American Lean Weekday: Leadership | Lean Culture & Intrapreneurship | Lean Methods | Industry 4.0 | Case Studies
222 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsStart each workday with digestible nuggets on the benefits of running a lean organization. We cover 5 topics in 5 days in about 5 minutes.
1. Leadership- Discover key concepts for successfully leading your organization during its lean transformation.
2. Culture/Intrapreneurship- Learn how to support your intrapreneurs, those who are driving change within your organization.
3. Lean Topics- Still catching on to lean principles and methodologies? We’ll help you with the basics and advanced topics.
4. Industry 4.0- Learn how smart manufacturing, smart factories, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and more will change the face of business.
5. Interviews- Hear from others that are on their lean journey and learn their secrets to success!
Learn more about American Lean at www.americanlean.com
Tom Reed can be reached at [email protected]
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Episodes
Year End 2020
December 31, 2020 11:00 - 3 minutes - 2.85 MBHave a sage and wonderful New Year and thank you for listening! Rate and Review Here More show notes are here Schedule a free 1/2 call with Tom Reed. Buy the Lean Game Plan
What to Include in Your Lean Training - Part 4
December 30, 2020 11:00 - 6 minutes - 6.24 MBSince it is near the end of the year and your company might consider Lean training, I thought I’d give you an early present and cover what to include in your Lean training. This is not an exhaustive list- I’m breaking the topics up over several weeks. Up to this point, we have covered 12 other Lean topics- Lean History, VA vs. NVA, the 8 wastes, 6S, Current state and future state VSM’s, waste walks, PICK chart, RIE’s, A3’s, setting up an LPO and developing a Master Plan and RIE report-outs....
How to Engage Employees during your Lean Transformation
December 29, 2020 11:00 - 5 minutes - 4.61 MBEmployee engagement is going to make or break you on your Lean transformation. For those that are interested in a successful Lean Transformation, I have a secret for you. Lean is about changing the culture of your organization. Ask yourself, how do I turn my employees into daily problem solvers? One success indicator of employee engagement is having them drive the transformation effort within your company, but how do you get there? Here are five ways to engage employees during your Lean tran...
Focus on the Customer in 2021
December 28, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.45 MBWhat is the purpose of your business? Is it to make money as many people believe? I took finance during my MBA program and finance says your goal is to generate shareholder value. That doesn’t sound like a great rallying cry for employees. “We have to focus on increasing our shareholder value in 2021.” Yeah, no. How about you find better ways to focus on the customer in 2021? Can you use that to engage and energize employees? I bet so, and if you make improvements in that area, I bet your r...
Merry Christmas
December 25, 2020 11:00 - 22 seconds - 342 KBMerry Christmas to all of our listeners, clients, companies, family and Friends!
Top Roles for a Successful Digital Transformation
December 24, 2020 11:00 - 5 minutes - 4.67 MBOrganizations have dramatically sped up their digital transformation activities. The pandemic has made companies consider a digital transformation much sooner than before. Companies of all sizes realize they need to transform. To help guide you, here are the top roles for a successful digital transformation. 1. Solution Architect Just like it sounds, a solution architect develops the overall strategy for the digital transformation. Think of the solution architect as the techie that can exp...
Topics to Include in Your Lean Training- Part 3
December 23, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.17 MBSince it’s near the end of the year and your company might consider Lean training, I thought I’d give you an early present and cover topics to include in your Lean training. This is not an exhaustive list- I’m breaking the topics up over several weeks. If you cover these topics, I know you will have a very solid start in educating employees on Lean topics that will benefit your company immensely! It’s helpful to add workshops for many of these topics to keep people excited and engaged when ...
Five Steps for Supporting your Digital Intraprapreneurs
December 22, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.27 MBDigital transformations are important in today’s world. Even if you are an “old-school” manufacturer- you make stuff- you still have to find customers. It could be there are ways to increase the digital aspects of your products. Regardless, this will require change, and the best way to approach it is to unleash your intrapreneurs. Here are five steps for supporting your digital intrapreneurs. Step 1- Find a customer Companies are spending millions on digital transformations. They believe i...
