forward towards its goals—their folks are engaged. Engagement refers to employees’ motivation to support the company’s mission, and their willingness to act and utilize their brainpower to help fulfill that mission. Engagement is action-based; actions aligned with lean principles.
Engaged employees are highlighting and solving problems; following standard work and experimenting to improve to new standards; and collaborating with teammates throughout the organization to add more value for the customer. These are just a few behaviors of the engaged associates, and this naturally leads to improvements in a multitude of business-performance measures.
Developing this engaged workforce is probably the most challenging part of the lean journey, but also the most impactful and rewarding. So, what are the keys to developing an engaged workforce?
There’s not a short simple answer to that question. One of the complicating factors is the variation in what motivates each one of us humans.
Authored by Dave Rizzardo, MWCC Associate Director
On July 25th, 2024, we took our members and guests to tour the Holmatro facility in Glen Burnie, Maryland. We were hosted by Karol Siozon, Craig Carassanesi, Michelle Leroy, and Timo Gerlings. Holmatro isn’t your typical company; they’re in the business of saving lives—not through hospitals or medical equipment, but by creating top-notch rescue gear used by first responders, SWAT teams, and Special Operations Forces. It’s clear that their mission fuels a deep pride and dedication among their team, and it was inspiring to witness firsthand.
They started by letting us see the finished products and they are indeed impressive! As we embarked on the tour, the impeccable cleanliness and organization of the facility stood out, reflecting their strong commitment to 5S practices that eliminates waste. Their daily Gemba Walks are a testament to their support for plant-floor employees, swiftly addressing any issues that arise. One of the Lean applications that stood out to me is their impressive kanban replenishment system. Each machine in their shop handles various parts that contribute to the final products, and their system ensures efficient inventory management. Thanks to their thorough audit process, they keep inventory low while boosting on-time delivery performance—and they do it with less stress!
Holmatro’s dedication to continuous improvement is further evidenced by their internal targets for on-time delivery, which are weeks ahead of customer promises. This forward-thinking approach underscores their commitment to excellence.
A strong foundation of teamwork and employee engagement has made these advancements possible. With many long-tenured employees, it’s clear that Holmatro values its workforce and embraces change with enthusiasm. The involvement of employees in the kanban process, along with their use of performance metrics, highlights a proactive approach to operational efficiency.
In addition to the essential human element of change, Craig also emphasized that having accurate data is crucial for successful kanban system implementation. Well said, Craig! Sure, the kanban system will run with poor data, but you will be making the wrong products. Or more of a product than needed, or not enough of another product, or all of these! Bottom line, it won’t work, so heed Craig’s warning. Remember, garbage in, garbage out!
In summary, this was an inspiring and educational Lean tour. Though their progress is impressive, what I feel is just as impressive is that they have systems in place which will be the catalyst for ongoing improvement to add more value for their customers who put their products to good use…to save lives!
Authored by Robert Schoenberger, Editor-in-Chief, IndustryWeek
No one will ever accuse Dave Rizzardo, associate director of the Maryland World Class Consortia of being shy or dispassionate about lean manufacturing and operational excellence. But, on a panel discussion at IndustryWeek's recent Operations Leadership Summit, the audience got an earful from the operations expert on treating people right, listening to your employees and how it's the leader's job to make sure everyone else can do their work.
Joining Dave for this particularly lively panel discussion was his friend (well, they were friends at the start of the conversation) Carl Livesay, general manager of Maryland-based Mercury Plastics. Also speaking was Sarah Tilkens, CEO of the KPI Lab and senior manager for operational excellence at GE Healthcare. The moderator is Robert Schoenberger, editor-in-chief at IndustryWeek.
Click the link to listen in! ➡️ Lean Manufacturing: It's Still All About People, Darnit!
by Dave Rizzardo, MWCC Associate Director
At our Quarterly Conference on July 12, 2024, Lorelei Vargo, President of Vargo Innovations, LLC, Doug Galeone, VP of Sales at Chutes International, and Suzanne Carney, Chutes Account Manager (and one of their Lean leaders), teamed up to make a compelling case for applying Lean to the Sales function of an organization. This was not a morning of theoretical concepts. It was a factual and implementation-based review.
