Program

Process and Tools—Fundamental Track

Perfect for those new to Lean, this track of five sessions explains how to use the basic concepts and tools. Each session is taught by a print professional who explains a particular concept or tool and how his/her company uses it.

How to Begin a Continuous Improvement Program (and Avoid Common Mistakes)
 Rick Ring, Purdue MEP
Having the desire to improve is a far cry from having an improvement program. Come get a step-by-step approach to getting your CI program off the ground. Should you have a steering committee and, if so, who should be on it? How do you identify the best improvement projects and set improvement goals? Which improvement tools are best used in the early stages of your program? What performance statistics should you be monitoring? We’ll tell you what works and what doesn’t.

Laying the Groundwork for 5S
Randy Lewis, The Flesh Company, and Steve Cassell, Appleton
Many companies tackle 5S workplace organization (sort, straighten, shine, standardize, and sustain) as one of their first CI projects. Successful implementation raises workplace morale, efficiency, and teamwork and process ownership. Faulty implementation, on the other hand, ruins the chance to gain momentum for other CI efforts. This tutorial reviews the basics of 5S, but more importantly, discusses how to plan for and put into action a workplace organization program that leads to measurable improvement.

The Interaction of People, Processes, and Variation: The Red Bead Experiment
John Compton, Compton & Associates
Dr. Edwards Deming created the Red Bead Experiment as an interactive tool to teach his famous 14 obligations of management. As you participate in this production simulation you’ll see how this deceptively simple game validates powerful concepts that most managers still have difficulty grasping. Among the lessons you’ll see demonstrated—when errors occur, the system, not the workers, is at fault 94% of the time. Understanding this variation is akey to successfully using control charts and quality improvement techniques. 

Problem Solving and Root Cause Analysis
Darrell Ward and Devlin Hinchey, Pollard Banknote.
Operationally excellent companies encourage workers to bring problems to light—the more the better. The compound effect of eliminating problems builds a competitive advantage and turns employees into expert problem solvers. Two veteran problem solvers explain how their company used to solve issues versus how it approaches them now. They’ll cover the importance of describing the problem/issue; the difference between direct cause, indirect cause, and root cause; and the problem solving tools most commonly used.

Standard Work
Manoj Ramachandran, Label World
One element of operational efficiency is Standard Work, a cornerstone of the Toyota Production System and Lean Manufacturing. This session will show you how to train and facilitate employees to do tasks and activities in a standardized way, improving quality, productivity, safety, and process consistency. You'll learn how to identify opportunities for improving the way tasks and activities are done and establish effective best practices. Standard Work goes straight to the belief that “without a standard, there is no improvement.”

Process and Tools—Advanced Track

The printing industry has companies that have been reaping the benefits from continuous improvement activities for many years. This track provides those firms with fresh ideas and tools that are underused in our industry.

Developing a Lean Business System
Don Curtis, Good News Communications
Gain fresh insights on Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s 14th point: “Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job.” You’ll hear how companies energize their Lean quality efforts by involving every employee in the process—every day. You’ll learn how they deploy systems to organize, communicate, and reorganize almost effortlessly as each day progresses. You’ll see and hear examples of Lean company employees as they prioritize and tackle company objectives, measure their own progress, and report daily improvements. We'll also look at one specific company and how it has embraced a company-wide Lean business system. 

Front Office Lean
Ed Hlava, Purdue MEP
High performance manufacturers require smart offices just as they require smart production processes. This session explores how to drive Lean practices into the front office, where inefficient procedures, paperwork and bureaucracy in one area can stall the efficiency improvement efforts of other operations. You’ll learn how to define non-value added work in terms of office and administrative functions, incorporate Lean concepts to eliminate unnecessary process waste, and recognize common threats to Lean efforts in the office. 

Lean Accounting
Brian Maskell, BMA, Inc.
Traditional accounting systems fail to accurately reveal the benefits of Lean manufacturing transformations. Brian Maskell, one of the nation’s foremost experts on the topic, explains how to create an accounting function that supports organizational improvement efforts. You’ll come to understand the deficiencies of traditional systems, the type of plain-English financial statements needed by nonfinancial managers for decision making, and how to eliminate waste from the accounting system so information is reported earlier. [Watch video of Brian Maskell.] 