What 2020 Taught Leaders
December 21, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 3.85 MBLet’s talk about what 2020 taught leaders and the rest of us, but first a story. The Voyager spacecraft was leaving our solar system in 1990 and NASA had it take one last picture since it was leaving our solar system. Voyager was 3.7 billion miles from the sun. What it captured has become known as the pale blue dot picture. Its impact is more than a picture. It shows Earth from the perspective of the edge of our solar system and how insignificant Earth looked. You can barely see it in the ...
Inside Secrets of working with a Prime company
December 18, 2020 11:00 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MBOne of the key elements on my American Lean Weekday podcast is the weekly interviews that I conduct with companies on their Lean Journey. These companies are from various industries and are all different sizes. I have interviewed leaders from family-owned businesses to multi-national organizations. This week is a little different, I share the mic with James, a buyer at a Multi-National Fortune 100 company. He shares inside secrets on supplying a Fortune 100 company. James is unique in that ...
Replay- Did You Know there is an Industry 5.0?
December 17, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.56 MBIt seems like we are just learning about Industry 4.0 and the enablers that will impact that digital transformation. Now companies are discussing what Industry 5.0 looks like. Earlier in the year, I talked about the use of cobots to support Industry 4.0. Industry 5.0 is based on humans and robots working together in close proximity. Given the advances in sensors, cobots no longer need to be kept in a cage away from humans. Smart sensors deployed on a cobot allow the cobot to work directly ...
What to Include in Your Lean Training- Part 2
December 16, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.39 MBSince it’s near the end of the year and your company might consider Lean training, I thought I’d give you an early present and cover what to include in your Lean training. This is not an exhaustive list- I’m breaking the topics up over several weeks. If you cover these topics, I know you will have a very solid start in educating employees on Lean topics that will benefit your company immensely! It’s helpful to add workshops for many of these topics to keep people excited and engaged when we...
Rely on your Core Team to Support Company Culture
December 15, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.17 MBFor companies that are developing their Lean transformation, a key element for supporting the transformation is sharing information within the company, and engaging employees. Establishing a Core Team of representatives from different functional areas helps with that information sharing. You should also rely on your core team to support company culture. There are several steps to establishing this infrastructure properly. Believe me, selecting the right employees to be representatives on th...
Six Leadership Traits for Today
December 14, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 3.84 MBLeading employees is never easy. It is more complicated given the current restrictions as we all know. Regardless, here are six leadership traits for today you can rate yourself against. If you are looking for future leaders, these are prominent traits to consider. Trait 1 – Approachable Since you probably aren’t in a face-to-face situation, your employees must know they can approach you with problems/concerns as they arise. This doesn’t mean you have to be available 24-7 but are there “of...
Replay- Upskill Your Industry 4.0 Skills with MSSC
December 11, 2020 11:00 - 12 minutes - 11.1 MBIndustry 4.0 is being accelerated by what is happening during the pandemic. If you or any of your employees would like to learn about the growing need, learn about what MSSC has to offer! Upskill for industry 4.0. CPT 4.0 is a nationally portable, industry-led program that prepares and certifies individuals for career pathways in advanced manufacturing. This online training program delivers the 21st Century, in-demand skills that today’s employers need for over 6 million frontline productio...
Is your Company Adopting Industry 4.0 Quickly Enough?
December 10, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.24 MBAs the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us, companies can pivot quickly and produce entirely different products in a short period of time. The need for ventilators, n95 face masks, and other personal protective gear has made companies pivot quickly. Are you adopting Industry 4.0 quickly enough? Even organizations as large as General Motors (GM) have pivoted. They won a $489MM award to build 30,000 ventilators for the US Government to stockpile. They will deliver all 30,000 by the end of August 2...
