2024 Northeast Lean Conference Recap Summary Part 2

In a continuation of my recap from Day 1 the 2^nd day of the Northeast Lean Conference Leveraging Lean to Thrive in Uncertain Times did not disappoint. Andrea Haas, President at Summit Polymers, demonstrated how they used Lean Practices to Succeed in automotive industry after Tariffs, COVID labor shortages, microchip shortages, global supply chain disruptions, and inflation. They specifically focused on Jidoka, building in quality with Poka Yoke and Andon, standardized work, and kaizen to successfully navigate these uncertain times.

Cultivating a Lean Culture Through Individual Change Management

Evan McCoy, Continuous Improvement Leader at Kone, shared how to create awareness, desire, knowledge, action, and results around creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement. What can we do about the fact the 70% of change initiatives fail?

He promotes the ADKAR Framework for Change

Awareness – change begins with understanding why

Employees will want to know why? Why now? What’s Wrong?

Leaders must be ready to answer what’s changes and why, risks of not changing, what’s not changing, why now

Desire – Change involves personal decisions

Build desire and momentum by showing not telling. Focus on the small improvements. Celebrate and show recognition.

Knowledge – Change requires knowing how

Do and show rather than tell and teach. Formal training (10%), learning through experience (70%), learning through socialization (20%)

Ability – Change requires action in the right direction

People leaders must set the tone for the teams. Time is constrained resource create space and culture for improvement. Allow for experimentation and risk. Improvements must be visible and impactful.

Reinforcement – Chage must be reinforced to be sustained

Meaningful link between improvement and daily work. Simpler, easier, more efficient improvement in process. Accountability systems to reinforce. Performance measures that connect and reward and recognize by leadership and peers.

Breaking the Buy-In Barrier: Getting Lasting Senior Leadership Commitment

Melissa Lin, Associate Director Continuous Improvement at Phillips, knows about the importance of senior leadership buy-in. To be successful you need senior leadership commitment actively and visibly participating throughout the journey, building a coalition of peers, and communicating with employees.

Is the resistance directed at you or because of you or something else?

These are the most common obstacles to senior leadership buy-in, what they really mean, and how to overcome them.

Gimme the ROI – They want the facts, data, quantifiable benefits and/or risk mitigation to buy-in so you can solve that with a strong, clean A3.

I don’t see the problem – They want the facts verified with their own eyes, irrefutable evidence change is required to be convinced so bring them to the Gemba and let the problems show themselves or bring it to them in the form of spaghetti diagrams or VSMs.

This isn’t a priority for us – They want to see connection to the big picture, need help focusing on top priorities and fixing problems on their plate so use Hoshin Kanri to connect to True North and use Root Cause & 5 Whys to solve problems.

I don’t think it’ll work – They want results, proof of improvements, and one less thing to worry about so have well scoped value stream for kaizen and show respect for people.

 

Developing a Company of Problem Solvers

Edge Coble, Director of Continuous Improvement at Gemline, shared how they use Continuous Improvement Boards to develop, engage, and empower everyone into problem solvers. Continuous improvement is about seeing the problem not waste elimination. Waste is a byproduct of poor flow.

The CI Board is:

               Way to identify and resolve problems

               Aligned to corporate goals & dept KPIs

               Diversity of viewpoints, knowledge & experience

               Cross-pollination & rapid deployment of improvements

               Source of accomplishment and pride

The CI Management Model for Engagement has these leadership styles

Collaborative – CI Leadership – working together

Leave Alone – Manager not around

Authoritarian – Tell what to do

Parental – Treat as part of extended family

Continuous improvement is about spotting the disruptions in your team’s workflow, understanding why it’s happening, and determining a speedy correction.

Created an idea board in MS Planner (Teams) – see picture

 

Passing the Baton to a New Generation of Problem Solvers

Karl Wadensten, President of Vibco, was the final keynote of the conference. As Vibco celebrates its 52nd anniversary, Karl shared how embracing Lean has powered his company through challenging times and still enables them to thrive today. I’ve been to their facility several times and it is very impressive so I would recommend a visit.

The future of continuous improvement will be characterized by a more balanced approach that prioritizes job satisfaction, social responsibility, and sustainable practices alongside traditional metrics of success. Organizations that embrace this paradigm will not only enhance employee engagement and satisfaction but will also contribute positively to society an the environment.

