Posts By: Dwight Bowen

Lean Training

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KANBAN IS A TOOL, SIX-SIGMA IS A SET OF TOOLS, LEAN IS A WAY OF LIFE. Recently I listen to Mark Grayban’s (of Leanblog podcast) interview with Jim Womack. Womack discussed the possible threat to Toyota’s growth due to lack of trainers properly trained in TPS. http://kanban.blogspot.com/

Announcing Our Next Network Meeting

Our next network meeting: Where: The Rose Corp., 401 N. 8th Street, Reading PA 19601 Phone: 610.376.5004 When: Thursday, April 19, 2007 from 8:30 until Noon What: Rose will be discussing their posting of key measures, the problems and anxiety they have had, and the value they have experienced. Come see what, where and why… Read more »

The Gemba Walk

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Who, What, When, Where, Why and How Gemba means “the real place”. I like to think of it as where the action is. The effective use of Gemba supports the “go see” principle. The Gemba walk affords company leaders, managers and supervisors a simple, easy means of supporting overall continuous improvement and process standardization while… Read more »

Network Meeting Summary – Remcon Plastics 2/22/07

Our subject was Disaster Recovery Presentations by Michael Goldberg of RestoreCore on Emergency Planning and Pete Conners of Remcon Plastics on a brief history of Remcon and the business, financial, physical and emotional impact of the Reading flood of 6/22/06. Significant input from Tony Byrne of Misco Products who are recovering from a fire January… Read more »

Is Trust the 9th Waste?

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Continuous improvement and cultural change are key components of a successful lean conversion. Trust is the “hidden waste” we rarely discuss but a critical obstacle to their achievement. This podcast discusses this sensitive subject.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Lean

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No matter what you are told, business software will not wake you up in the morning and make you breakfast. As the buyers and users of the software you must be prepared to plan what you really need and how to get and maintain that complete and accurate information in a timely, value adding manner.

Supervising and the war against waste

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In a lean transformation the daily work life of supervisors and front line managers, typically changes than any other position in the company. Supervisors and front line managers are the sergeants and lieutenants in the war against waste. What do they need to be successful?

Announcing Our Next Network Meeting

Our next network meeting: Where: Remcon Plastics, 208 Chestnut Street, Reading PA 19602 Phone: 610.376.2666 When: Thursday, February 22, 2007 from 8:30 until Noon What: Remcon will be discussing “competing effectively in adverse conditions”. As many of you know, in 2006 Remcon’s lower facility was ruined in a flood, requiring all operations to be combined… Read more »

Summary, Network Meeting at Yoder Brothers, January 11, 2007

Discussion topics included: Flow, waste & workplace layouts Key performance measures and indicators (A3 forms) Bi-monthly round-table meetings Standup meetings (Gemba) Audits Working on the right things and having fun We toured the facility and watched their recently developed “stick cell” functioning very well four weeks after start-up. A very valuable meeting for all in… Read more »