First, as Lorelei pointed out, Sales consists of processes, and there is waste of all forms within Sales processes, as there is in any other type of process. These wastes are things which add time and cost, but no value to the customer. Lorelei went waste by waste and pointed out specific non-value adding activities associated with each waste category often found in Sales processing; wastes which she and her clients have attacked to eradicate or at least reduce. What’s the impact? Well, increased productivity, shorter lead-times, and increased sales and customer satisfaction are just a few improved performance measures.
Speaking of lead-time, during Doug and Suzanne’s presentation, they reviewed how Chutes reduced the Quoting lead-time by 57%! They did this by getting the team together, mapping out the process, identifying the wastes, and developing countermeasures to redesign the process…your typical Lean analysis, planning, implementation approach. Think about the impact of reducing the Quoting lead-time by over 50%. Sure, the waste removal and reduction will increase productivity, but getting the quote to the potential customer in half the time, and likely before the competitors have even given a filename to their quote document. This has increased sales for Chutes written all over it!
One of the key words that Lorelei and Doug/Suzanne mentioned a few times throughout the morning was collaboration. Not just improved collaboration amongst the Sales Team, but also collaboration with other company functions such as Manufacturing. Our businesses are systems, so collaboration and coordination among the components of the system is critical, and Chutes has intentionally made huge strides in strengthening the broader Value Stream team. This won’t happen by itself. It takes purposeful effort. Chutes did it! Something all companies should heed.
One other improvement, amongst many, that I would like to highlight from the Chutes story is one which we do on the factory floor all the time but is unfortunately, not done often enough in the office environment. And that is experimenting with the physical layout of the office to facilitate information flow. Even when informal discussions between teammates take place due to improved proximity, value is often gained. Again, layout experimentation in the office, not done as often as it should to create a more collaborative environment. Great job Chutes!
There were many more examples that Lorelei, Doug, and Suzanne reviewed, but I will just end with the comment that the Sales organization, can and must, be interconnected with the rest of the organization, and they can and must, be waste busters like every other component of the system, and Lorelei, Doug, and Suzanne clearly showed how this is not a theoretical aspiration. They have done it and continue to do it! And that is what Lean is all about.
Joyce La Padula, (MWCC Managing Director), Carl Livesay (General Manager of Mercury Plastics), and I attended the inaugural IW Operations Leadership Summit in Indianapolis, IN, June 26-28. As a Summit sponsor, we had an exhibit table, and Carl and I presented on “Sustaining Your Lean Gains”.
The Summit featured keynote speakers, breakout sessions on "Continuous Improvement" and "Technology Adoption," and end-of-day networking. We focused mainly on Continuous Improvement but also attended combined sessions on technology. Key topics included Lean/Continuous Improvement, Technology, and addressing the challenges of filling the employee pipeline. Here are a few highlights from the Summit.
Brett Wood - North America President & CEO, Toyota Material Handling North America
The opening keynote speaker was Brett Wood, North America President & CEO, Toyota Material Handling North America. They make forklifts, not cars. What struck me is that this is a top executive of a $6 billion company, but his presentation largely focused on the basic building blocks of Lean. Their dedication to developing people was captured in the phrases, “Making things is about making people” and “Engage-Educate-Empower.” He talked about involving people in improvement and encouraging small ideas (kaizen), the 8 wastes, their standard daily meetings, and 5S principles. He mentioned the old Tom Peters acronym, MBWA (Management by Wandering Around), and Genchi Genbutsu which is more commonly used in the Lean community.
He even showed the short 5-Why video on the deterioration of the Jefferson Memorial which is often shown as part of a Lean introductory session on root cause analysis. Keep in mind, this is a top executive within the parent company, Toyota Industries Corporation, and currently the only non-Japanese executive in his role, and he’s focusing on the nuts-and-bolts of problem solving and the fundamentals of Lean. He also shared a short video on an improvement in the factory by a gentleman named Al who worked on the production floor. It involved a jig that Al made. This short video captured perfectly the essence and power of employee engagement. Mr. Wood covered more topics too extensive to elaborate on here, but I felt that his keynote clearly showcased his respect for people, focusing on core Lean principles and values, and excelling in the basics. A message any company who wants to develop a Lean culture should heed.