Topics to Include in Your Lean Training- Part 1
December 09, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.27 MBSince it’s near the end of the year and your company might consider Lean training for next year, I thought I’d give you an early present and cover what to include in your Lean training. This is not an exhaustive list and I’m going to break this up over several weeks. I'll cover more topics through the end of the year. So stay tuned! If you cover these topics, I know you will have a very solid start in educating employees on Lean topics that will benefit your company immensely! It’s helpful ...
Three Positive Ways the Pandemic is Impacting your Company Culture
December 08, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.12 MBI’m sure preparing for 2021 is on the minds of many organizations this time of year. Given the strange year it has been, I’m sure we all want to move on from 2020. To prepare these weekly blogs and podcasts, I do a lot of research. Like many things, the impact of working from home depends upon the company culture you already had in place. Here are three ways the pandemic is impacting your company culture. A study by Qualtrics shared that 37% of 2100 employees who took part in the study felt...
Tips to Become a Courageous Leader
December 07, 2020 11:00 - 3 minutes - 3.51 MBLeading employees is never easy. It is more complicated and messy given the current restrictions as we all know. There are still ways that you can lead with courage. Take a minute to review these and ask yourself are you a courageous leader? Since we have been recording history, there are many stories of leaders who acted courageously. Did they act courageously because they had to, or because that’s how they learned to lead? Personally, when I think of courageous leaders- George Washington,...
Learn from the Small Manufacturers Institute
December 04, 2020 11:00 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MBThis week I get to interview David Goodreau the President of the Small Manufacturers Institute and he shares their mission and passion for helping small manufacturers. David helps design and implement programs that make manufacturers more profitable and give people a career. His 40-year work history is as a machinist, manager, entrepreneur, and a builder/collaborator of non-profits that service industry and communities. The Small Manufacturers Institute (SMI) is his current focus, building ...
Six Advantages of Cloud Computing for Manufacturers
December 03, 2020 11:00 - 5 minutes - 4.9 MBCloud computing is seeing tremendous growth in many sectors and is being driven by companies such as Amazon, IBM, Alibaba, and Google. Because of the work from home situation, many of us have found ourselves in, the expected growth in this sector is expected to be 25% a year. Here are six advantages of cloud computing for manufacturers. 1. Simplifies product delivery Because cloud computing simplifies the delivery of goods and services over the internet, product delivery becomes easier. 3D...
Four Steps to a Successful Lean Transformation
December 02, 2020 11:00 - 5 minutes - 5.17 MBOver the thirty years that I have been honored to work with companies, I have seen fantastic, mind-blowing results from Lean efforts. I have also seen companies lose interest after a short time. They treat their Lean innovation like a Book of the Month Club or get frustrated from a lack of results. Some organizations become paralyzed and never begin their Lean Innovation. To me, that is the worst situation of all. I would like to share some gotchas I have seen. Companies make their Lean In...
Elements of a Lean Culture
December 01, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.5 MBI’m sure preparing for 2021 is on the minds of many organizations this time of year. Given the strange year it has been, I’m sure we all want to move on from 2020. I have seen companies “decide” they want to implement Lean in the next year when they do their annual planning. What I rarely hear is we need to develop a culture that supports Lean efforts. To get you thinking along those lines, here are some elements of a lean culture. It starts at the top Any successful business or cultural t...
Tips to Lead for Growth in 2021
November 30, 2020 11:00 - 3 minutes - 3.58 MBThere have been great strides in developing vaccines for COVID-19, with four different companies announcing vaccines that will be available soon. While that is great news, the logistics of producing 300M doses in the US, keeping them cold enough for distribution- as cold as -100 degrees Fahrenheit won’t happen overnight. That said, it’s important as a leader to lead for growth next year. Here are three tips to lead for growth in 2021. Tip 1 – Re-evaluate your business plan If your business...
46M Turkeys in One Day
November 26, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.1 MBIf you are like me, I'm sure you never stopped to think about where your turkey comes from- the turkey supply chain. As you can imagine it takes a large effort for the turkey to arrive at your local grocery store in time for Thanksgiving. Here are some interesting facts about Thanksgiving in the United States. The first celebration was held in 1621 and in 1863 Abraham Lincoln made it a National Holiday. It's estimated 88% of Americans will eat turkey on Thanksgiving. The interesting part...