Gen Z has a distinctive perspective on the current workplace, influenced by their upbringing, and educational experiences which is different than other generations.

Emphasis on purpose – seeks work that aligns with their personal values and contributes positively to society.

Focus on learning and growth

Importance of mental health

Comfort with Technology

Preference for collaborative Work

Skepticism Towards traditional career paths

Job satisfaction over job security

Understanding these perspectives allow organizations to create environments that attract and retain Gen Z talent.

When the rubber hits the road. The boss is the coach. The boss is authentic. The boss shows vulnerability. The boss knows when to lead and when to follow. The boss show’s purpose and passion for his people.

The 21st Annual Northeast Lean Conference will be October 27 & 28, 2025 at the Double Tree Hotel & Conference Center in Manchester, NH.

The 2025 Northeast Lean Conference

2024 Northeast Lean Conference Recap Summary

This year’s Northeast Lean Conference marks a number of milestones in Lean as the conference celebrates its 20th Anniversary. It also marks the 25^th Anniversary of Toast Kaizen Video and the 35^th Anniversary of the book the Machine the Changed the World. LEAN in conference name is an acronym for Lead Enable and Nurture. The theme this year was about “Leveraging Lean to Thrive in Uncertain Times” which we can all certainly relate to in some way.

“So, You’ve Read 10 Books About Lean and Now You’re Really Confused? Been There.”

The conference got started with a key note from Brad Cairns, Lean pioneer and entrepreneur, talked about his life long journey. He started like many did consuming many books on the subject. He read the Lean Turn Around by Art Byrne and started down Lean Journey. Learned he couldn’t transform people so he hired lean consultant named Jim Lewis, Quantum Lean. Read The Toyota Way and many other books. . Learned from Paul Akers at FastCap, Kaas Tailor, Michael Althoff at YelloTools, and other great practitioners. He created Kaizenify.app to bring shopfloor tools to you. He pays it forward through sharing lesson podcasts, youtube, etc.

He shared 4 lessons not learned in books that you should take note of:

1) Preparation – You need to know where are you going and where you are starting from. You need to know when you’ve made improvements. The P&L is a poor measuring tool because it last month, last quarter, last year. Measure forward looking tools (over the line chart, throughput $/labor hrs, pieces/day)

2) Internal people – You can’t transform donkeys into racehorses.

3) You - Good speech from Jocko Willink. You can improve from suffering.

4) External People – If you make the change everything will change. Are your advisors helping you? Lean is for 2% of the world. Go Hard of Go Home. You pick your hard. Are the people you spend the most time with boat ankers or propellers? Sometimes you need a kick in the butt or shove in the right direction.

How Do You Create A Lean Culture? Art Knows

Art Byrne, Wiremold CEO, (where I worked) shares how to Create a Lean Culture from his newest book “Lean Turnaround Answer Book”. Most significant steps are below:

1. If given the option no one will choose to do Lean. Communicate about the change to Lean (what, why, when, how) and what’s in it for them. Let them know they will not lose their jobs due to improvement. Everything must change. You can’t have a lean culture without a Lean enterprise involving every part of the business. Sales & Marketing – level load orders, Accounting/Finance – standard cost accounting incentives all things we try to get rid of in lean, IT/Human Resources – hire for lean. Lean is not a cost reduction program.

2. Lean can not be managed; it must be led. The leader must be an expert. You can not delegate a Lean conversion. The leader must be hands on in the Gemba. Leaders should do 12 1-week Kaizens per year to learn about Lean.

2. Requires a new mindset focused on your processes not results. A company is nothing but these 3 things: A group of people, a bunch of processes, delivering value to a set of customers.

Set Operational Excellence Goals – What are we Trying to Do Here?

Wiremold examples:

100% On Time Customer Service

50% reduction in Defects (every year)

20% productivity gain (every year)

20X inventory Turns

5S and visual Control Everywhere

3. Change Structure – Most companies are organized functionally. Align your structure with value streams and move the equipment.

4. Kaizen, Kaizen, Kaizen

Create Kaizen Promotion Office. Kaizen includes everyone. Culture changes through kaizen.

5. State your Core Values: People, Customers, Kaizen

Live by the lean fundamentals

Work to takt time

One piece flow

Standard work

Pull system

Learn by doing = culture change

5. State the Behavior you expect

            Respect others

            Tell the truth

Be fair

Try new ideas

Ask why

Keep your promises

Do your share

6. Eliminate the Bad Actors

7. Share the Wealth

               Profit sharing

               401k match

               Suggestion program

8. Run the company on Operational Excellence Goals. Most run on make the month. It takes 2 weeks to close the books then you look back at things you can’t do anything about. Look forward not backwards.