Policy Deployment
John Collins, JTS Direct
Does the daily fire fighting and quarterly bottom-line pressures take precedence over your strategic plans? It happens easily and often without a methodology that keeps you and your team focused on the right things. If it happens in your company, then you’ll benefit from finding out how one company ensures that their improvement projects are always chosen in support of the strategic plan by using Policy Deployment (also known as Hoshin Kanri or Hoshin Planning). Learn how Policy Deployment can drive day-to-day activities and lead to long-term improvements throughout your organization.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness
Jacobia Solomon, Mimeo.com
Are your capital assets delivering on their projected return? The answer can be in the form of an OEE measurement. Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is an accepted method for measuring the improvement potential of a production process—with one simple number that incorporates a process’s availability, performance, and quality. Using OEE helps you manage manufacturing assets in a proactive manner and maintains a crucial focus on reliability. Learn about OEE from a company that has begun using it as a key performance indicator and will share its lessons learned, including about how to collect the data.

Leadership and Culture Track

Operational excellence requires changing behaviors, which in turn requires a supportive culture and improved leadership skills. These sessions give you insight into how other companies have realized that the long term success of their improvement systems depends on company leaders and the culture they create.

Creating a Lean Culture
Mike Micklewright, Quality Quest
Countless companies have jumped onto the Lean bandwagon, but relatively few have achieved the considerable benefits that come from Lean thinking. Why? They have implemented Lean as series of tools and methods but have not changed the way the company is run. This session is full of practical guidance so you can avoid that mistake and lead your organization into thinking and working in better ways. Find out about the beliefs, behaviors, and structure that point to a bona fide Lean culture.

Operational Excellence Case Study
Dan Vermeesch, Micron Manufacturing Company
Shingo Prize-winning organizations demonstrate a culture where principles of operational excellence are deeply embedded into the thinking and behavior of all leaders, managers, and associates. Among the principles they demonstrate: respect every individual, assure quality at the source, focus on process, and create constancy of purpose. This is your chance to hear how one recipient company has created an operational approach that puts it at the forefront of manufacturers around the globe.
  
Servant Leadership
Craig Compton, Paper Converting Machine Company (a Barry-Wehmiller Company)
People improvement in concert with process improvement (application of Lean tools) is essential to achieve and maintain productivity gains. Training formal and informal leaders to become “Servant Leaders” has become central in many companies to creating a culture that engages the hearts and minds of associates and sustains change. Learn why the right leadership style is so critical to having a successful CI program, the key elements that differentiate servant leadership from traditional, hierarchical leadership models, and how to get started.

Sustaining an Empowering Culture
David Harding, HardingPoorman Group
A company culture is difficult to define because most of the time it has developed without conscious thought of its leaders. For companies seeking a culture that empowers employees to pursue excellence, a more deliberate approach is required. This is a rare opportunity to hear a successful CEO explain his efforts to shape his company’s culture by recognizing the impact of his actions and behaviors on the emotional psyche of his company. He’ll speak about the culture he’s seeks, how he has perpetuated the culture despite business upheavals, and it connection to his organization's goals, values, and employee motivation. 

Stolen Ideas from Best Workplaces in Printing 
Jim Kyger, Printing Industries of America
Attracting and retaining good employees is inextricably tied to a company’s ability to improve its performance. Since 2000 a team of HR experts from the printing industry have judged firms on their HR practices in a competition known as the Best Workplace in the Americas. We’ll examine eight specific practices that were identified by the judges among Best of the Best recipients in the 2012 competition. The topics covered range from employee engagement, injury prevention, and wellness programs that save employees and employers money.

Closing Session

Conference Wrap-Up
John Compton, Compton & Associates
The final session reviews the strategies and methods that attendees singled out as their most valuable conference takeaways. In addition to offering additional insights, John Compton offers his thoughts on how to turn newfound information into action.