Tip for Being Grateful During Your Lean Journey
November 25, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 3.76 MBUndertaking a business transformation is difficult. After all, who are the only people who like change? Wet babies. Depending upon where you start, it can take a lot of heavy lifting from many people in the organization. It’s easy to get caught up conducting “activities” on a weekly or monthly basis, which is why it’s important to slow down, reflect, and be grateful during your Lean journey. Henry Ford recognized the value of bringing people together to accomplish work and make improvements...
Tips to Develop a Culture of Gratitude
November 24, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4 MBStaying with the theme of gratitude for this Thanksgiving week, I want to share some tips to develop a culture of gratitude. If you weren’t aware, there are science-based benefits of being grateful. Productivity increases, job satisfaction increases, as does your mental and physical well-being. Here are some actions to consider. 1. It starts at the top Any successful business or cultural transformation starts at the top. The same is true when trying to develop a culture of gratitude. When ...
Five Ways to Show Your Employees Gratitude
November 23, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.09 MBHere in the United States, we are beginning Thanksgiving week, which occurs this Thursday. Often this time of the year people are flying to visit family and friends. They are scurrying to prepare a large festive gathering for friends and family. The wonderful pandemic has put much of that activity on hold. I think it's even more important this year as leaders to show your employees gratitude and here are five ways you can that. 1. Touch base this week Since many employees won't be traveli...
Learn how Paperless Parts makes Quoting Quick and Easy
November 20, 2020 11:00 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MBOne of the key elements on my American Lean Weekday podcast is the weekly interviews that I conduct with companies on their Lean Journey. These companies are from various industries and are all different sizes. I have interviewed leaders from family-owned businesses to multi-national organizations. These are keynotes from a conversation with Mike Stankus, Chief Revenue Officer at Paperless Parts. Paperless Parts is a secure cloud-based quoting platform that allows collaboration and quoting ...
Oil and Gas is at the forefront of IIoT
November 19, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.24 MBTwo weeks ago, on my podcast, I interviewed a consultant who was part of a team that generated “hundreds of millions of dollars” in savings within the oil and gas industry. Knowing the vast landscape and impossible places that many oil rigs are in, it makes sense oil and gas is at the forefront of IIoT adoption. Here’s what they are doing. 1. Information Technology (IT) Given that oil and gas companies are undergoing a digital transformation, it makes sense they are highly leveraging in...
Four Stages of Change your Employees will Face on a Lean Transformation
November 18, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.37 MBWhen people go through change they move through four stages of change. I cover the four stages in this episode. Denial Resistance Exploration Commitment Everyone goes through these changes at their own pace. In this podcast I offer ways to help this transition. Rate and Review Here More show notes are here Schedule a free 1/2 call with Tom Reed. Buy the Lean Game Plan Follow me on Twitter@dailyleancoach Join me on Linked In
Develop your Culture to Embrace Change
November 17, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.16 MBIf you have been around the change management world at all, you’ll hear estimates that 70% of change initiatives fail. Why is that you ask? It often starts at the top. Leadership moved too fast with the implementation, there wasn’t a focus on training employees on the new methods, etc. Often ignored is the fact the culture isn’t ready to accept change. Especially today, it is important to develop your culture to embrace change! My bet is your business has made some changes to the way it ope...
Tips to Implement Servant Leadership in Your Company
November 16, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 3.9 MBWe hear a lot about servant leadership, but do you know what that means? More importantly, how do you implement servant leadership in your company? Servant leadership is not a natural way of leading, but you can develop servant leaders if you have patience, persistence and practice. I want to provide some tips in this blog. Tip 1 - Understand your current state Like any journey, it is important to understand where you are starting. Robert Greenleaf identified 21 pillars of servant leadersh...
Hansen Plastics Sees Huge Success from their 12 year Lean Journey!
