JIT Cafe

📽️ Did you miss the webinar, "Lean & Time Studies: Leverage for Engaged Team Performance" with Dodd Starbird? Some reflections from participants: 📣 "Had some really nice take-aways and ordered Dodd's book." 📣 "The real life examples were really helpful to understand the concepts of the time study and how it was used to identify inefficiencies and working solutions." 📣 "Good to see how the data can be used to drive improvement." Great demo with some compelling data as proof-of-concept. Dodd has been using time studies to boost improvement efforts for many years, and he's used his experience to create an all-purpose data collection app that can form fit the processes at hand. The approach dispenses with sampling—which is slightly antithetical to Six Sigma practices—but by honing and simplifying the process of self collection the organization is able to capture all the data. Daunting for the first few days and then seems to simply ... work. And the discoveries are invaluable. Dodd's two books, "The Joy of Lean" (ASQ Quality Press, 2016) and "Building Engaged Team Performance" (McGraw-Hill, 2010), provide great background on using collaboration to drive breakthrough performance. Feel free to check out the webinar video below. Tracy ORourke Elisabeth Swan 👇 https://lnkd.in/ebQBbJjm

❓ Do you struggle with creating accurate staffing models—determining realistic performance targets—identifying which processes to prioritize for improvement efforts? There’s a comprehensive data-driven answer to all those challenges. ⏲️ If you’ve been doing Lean for a while, you’ve likely heard about “Standard Work” but have you measured “Standard Time”? In addition to knowing the right way to do a process or activity, it’s also really important to know how long that task should take. You can use that data for staffing models, performance accountability, and targeting processes to invest in improvement. 🙌 Enter… the time study! Come join Dodd Starbird, Author of "Engaged Team Performance" and "The Joy of Lean", for the webinar, "𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗻 & 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲." He'll be demonstrating a system and approach that can help your team collect time study data, analyze it, and put it to work for your organization. Agenda: -Lean, Engaged Team Performance, and time studies - Time study approach - Time study system demo - Time study deliverables - Q&A Looking forward to seeing you at the the Cafe Thursday, Thursday, October 17th at 11am PT/2pm ET. Join us for community, conversation, and education! Tracy ORourke Elisabeth Swan 👇 https://lnkd.in/eaVmjHgw

📽️ Did you miss "Stop the Insanity! Unplug Your Materials Resource Planning (MRP)" with Jerry Wright, PE, MBA ? Some reflections from participants: 📢 "I appreciated Jerry sharing real examples and results." 📢 "Very informative session on a big problem across many businesses." 📢 "Excellent examples and testimonials from the people that did it." Jerry laid out real examples where a Kanban system completely outdid the existing Materials Resource Planning system—on surprising orders of magnitude. The results—in each instance—were fairly astonishing. His information was practical and the method was highly applicable. He was able to showcase multiple examples of how MRP gets it wrong because he's been working successfully in this field for decades. Jerry was a wealth of knowledge and he brought a lot of it to share from his new book, The Insanity Trap: What Your MRP Consultant Won’t Tell You. Feel free to check out the video below. Tracy ORourke Elisabeth Swan 👇 https://lnkd.in/ePJwcb-H

🏭 Does your job entail Materials Resource Planning (MRP)? Did you know that typical (MRP) forecasts are less than 70% accurate, if you’re lucky? Combine that with the unknowns of inventory, supplier quantities, varying lead-times, usage and data entry errors, and you might be looking at less than 66% accuracy. Running a business with so much guesswork is expensive and exhausting, and we know what they say about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results… 😡 In the Manufacturing and Supply Chain world, the unintended consequences of misusing Materials Resource Planning causes bloated inventories, excessive freight costs and yet suffers perpetual material shortages and backorders. Why? And what can you do? 🥇 Jerry Wright, PE, MBA Wright, winner of the San Diego Business Management Consultant of the Year for 6 straight years, is coming to the cafe on Thursday, September 26th to give us a few key tips from his new best-seller, The Insanity Trap: What Your MRP Consultant Won’t Tell You. He’s got easy to implement Kanban and Demand-Driven MRP solutions that work every time without fail. Come to the cafe since your sanity may depend on it, and you could win a free book! Agenda: - Introduction and Background - Materials Resource Planning’s (MRP) Fundamental Flaws - Why It’s Still so Popular - Kanban vs. MRP - The new Alternative: Demand-Driven MRP - Q&A Come to the Cafe Thursday, September 26th at 11am PT/2pm ET.  Elisabeth Swan Tracy ORourke https://lnkd.in/eC77Zsc2

🎙️ It's Episode 105 and the highlight is Tracy ORourke and Elisabeth Swan's interview with Meg Brown, Vice President of Human Resources at Cambridge Air Solutions, where they’ve truly combined sheet metal with unconditional love which required them to tear all their Lean efforts to the ground, and then start from scratch. It's an inspiring mash-up that allows their systems and people to achieve stunning success. 🫕 For Hot Apps we checked out a mobile diary that helps you form a habit of reflection and adjustment. We learned about this app from Bob Wallner who uses it as a part of his Personal Hoshin Planning process. It's a perfect Experiment-Reflect-Adjust prompter (if you're curious about Bob's Personal Hoshin Planning technique check out his webinar video on the Just-in-Time Cafe Website). 🤔 And then for Q&A we asked, what makes us constantly try to fit 10 pounds of…STUFF… in a 5 pound bag? There's some interesting cognitive roots to this self-inflicted problem. And, coincidentally, this brought us right back to the concept of planning! Just what you need as we prepare to greet another year. 👇 Podcast link in the chat!

