Running to standard Whenever there is a problem, we should always first ask the question: Are we running to standard? Often the issue is that we’ve not followed the standard and we simply aren’t doing what we ought to be doing. It can be hard to admit to ourselves that we’ve merely been human and...

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This article is provided courtesy of theleanmag, a content partner of the Operational Excellence Society. As I engage with both executive teams and board members around the country, I’ve come to gain a depth of understanding of the challenges faced within the machinery of healthcare organizations operating system. Exacerbated by the great resignation and silent quitting...

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Hello and welcome to another edition of State of Readiness with your host, Joseph Paris. My guest today is Norbert Majerus; Author of “Lean-Driven Innovation” and “Winning Innovation” and a Lean Champion (Ret) from the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. He confesses that he went into engineering because he didn’t like to working with people...

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Lean is probably one of the most misunderstood leadership concepts in business, and many people would even question why I would refer to it as a leadership concept. Surely it’s a manufacturing methodology, hence why it’s often referred to as Lean Manufacturing and is the descendent of the Toyota Production System (TPS)? Somehow, and despite...

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This article is provided courtesy of theleanmag, a content partner of the Operational Excellence Society. theleanmag’s strategic goal is to grow and nurture the lean community knowledge sharing. we’re stronger together and knowing more prepares us for the daily struggle “Reflection is the beginning, not the end, of learning.” Do you ever find yourself in the ongoing...

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This article courtesy of theleanmag, a content partner of the Operational Excellence Society. Ah, so before you get started your first question is “when will we be done?” Seriously, that’s how you think? If it is then my advice is don’t even start. You obviously don’t understand what the term “lean” means so all you...

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Summary; Most companies preparing to launch an Operational Excellence Program do not take a moment to contemplate what their program is hoping to achieve, or even if what they are hoping to achieve is what the company truly needs. These 9 Questions, asked of all the right people, help to get your program properly aligned...

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Give a listen… My guest today is Tim Pettry, Program Director for Continuous Improvement at the Cleveland Clinic’s Akron General (CCAG) Hospital where he directs the implementation of a Culture of Improvement for over 5,500 caregivers, utilizing the Cleveland Clinic Improvement Model. One of the biggest “take-aways” of this conversation is the difference in syntax...

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You can read the summary… Or just give a listen… What do you do when the co-host forgets to come to the session? Well, at The Outliers Inn, you just roll with it. Indeed, “Mule” didn’t show up so I called upon one of our regulars, Don “The Beer Man” Burshnick to stand in without...

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About the Podcast My guest today is Kevin Robinson, Managing Director of OPEX Performance Solutions Ltd and Toyota Alumni; having spent over 28 years at Toyota UK at the Deeside Engine Plant; starting as an Engineer in 1991 and working his way up the ranks until retiring as the General Manager of Manufacturing Operations. Rather...

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About the Podcast My guest today is Steven Leuschel, Director of Operational Excellence at Guardian Elder Care, with a network of elderly care facilities located across Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Eastern Ohio. He has published several books including;• “Lean Culture Change: Using a Daily Management System”• “The Executive Guide to Lean Culture Change”, a...

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Mule and JP start the show with a topic that morphs as rapidly as a cicada’s wings and which is about as irritating; the COVID rules and regulations du jour. JP shares his latest experience with traveling between Germany and the States. Whereas arriving to the States is a matter of having a right to...

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Alfred Sloan, the man who presided over the spectacular rise of General Motors to the top of Corporate America from 1920s to 1960s and indeed most credited for creating the modern form of business corporation as we know it, had a very complex love and hate relationship with the man who did the most to...

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I invite Aaron Roe, presently the Process Owner of Customer Experience at Roche Diabetes Care, as my guest on this episode of “State of Readiness“. This is a really great conversation full of enthusiasm and passion. Aaron Roe has spent the last 15 years at Roche, holding positions and roles including; Commercial Excellence Director, Business...