Deploy the Op Ex Goals to the team leaders, review progress weekly, ask what kaizen are you planning next week, and look forward not backward.

“If you don’t try something, no knowledge can visit you.”

 

The Five Factors of Managing Change

Lara Laskowski and Arturo Sanchez from IDEXX understand that 50-70% of change initiatives result in failure but they people they have something in common. Their organization has a cure for false starts, limited change, frustration, and very likely another failure. They created a model for Productive Change involving Vision, Skills, Incentive, Resources, and Action Plans.

Vision – You need a clearly defined vision, problem statement with who, what, when, where, and why.

Skills – Need SME of the process, create robust training plan with standards

Incentive – What motivates people to take action, WIFM

Resources – Data needed, software used, people in process, and budget

Action Plans – Need robust action plan to implement improvements with ownership.

When elements of the formula are missing you can end up with confusion, anxiety, limited change, frustration, and false starts.

 

The Magic of Change Mindset with Magician Zane Black

Brad Morrow, The Wizard of Lean, had a wonderfully engaging presentation to view ourselves as powerful change agents, embrace risks, and adopt a new view on failure.

There’re three mindsets:

Empowered Mind: Sense of empowerment means you need to take risk. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Risk-Taking Mind: The only way to expand your comfort zone is through discomfort. Embrace fear.

Fear acronym = False, Evidence, Appearing, Real

 

Failure Embracing Mind: Why do we fall? So, we can learn to pick ourselves up.

Fail acronym = First Attempt in Learning

Failure is not your last chapter.

If I am Empowered “What Will You Do Next?”

 

Wiring the Winning Organization

The final keynote of the day was from Steve Spear who has written Creating High Velocity Organizations and Wiring the Winning Organization. 25 years ago, he wrote “Decoding the DNA the Toyota Production System” which noted Toyota had created a community of scientists within their organization.

If everything’s the same (resources between car companies) but the outcomes the only thing different then it’s the management system. They create conditions to solve really hard problems. As leaders we are responsible for people solving problems. Shape the problem-solving space to move from danger zone to winning zone.

There are 3 ways:

1) Slowification – Make problem solving easier to do.

2) Simplification – Make problems easier to solve.

3) Amplification – Make problems more obvious that need solving

How do we create processes and procedures that allow for problem solving. 5S, 1 piece flow, Jidoka, and Andon are examples of tools that move problems from the danger zone to the winning zone.

 

I’ll share some additional highlights from my 2^nd day at the conference in my next post.

The 21st Annual Northeast Lean Conference will be October 27 & 28, 2025 at the Double Tree Hotel & Conference Center in Manchester, NH.

The 2025 Northeast Lean Conference

Join Me in Providence, RI for "Leveraging Lean to Thrive in Uncertain Times"

It’s my favorite time of year and I don’t mean fall which I enjoy. In a few short weeks the best of New England’s Lean Community will gather at the 20^th Annual Northeast Lean Conference. It truly is a goldmine of practical insights & inspiration for Lean practitioners - from those just starting out to seasoned leaders - through practical & engaging sessions led by fellow practitioners. This year’s conference is being held in Providence, RI on November 7^th and 8^th. The theme is something we can all relate to in any industry or service, "Leveraging Lean to Thrive in Uncertain Times".

Every business has faced challenges in recent years since COVID with labor shortages, electronic component shortages, global supply disruptions, and inflation for example. Being able to thrive in these uncertain times requires leadership and lean practices to overcome adversity. The agenda includes tracks for Leading to Thrive, Harnessing Employee Creativity, Leveraging Lean in Non Production Settings, and Collaborate & Standardize. The practical learning format features exceptional keynote and breakout presentations, interdepartmental panels, peer-to-peer discussions, hands-on simulations, interactive learning and sharing, and unlimited networking opportunities.

I’ve been a frequent attendee and presenter over the last 20 years. You can find many of my posts from past conferences highlighting the value GBMP brings to them. These conferences have been so invigorating, informative, and great networking opportunities. You do not want to miss this opportunity to join me and 500 passionate Lean, Six Sigma and Continuous Improvement professionals just like you.