November 13, 2020 11:00 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MBOne of the key elements on my American Lean Weekday podcast is the weekly interviews that I conduct with companies on their Lean Journey. These companies are from various industries and are all different sizes. I have interviewed leaders from family-owned businesses to multi-national organizations. These are keynotes from a conversation with Tim Bayer, President of Hansen Plastics in Elgin Illinois. Hansen Plastics is an employee-owned (ESOP) and they maintain a can-do attitude because thei...
The 7 P's in a Digital Marketplace
November 12, 2020 11:00 - 6 minutes - 6.26 MBI'm sure you have heard of the four P's in marketing. In a digital marketplace there will be 7 P's. Learn about them here! Price Place Promotion Product People Processes Physical Evidence Rate and Review Here More show notes are here Schedule a free 1/2 call with Tom Reed. Buy the Lean Game Plan Follow me on Twitter@dailyleancoach Join me on Linked In
Five Mindsets Holding You back from Your Lean Journey
November 11, 2020 11:00 - 5 minutes - 4.86 MBIn this podcast I cover the five mindsets that hold companies back from getting started on a Lean Innovation. We're unique We're not Toyota We're high mix/low volume We don't have time We can't afford outside coaches Hear how you can overcome these mindsets and the benefits you will receive! Rate and Review Here More show notes are here Schedule a free 1/2 call with Tom Reed. Buy the Lean Game Plan Follow me on Twitter@dailyleancoach Join me on Linked In
Do You Have a Communication Driven Culture?
November 10, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.12 MBDeveloping a communication driven culture is important if you are going to have long-term success, especially now. We all know that it is harder to communicate via Zoom or Teams or any of the other remote communication platforms. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make improvements in your communication. I’m going to assume we have all been in a situation where we have received feedback we weren’t happy about. What happened in this situation? How did the giver of the feedback provide the feed...
Great Servant Leader Communication with WFH Employees
November 09, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 3.95 MBWhen you have a servant leader mindset, you are there for your employees and not the other way around, it’s important to ask open-ended supportive questions. Realize that employees are struggling with homeschooling and working from home. Employees that live alone have had their social interactions change overnight. I want to provide some great servant leader communication for WFH employees. What was only a temporary situation is now becoming permanent? I read an article today that said many...
Hundreds of Millions Saved in a Digital Transformation
November 06, 2020 11:00 - 13 minutes - 12.6 MBOne of the key elements on my American Lean Weekday podcast is the weekly interviews that I conduct with companies on their Lean Journey. These companies are from various industries and are all different sizes. I have interviewed leaders from family-owned businesses to multi-national organizations. These are keynotes from a conversation with Ben Griner from Persyst Consulting. PerSyst Consulting was founded in 2005 and located in Seattle, Washington is a nationally recognized consulting org...
Industry 4.0 Today- An Intro
November 05, 2020 11:00 - 7 minutes - 6.35 MBThere are nine enablers in industry 4.0 and this podcast introduces them. Cybersecurity/blockchain Cloud computing Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) Big Data System Integration Autonomous robots (cobots) Additive manufacturing (3D printing) Augmented reality Digital twins/simulation Learn about the technology changes coming to your company soon! Rate and Review Here More show notes are here Schedule a free 1/2 call with Tom Reed. Buy the Lean Game Plan
Four Steps for a Successful Lean Transformation
November 04, 2020 11:00 - 5 minutes - 4.33 MBThere are four simple steps I have road-tested over the years that will make your Lean transformation easier and successful! Follow these for success. Vision- Develop your unique Lean Game Plan Employee training camps- Train employees on Lean topics Execute the Lean Game Plan- Conduct Rapid Improvement Events (RIE's) Half time adjustments- measure and adjust Rate and Review Here More show notes are here Schedule a free 1/2 call with Tom Reed. Buy the Lean Game Plan Follow me on ...
America Rocks! Please Vote!
