AUGUST 4 – 5, 2016 – PORTLAND – MAINE
Catherine Converset was speaking at Lean Systems Summit 2016: Collaboration, Innovation, and Use of Continuous Improvement concepts in achieving operational excellence.
DAY 1
MORNING HALF-DAY SEMINARS – 4 HOURS (8AM-NOON)
PS-HD1: Operational Excellence in Administrative Functions:
Deploying a True Company-Wide Strategy of Excellence
Presenter: Catherine Converset, Executive Partner, Productivity Inc. and Productivity Lean Services, Inc.
Most industrial companies have been engaging in Lean and TPM activities in their manufacturing operation for several years and their efforts have paid off with increases in product reliability, reductions in lead times and reductions in overall costs. But chances are the gains achieved in manufacturing are being offset by inefficiencies in other organizational functions. To get the most from your Lean effort, it is imperative that all company functions – HR, R&D, Finance, Marketing, etc. – challenge their processes.
In this case-based workshop participants followed one organization’s Lean journey – from issues to outcomes – demonstrating how the principles of Lean can be applied to make a positive impact up and down the extended value chain.
Far from being merely a set of tools or projects, Lean is a journey, based on trust and teamwork, where traditional hierarchical relationships give way to one of joint commitment and accountability, where everyone in the organization is working towards a shared vision, towards flow management and efficient processes. While not hard to understand, this approach is often difficult to implement. It requires the development of new perspectives and management routines up and down your entire value chain. It is a dynamic and organic journey which will lead your organization to better develop and utilize its human talents and its ability to learn, innovate and reliably and continually meet customers’ expectations.
Implementation of the Lean techniques described in this session can:
- cut work backlogs by as much as 80%.
- reduce design engineering time-to-market by as much as 75%.
- decrease processing times by 50% or more.
- drastically reduce failure demand*.
- eliminate overtime.
- improve staff morale and customer satisfaction rating.
- increase capacity – take on more work without adding resources.
Workshop participants gained an understanding of how —
- to implement an organizational operational excellence strategy.
- the application of Lean techniques in Marketing, Quality, R&D, HR, Sales and Finance, drives the organization to a new culture and a quantum leap in performance.
- to tie improvement initiatives to organizational goals.
the importance of establishing leadership routines ensures sustainment. - Download Pre-Summit Workshops Program
Lean Systems Summit 2016 website
DAY 2
LEARNING SESSIONS – 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM
C1: Lean in Support Services: Deploying a Company-Wide Strategy of Excellence
Presenter: Catherine Converset, Executive Partner, Productivity Inc. and Productivity Lean Services, Inc.
This session was about how to engage an Operational Excellence program in company support functions to generate important productivity gains, customer satisfaction improvement, and positive change in the organization.
Today more than ever, leaders recognize that a holistic effort, moving Lean initiatives beyond manufacturing or operations, is necessary to create long-term competitive advantage. To that end, it is imperative that all company and organizational functions challenge their processes and their way-of-working to focus on customer requirements, increase the speed of response, and eliminate quality variability. The improvement potential is very high: this will generate customer satisfaction and high productivity gains which can be reallocated thus creating the ability to do more with the same resources and resulting in increased competitiveness.
This company-wide effort requires a strategic intent, changes in leadership and management roles, organizational changes, and a customized roadmap built around a few key principles of operational excellence in services — engaging on a Lean journey creating enthusiasm and generating a new company culture.
Participants learnt from the journey – from issues to outcomes – of how one organization applied the principles of Operational Excellence to all corporate functions and processes (Marketing, Quality, R&D, HR, Sales and Finance). Theysaw the benefits, bottlenecks, the key success factors and the difficulties, including leadership and management changes, and the perspectives for long term sustainability.