Use discount code “Lean-Journey” to receive $150 off your registration to this year’s conference.

Register Here

Meet-up: 5 Questions from Within the Lean Community With Bruce Hamilton

In May 2024 A Lean Journey Blog turned 15 and as I look back on how I got started and who influenced my journey I wanted to revisit a previous series I started in 2012 called the Meet-up. One of the things I am so fond of in the Lean community is the general wiliness to share with each other.  I have learned so much from my very experienced colleagues since I have been an active contributor.  Every month I roundup the best Lean related posts and articles I found particularly valuable from these fellow bloggers and contributors. Each one has their own story and opinions to share.

The goal of Meet-up is provide you an opportunity to meet some influential voices in the Lean community.  I will ask these authors a series of questions to learn about them, their lessons, and get their perspective on trends in industry.

Today, we Meet-up with Bruce Hamilton who I met many years ago when I started my lean journey professionally. His company GBMP was a partner and has been at several companies I've gone to over the last 25 years. I've been fortunate to join and share at the annual Northeast Lean Conference that GBMP organizes which is great opportunity for the lean community to learn from each other. Bruce's experience has been invaluable to me over my career so I think you'll like to hear what he has to say.

Here are his answers so you can learn more: 

1. Who are you, what organization are you with, and what are your current lean-oriented activities?

• My name is Bruce Hamilton.  I’m the President of the GBMP Consulting Group (recently rebranded from GBMP to emphasize the consulting part side of our organization.)
• I created a Blog, “oldleandude.org” in 2009 and post to it once a month about topics that I think might be interesting for managers who are trying to get traction with Lean concepts and culture. 
• I also give a monthly webinar, “Teatime with the Toast Dude,” started in 2012,  with the same objective as the blog.
• Collaboration is very important to me and GBMP.  We work with many other non-profits such as TSSC, LEI, MEP, Shingo Institute, AME to develop our Lean community.  Recently, for example, GBMP collaborated with six other non-profit organizations to develop the “Future of People at Work Symposium,” a bit of breakthrough its alignment of organization that had previously operated unilaterally. 
• On a daily basis, I still work with clients, teach an occasional Shingo Institute workshop, and provide leadership to our organization. 

2. How, when, and why did you get introduced to lean and what fueled and fuels the passion?

Here is an abbreviated history.  In 1985, I was working as the IT manager at a small manufacturer.  When the MRP implementation failed, the materials manager was fire, and I was offered the job.  I had no experience with manufacturing, so began reading.  An early book, The Goal, caused me to question many of the practices I saw, both technical and social.  This book was followed by Zero Inventories, which contained a footnote leading to Shigeo Shingo’s Toyota Production System from an Industrial Engineering Point of View.  After that there were many other books and individual who provide more learning and inspiration.  Today, I do less reading, but continued to be inspired by other students of continuous improvement.  

3. In your opinion what is the most powerful aspect of lean?

It requires and fosters human development, and provides a professional challenge for every job – the basis of GBMP’s slogan, “everybody everyday”. 

4. In your opinion what is the most misunderstood or unrecognized aspect of lean?

Lean is seen by most organizations solely as a technical challenge.  The technique (e.g., 5S, SMED, pull, mistake-proofing, etc.) is necessary, but far from sufficient.  There are two other challenges: 1) Especially for managers and engineers, understanding of the conceptual basis behind the techniques is critical to implanting.  Without that understanding, ideas like pull and one-by-one make no sense.  2) Creating a favorable environment for improvement, what Toyota calls “TPS Managerial”, known more generally as culture.

5. In your opinion what is the biggest opportunity for lean in today's world? How can that be accomplished?

Lean’s biggest opportunity then and now is at single location, privately-held small and medium-sized organizations that are less vulnerable to short-term policy and financial decisions, and where management can physically witness the problems and the improvements. While any organization may get some benefit from Lean, larger ones suffer from too much physical distance and  policy/organizational inertia, and are unable to address the adaptive changes needed to get the full benefits of Lean.  Best thing to do is find the pockets of opportunity within the bigger organization is focus on pocket of opportunity and promote at the highest lever available.  

Through their answers to these questions hopefully you will get a sense of the thinking behind those who are shaping the Lean landscape.  I continue to keep learning and thankfully with the willingness of these practitioners to share I am positive you will, too.