🗓 Did you miss the webinar, "Personal Hoshin Planning--Why Leave Your Future to Luck?" with Bob Wallner? You missed a truly great session. Some reactions: "𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡. 𝘼 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙃𝙤𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙆𝙖𝙣𝙧𝙞 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚. 𝘽𝙤𝙗 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙫𝙪𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧." "𝘽𝙤𝙗, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙜𝙪𝙮! 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙫𝙪𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝘼3. 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩." "𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘! 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙. 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙" As you can see by the feedback, Bob shared his life and learning with us in a wonderful way. His use of Lean tools to refine his personal goal setting reflected his own dedication to experimentation, personal Kaizen, and constant practice. He included the apps that worked for him (HabitNow and Grid Diary), the books that served as reference, a Mark Graban podcast episode that inspired him, and some candid reports on his self-sourced case study. This is one worth referencing multiple times. If you're interested in learning more from Bob, you've got an opportunity to meet him in person next week. Come to his Hoshin Planning Workshop at the inaugural New England Lean Summit on September 12 where you can engage in hands-on exercises and practical applications to develop the skills you need to implement Hoshin Planning principles within your own teams and departments. (links in Chat). Tracy ORourke Elisabeth Swan Paul W. Critchley 👇 https://lnkd.in/eVbGKVen

☕ The cafe is OPEN! Tracy ORourke's back from Europe, Elisabeth Swan has returned from the beach and we've got the AMAZING Bob Wallner coming to the cafe with a 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩-𝙞𝙣-𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 topic for the fiscal year, "Personal Hoshin Planning—Why Leave Your Future To Luck". 🎇 Every year, millions of people resolve to make life changes on New Year's Eve, but—according to ABC News, Time, and Forbes—80% of these resolutions fail within four weeks. Sound familiar? In 2014, as a long-time sufferer of the "Resolution Wish List," Bob Wallner—the Site Lean Leader at GKN Aerospace—decided to apply the continuous improvement practices from his professional life to his personal goals. This led to the creation of a system he calls, “Personal Hoshin Planning”. After experimenting with various tools and methods, two things remained constant: the framework and his True North goals. Personal Hoshin Planning has helped Bob systematically achieve his long-term goals and enhance his self-awareness. What’s not to love? Come join us at the Cafe on Thursday, August 29th as Bob Wallner shares his system, helps us find our True North, and gives some of our lingering resolutions a shot at lasting change. See you at the cafe! 👇 https://lnkd.in/eqxUjpzq

🎙️ It's Episode 104 and the highlight is Tracy ORourke and Elisabeth Swan's interview with the intrepid Paul W. Critchley, the President of New England Lean Consulting. He dared to launch the first 𝗘𝗩𝗔𝗛 New England Lean Summit this September. What's in store? As expected, Paul is amping up new avenues of enlightenment and engagement, and, there’s rumors of a DJ... 🫕 For Hot Apps, we sampled a platform that injects a stealth dose of productivity into your family’s day-to-day activities. Got kids? There's an app for that! 🤔 And for Q&A, we asked, “Is there an optimal intersection of fun and productivity?” Is there ever enough fun? (Hint: there is if you watch a certain video). Can you have too much? Is there a curvilinear correlation? We’ll settle that question and enjoy doing it. 😊 Link to the episode below - and it's August people--ice your drinks liberally!

🎙️ It's Episode 103 and the highlight is our interview with Ahren Crickard, JD, LSSBB , the Director of the Center for Operational Excellence at UC San Diego, and she’ll be sharing all things Process Palooza–the yearly problem-solving festival with the highest octane MC available–a certain Tracy ORourke. They've been honing their act for 7 years, so if you're anywhere near San Diego in August... 🫕 For Hot Apps, we’ll give you our take on a conference networking app. Tracy and Elisabeth Swan compare what we learned during KaiNexicon and the Central Coast Lean Summit, and some of it has nothing to do with the app! 🤔 For Q&A, we pose the question, "How do you feel about getting lost. Is it a failure or an opportunity?" We've borrowed a page from APQC Conference Keynoter April Rinne's book, "FLUX: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change." Enjoy! 👇 https://lnkd.in/eGFDwMEz

🎵 Get ready to giggle, laugh and go crazy because you're invited to: Ms. Fix-A-Lot’s Parody Music Video Reveal Party! 🎉 🎙 After months of lyrical poetry, weeks of video storyboarding, days of filming—and a whole lot of laughs—we're thrilled to finally unveil a new parody music video. The original song, "Ice Ice Baby" got a lyrical make-over and a new title..."5S Baby"! And what better way to celebrate than with you? Join us for an unforgettable virtual bash! 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀:  📅 Date: Thursday, August 1st, 2024 🕖 Time: 4:00-5:00pm PT 📍 Location: Zoom (Link to be provided) 🎥 Dress Code: Wear your 80’s rapper inspired outfit—this party will be as much fun as the video itself! 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁: 🙌 Parody Development: Hear about the process for lyrical poetry and get the inside scoop on creating the music video with the Music Producer. 😎 Meet the 5S Rapper Crew:  Tracy ORourke aka “MS. FIXALOT” Katie Anderson aka “MC KATALYST” Sammy Obara aka “HIP HOP SENSEI” Angela Miller aka “SLIM DIDDY” Cecil Bell aka “MC KAIZEN” Jason S. aka “DOC ISHIKAWA” Jason Green aka “DJ DIAMOND DALLAS JAY” Carla Martinez aka “LIL' STACK” 🎤 The Grand Premiere: Be among the first to witness our hilarious parody music video in all its glory. Trust us, you won't want to miss it! 🎉 Get your tickets below, share this with anyone who'd like to join us, and we'll see you at the Reveal Party! Cheers! Tracy ORourke Elisabeth Swan 👇 https://lnkd.in/eEHgATYT