IndustryWeek Best Plants Winners
Following Brett Wood was a panel of current and past IndustryWeek Best Plants winners. As would be expected, they all focused on leadership development and workforce engagement as key components of their culture. I appreciated the response from Tom Lego, Toyota Material Handling, regarding an audience question on how to handle employee ideas that are not really feasible or practical. He emphasized having a discussion to uncover the reason for the idea. Maybe this can be turned into an idea that is feasible. I believe this is so important, to not only get to the root of the issue, but to show respect, and it becomes a coaching/development opportunity.
Another interesting comment from Mr. Lego was that they don’t document all of the small ideas so much any more since the team leaders are leading their teams in improvement activities in their work areas. I am not sure that I agree with “not documenting,” but likely there is another capture mechanism not mentioned to enable sharing and monitoring of improvements. However, the mention of the role of front-line leaders leading their teams in improvement is what I appreciated.
Mayville Engineering Company (MEC)
One of the later breakout sessions in the Continuous Improvement track was by David Higgs from Mayville Engineering Company (MEC) who reviewed their 2-year Lean progress. David described their processing environment as high mix/low volume. Besides their improvement activities, top leadership commitment was noted again, a common Lean theme throughout the Summit. David also mentioned their vision of having the front-line leaders leading the kaizen activity, and the importance of early involvement of front-line leadership to gain ownership. However, admittedly, they are not at their vision yet, but their progress within two years was impressive, and I like their vision.
Technology
As mentioned, the first day of the Summit included a couple technology sessions which we attended which were put on by celonis and amentum. Both sessions focused on the integration of information. One of the amentum key discussion items was predictive maintenance approaches rather than relying on preventive maintenance activities. Though not a new topic, the sensing and information technology of today increases the feasibility for more organizations. Both technology sessions highlighted to me the need to investigate and learn more about the capabilities of the latest information technology and how this may help organizations meet their goals.
Professor Phil Powell, Indiana University
The final day of the Summit started with the news that the scheduled keynote speaker was replaced with Professor Phil Powell from Indiana University. He is the Executive Director, Indiana Business Research Center and Clinical Associate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy. Immediately, some of us prepared for a dry, theoretical, academic discussion sure to put us in nap mode even though the day had just begun. However, we were pleasantly shocked by Dr. Powell’s energetic and real world talk on increasing productivity. He had a pulse on the business community as deep as any of the participating companies. His insights could only have been formed by a deep engagement with the business community.
The four categories that he focused on were Better Technology, Better Infrastructure, Better Talent, and Better Management. Regarding Better Talent, Indiana’s apprenticeship approach was highlighted not only by Dr. Powell, but by other speakers as well. Regarding Better Management, he stated something to the effect that this is the most cost-effective approach that you can do to increase productivity. His one slide noted, “Modernize “old school” approaches to managing workers. You can accommodate a younger generation and still hold them accountable.” He raises the question, “Have you made your shop the most exciting and fulfilling place to work in your industry?” Good question! Think about the ramifications of this, both short and long term.
Subaru
Following Dr. Powell’s surprisingly impactful keynote, we heard from a couple folks from the Subaru Indiana facility and their impressive Lean journey. They reviewed several topics that were right in line with the major Summit themes of continuous improvement and embracing technology. However, there were a couple specific comments that struck me. One was “Focus on what is going right, not only what is wrong.” I can’t remember what their exact context was surrounding this statement, but I feel that it is a good reminder for a few reasons, not only to highlight and recognize “right” behaviors, but also to get to the root causes of the right behavior and apply this knowledge to improve the deficient areas.
The other comment from one of the Subaru presenters was something that their CEO had stated. He said that there are two jobs here, those who build cars, and those who support the folks who build cars. Determine which you are and get good at it. This quite simply puts a manufacturing organization in perspective…those who add value, and those who support those who add value. They ended their presentation by showing a short video that is shown to all Subaru employees. It was a story of how the safety features of the Subaru saved a gentleman’s life when he was involved in a terrible accident in a snowstorm. The presenters didn’t elaborate too much on this video, but to me, it strikes right at the topic of “purpose.”