How Can You Be a More Effective Lean Leader

Lean thinking is fundamentally transforming the way organizations operate. The Lean principles of continuous improvement, respect for people, and a relentless focus on delivering customer value are making teams and organizations rethink the practices that might have guided them for decades.

For Lean to be truly effective, it needs effective Lean Leadership — to champion Lean principles, offer guidance, and ensure that Lean is being used to optimize the entire organizational system for value delivery.

Here are six things you can do to become a more effective lean leader.

Show Respect for People:

Respect for people is a fundamental principle of Lean Leadership. It involves creating a work environment where employees feel valued, empowered, and respected. Lean leaders listen to their teams, involve them in decisions, and support their growth and development with resources. Leaders create a respectful culture where employees can share ideas, skills, and knowledge to enhance processes and promote innovation.

Provide Vision and Purpose

Lean leaders need to establish a clear vision and purpose for the organization’s Lean journey. They should communicate the importance of Lean principles and how they align with the overall mission and strategic goals. A compelling vision provides direction and serves as a guiding light for employees, inspiring them to actively participate in Lean initiatives.

Lead by Example

Leaders must lead by example and demonstrate their commitment to Lean principles. They should participate in Lean practices like going to the workplace, solving problems, and making continuous improvements. By visibly practicing Lean principles and lean management tools, leaders inspire others and create a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Go to the Gemba

A lean leader must go to the gemba as often as possible. They must be present on the job site on a regular basis, actively engaging with the people closest to the customer- rather than spending most of their time in the office or conference rooms. This, as a result, ensures that they are able to truly understand the real situation, allowing them to take effective actions to improve performance.

A true lean leader frequents the workplace both when things are going well, and when problem arise - otherwise, employees are less likely to communicate the real situation if their boss only shows up when problems occur.

Foster Collaboration and Communication

Lean leadership emphasizes collaboration and communication among team members. By fostering an environment of open communication and encouraging teamwork, you can promote idea sharing and problem solving. Consequently, this can lead to innovative solutions and a more cohesive team that is better equipped to achieve your lean goals.

Empower Your Team

Empowering your team is a key aspect of lean leadership. So, you need to give your team the tools and resources they need to identify and solve problems on their own. This means creating a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone is encouraged to contribute ideas and suggestions for improvement.

Lean leadership is all about commitment; commitment to your employees, commitment to the system and commitment to making changes towards improvement. The highest commitment in Lean Leadership has to be towards your employees; your people. In any company, the people working for it are it’s greatest asset. You need to listen to your people and ensure they have the right tools and knowledge to perform their jobs correctly. Lean leadership focuses more on working with your people rather than having your people work for you.

Lean Quote: Don’t Say You Can’t…Trystorm It

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Before you say you can’t do something…TRY IT."   —  Sakichi Toyoda

I learned from my time at Wiremold, originating from Art Byrne, the fundamentals of trystorming. This method consists of, “Rapid cycles of real-time experimentation, used to test and adjust improvement ideas before establishing standard work or implementing processes broadly.” In plain language this means – try it out! Trystorming incorporates physical actions that can engage other senses and give testers a better sense of whether an idea is viable or not.

Trystorming is different from brainstorming in that it encourages the rapid development and test of an idea rather than merely thinking about the possible solutions. It allows people to visualize, touch and further improve on an initial idea. It also models action rather than talk. Often in our desire to design the perfect Future State we forget that the best way to build a process that works is through the iterative process of trying, adjusting/correcting, and trying again.

The process is built on three basic principles:

• It is not important to create perfect solutions.
• Be action-oriented.
• Keep solutions simple.

These principles work hand-in-hand to develop effective solutions. When implemented correctly, Try-Storming can be used to continuously improve any business process.

One of the key reasons to utilize trystorming as part of any process design activity is that it models action rather than talk. By leaving the conference room and actually trying ideas during the course of the work, your team will quickly realize that your activity is more than just a meeting or an exercise in theory.

In addition, taking action typically increases the level of idea generation and team engagement exponentially. By mocking up and trying concepts the team will be able to visualize their ideas and transform plans into tangible improvements quickly. While trystorming requires much more energy than the traditional design approach, use of this methodology will significantly reduce the overall time needed to reach a workable solution.

Whether you are a business just looking for a new way to create together or are looking for a practical, yet fun way to reduce costs and optimize an existing or new process, Trystorming can be an immensely useful tool for your company or work team.