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There is a saying, rather a curse; “May you live in interesting times”.  It is a curse because interesting times are times that are full of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity; interesting times are VUCA times; disruptive, chaotic, and transformative. Whereas life in uninteresting times is predicable, rote, even boring. We are living in interesting...

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There was a recent post in the Operational Excellence Group that I own on LinkedIn.  The post was about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Lean Six Sigma program and the benefits that were realized.  The person who created the post was rather excited that the program had saved NASA $1.3 million. Reading this...

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Let’s first make an assumption; that the personnel on the production floor were properly informed in absolute terms what the goals of the plant and the company might be and properly empowered to assess situations as they presented themselves.  This is not a given, for all too often the people and their abilities to think...

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In this edition of “State of Readiness”, I invite Dr. Morphis Tsalikidis. Morphis is an experienced professional in the field of Operational Excellence who I have known for a great many years and with whom I have shared the stage at several conferences. Our conversation is on the impact of COVID on businesses and their...

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When you were born, everyone could see the twinkle in your eyes for the fire and passion you held.  As you grew, you became inspired by the reported accomplishments of others; and consumed with great enthusiasm and dedication every bit of knowledge that was at your disposal.  You had the good fortune of being influenced...

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Has there even been a time when customers were more demanding of the companies serving them? Industry 4.0 technologies—many barely imaginable only a decade ago—have already enabled genuine breakthroughs in cost, convenience, and customization, creating extraordinary value for buyers while raising the performance bar for producers ever higher. And then there’s the volatility that never entirely disappears,...

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Joseph Paris invites Jason Prochilo, Vice President of Operations at Edel Golf, LLC to join him in a conversation.  Edel Golf is a manufacturer of custom golf equipment specializing in personally-fit putters, wedges, and irons.   Jason primary responsibility is as leader of the putter department and the manufacturing efforts in the company.  They manufacture all...

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One of the biggest challenges of a Lean Transformation is to create the ‘Vision of Excellence’; what should we aim to achieve over the coming years, what is possible? This is often problematic because the majority of people in the organisation ‘don’t know what they don’t know’; that is, they haven’t seen what truly Operationally...

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In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on November 19,2008, Rahm Emanuel was quoted as saying; “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.  And what I mean by that [is] it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not before.” He was referring to the crisis that was...

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This session starts off serious with Antlerboy sharing some rather serious endeavors he is launching.  But the guests (mercifully) come to visit and breathe life back into the conversation with talks of; robot competitions, beer (again), heaps of cash for consultants in the UK, and the tragedy of a video being removed from YouTube causing...

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For 20+ years Joe has been empowering organizations, teams, and individuals to continuously improve processes and outcomes toward their goals and ultimately achieve Excellence in their chosen business, function, or discipline.  What makes Joe unique is that he has led successful transformation programs across several Fortune 100 companies – and he has experienced the deployment...

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I was giving a commencement speech a number of years ago at a university where several students were getting their degrees of varying levels, and I could tell my first comment took the parents as well as many of the graduates completely by surprise. I said, “I don’t want you to try to live a...

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The world has been turned on its head thanks to COVID19 and as with most negative things, such as wars and other pandemics, there is generally a hidden benefit that appears once the crisis is over. The fallout from the Coronavirus is already beginning to demonstrate new ways of working and bringing about changes to...

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Have you ever wondered how they design those tiny microrobots, no bigger than the size of a single cell? Paul McEuen and Marc Miskin explain how this is done and reveal some of the many fascinating uses for these remarkable creations from crop disease control to understanding the human brain. Read more… 

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As the Coronavirus pandemic spreads the United States and many other countries around the world are asking employees to work from home. This may sound fantastic, akin to a vacation in many ways, but productivity needs to remain and things need to operate as normal is what will be a new normal until the pandemic...

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Cindy is as self-made a person as anyone I have ever met.  After graduating high school and not having any particular skills that were as yet discovered nor the grades or money to get into University, she joined the United States Navy as an enlisted person.  Perhaps she knew, and it’s just as likely she...

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