Summary
The two final breakout sessions in the Continuous Improvement track focused on Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing, and Timken’s Lean Transformation Journey. Both were as impactful as what I already highlighted. There were plenty more takeaways from the Summit, but this message is already excessively long, so I will end my thoughts on the Summit here. I strongly recommend that you consider attending the 2025 IndustryWeek Summit. IndustryWeek will surely embrace continuous improvement, learn from this year’s inaugural Summit and make it even better next year.
Authored by Carl Livesay, General Manager, Mercury Plastics
At Mercury Plastics, members of our leadership team noticed several books in my office. When certain circumstances arose, I would recommend reading a specific book. Well-written books provide different perspectives on any given topic, along with foundational support for good decision-making.
So, we started a book club. Anyone interested could participate. People could join or stop at any time, but the books were read in a semi-strategic sequence, so if you started later, you read each book starting with book number 1.
For each book, we allocated a specific amount of time to read it, usually 4 – 6 weeks. Then we met as a group for lunch and a brief review of the book chapter by chapter. The day before the luncheon, chapter assignments were handed out, giving each person an opportunity to prepare to lead a discussion on their assigned chapters.
This is one of my favorite approaches to improving communication and building teamwork among the leadership team for several reasons:
Books are chosen for their relevance to our lifestyle of Lean. Everyone is encouraged to suggest a book, provided they have already read it. It is worth noting that we provide the books in the language of the readers’ choosing. We also encourage people to purchase the audio version to listen to on the way to and from work.
Our reading list is always growing:
To be successful, establishing trust between the leadership and the rest of the team is imperative. Communication at all levels must be equally successful. Much of the content in these books helped our team learn how to communicate effectively and positively, how to demonstrate trust in their team, and, equally important, how to recognize when others trusted them as their leaders.
When trust is established, and communication is strong, amazing things begin to happen. As team members realize they are encouraged to act in the best interest of the company and they are neither chastised nor punished for failure, their self-confidence begins to grow. After the first few successes, self-confidence and self-esteem begin to flourish. When this occurs, a circle of safety is established. We call that a first-responder attitude. Much like firefighters and police officers head into trouble not knowing what is in store for them, people operating in a circle of safety lean in towards the challenge. This is amazing to watch and exciting to be a part of.
It's critical to train and engage the people who most workers report to and communicate with. ~Dave Rizzardo
One of the greatest challenges when developing a lean culture is how to get everyone engaged in the continuous improvement strategy. As with any arduous endeavor, it’s beneficial to look for a few points of leverage that provide a disproportionate amount of impact.
Often, a great place to start is with front-line leaders, making it a priority to teach, coach and mentor them to align their behavior with lean principles and goals. Continue reading...
Kudos to our very own Associate Director, Dave Rizzardo, for claiming two spots on IndustryWeek's "Dazzling Dozen: 12 of the Best in Lean and Continuous Improvement in 2023"! No surprise that is has to do with people, either. Taking #5, his Respect for People Webinar, and #12, his Respect for People article. Congratulations, Dave. Thanks for leading by example!!
Too often, the answer to early success is having everyone work harder and longer. Carl Livesay
As businesses transition to the next phase of maturity, their talent requirements change direction. To paraphrase Helen Keller, a bend in the road is only the end if you fail to make the turn.
During a manufacturer’s start-up phase, it is common for leaders to surround themselves with people in their image: Trusted and talented people with superior technical abilities and a strong work ethic. Continue reading here.
...Takes Patience, Coaching and Mentoring. It's important to realize that there are underlying factors contributing to a person’s readiness to learn and take on new tasks. Carl Livesay
In this tight labor market, workforce development is required of every company. But how do you develop your team? Patience, coaching and mentoring are especially important. Let’s look at all three in action.
Click the link for the full article: https://www.industryweek.com/talent/education-training/article/21276175/turning-shop-floor-workers-into-leaders-takes-patience-coaching-and-mentoring
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