November 03, 2020 11:00 - 32 seconds - 498 KBI have spent a career working with American companies. All kinds of companies. Large ones, small ones, family-owned companies. There isn't much I haven't seen manufactured. I've worked with government agencies to help them as well. In some small way I have helped each company improve and become more competitive. I know Lean helps companies increase competitiveness and retain American jobs. Needless to say, I've loved every minute of it. I love America and I hope you do too! Show ho...
What the Future of Leadership Looks Like
November 02, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.09 MBSome great things are coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. One is the digitization of many businesses that need to evolve. This requires leaders to evolve and adapt as well. Operating in large silos and departments is hard to accomplish in a digital environment. Here is what future leadership looks like. 1. Manage across a value stream Having leaders within departments focus on their piece of the business will be harder to do when customers want goods and services quicker and delivered wit...
Lean Accounting Helps you Keep Better Score
October 30, 2020 11:00 - 16 minutes - 15 MBLean accounting may not sound very exciting, but this podcast episode with Jerry Solomon brings all kinds of energy and excitement! Jerry shares how he moved from an accounting role into VP of Operations roles and shares the struggles of getting business performance information that employees can use to make improvements. These are some key points taken from my interview with Lean accounting expert Jerry Solomon. I was asked to move from the COO position to running operations. What a dif...
Digital Twins can Optimize your Operations- Even a Kiwi Farm
October 29, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.32 MBA digital twin allows companies to develop a digital version of any scenario they might face in the physical world. Businesses can research, create, test, simulate, and prepare for any scenario they think occurs. Digital twins can optimize your operations. There are many practical uses for digital twins. Digital twins can model and optimize any part of a business. Here are a few use areas. 1. When designing buildings Digital twins allow engineers and architects to develop models based ...
During Strategic Planning, your True North doesn’t Change
October 28, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.44 MBIs your organization preparing their strategic planning efforts for next year? I’m sure everyone is eager to complete 2020 and move on. Regardless of how your business has changed, one thing that shouldn’t change is your True North. Your True North doesn’t change. It is the guiding element that your company truly believes in. Your culture develops because of your True North. Your decision making follows your True North. It guides everything in your organization. If you have outgrown your o...
Your Culture Drives your Customer Experience
October 27, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.55 MBIn a recent PwC study, 80% of American consumers say that speed, convenience, knowledgeable help, and friendly service are the most important elements of a positive experience. How does your organization measure against those elements? It’s important to realize that your culture drives your customer experience. If you want a better customer experience, work on improving your culture. This article points out that 59% of customers will quit doing business with a company after repeated unpleas...
Four Leadership Skills for the WFH Future
October 26, 2020 11:00 - 4 minutes - 4.43 MBThe reports of companies stating they will allow employees to work from home forever are growing every day. Twitter, Square (same CEO), Shopify, Slack, Facebook, are a few of the tech companies stating employees can work from home indefinitely. Many fintech companies like Mastercard, Capital One, and others are allowing employees to work from home. Leading this way will require a different set of leadership skills. Here are four leadership skills for the WFH future. 1. How to virtually enga...
Replay- MD Engineering Uses Lean to Improve Cash Flow to Grow
October 23, 2020 11:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBOne of the key elements on my American Lean Weekday podcast is the weekly interviews that I conduct with companies on their Lean Journey. These companies are from various industries and are all different sizes. I have interviewed leaders from family-owned businesses to multi-national organizations. These are keynotes from a conversation with MD Engineering. MD Engineering founded in 1999 and located in Corona, California is a nationally recognized leading producer and distributor of quality...
Mercedes Benz is taking a Holistic Approach to Industry 4.0
October 22, 2020 11:00 - 5 minutes - 4.81 MBI’m always searching for articles to gather information to share with you regarding Industry 4.0 and other topics. Two weeks ago I mentioned how Porsche and Bugatti are 3D printing brake calipers and replacement parts for their cars. This week, I want to share how Mercedes Benz is taking a holistic approach to Industry 4.0 technologies to integrate all their plants together and the savings they expect. It is called MO360 (Mercedes Benz Car Operations) 360. MO360 is a suite of software appli...