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Friday, June 29, 2012

BMW and Toyota to collaborate more closely



Tokyo/Munich. Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), met today with Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, at BMW Group headquarters in Munich to announce the planned expansion of their existing cooperation initiated in December last year. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at long-term strategic collaboration in four fields: joint development of a fuel cell system, joint development of architecture and components for a future sports vehicle, collaboration on powertrain electrification and joint research and development on lightweight technologies.

Also today, Norbert Reithofer and Akio Toyoda of TMC both signed a Joint Statement to reconfirm their companies’ shared intention to strengthen the long-term, strategic collaboration between them.



Reithofer said: “We aim to further strengthen our competitive position in sustainable future technologies. We signed an MoU to this effect today. Toyota and the BMW Group share the same strategic vision of sustainable individual future mobility. Together we have a great opportunity to continue leading our industry through this transformation.”

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Greenbelt Operations Winnipeg Graduation

Greenbelts, Greenbelts, Greenbelts Go!

On Friday, June 22, 2012, the Winnipeg Summer class successfully graduated from Lean Sensei's Greenbelt certification program.



We appreciate all their hardwork and are excited to support them on their Lean journey!
Congratulations Lean Sensei Greenbelts!

Lean Thinking Applied to Daily Life

Lean Thinking is not just a business tool, it is a culture, a way of life. Here are some examples of Lean at home from the Lean community.

1. Bedroom Closet – Turn all your hangers so that they face in the same direction. Upon returning a piece of clothing to your closet, face this hanger the opposite way. This will visually track which pieces of clothing you actually wear. In six months, you can donate the clothing on the hangers that have not been turned because you have visible proof you don't wear them.


2. Refrigerator - Compartmentalize, organize and group similar food items so that all items in your fridge are visible. No one likes discovering rotten produce or unnecessarily buying another bottle of ketchup.


3. Kitchen Drawers – Stack plates using adjustable dividers to organize your cupboard or drawer into a Lean one.


4. Workbench – Make a shadow board for your tools and be resourceful with your work area. Store project wood by size in your workbench.


5. Mail – Don't procrastinate. Sort your mail as soon as you receive it by using labeled containers, for example one for bills and one for junk mail (also known as the recycle box). Then you can pay your bills in one sweep.


6. Bathroom Baskets - Eliminate "Waste of Movement." Keep your towels where you use them, in the bathroom.


7. Keys, Phone, Wallet - Keep your three essentials in the same box close to your door (addresses Waste of Movement) so that you won't forget them and waste time looking for them (not convinced? Draw a spaghetti diagram of your morning routine).

From the Lean community: Power of Productivity 

Embrance the Love of Learning and Improving to Transform the World

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Lean Thinking explained through Lego



Isn't life better after Lean? How many of these Lean principles can you identify in the video: 7 Wastes, 5S, Just in Time, Visual Management, Total Productivity Maintenance?

2010 Victorian E-learning Innovations project output
Developed by: The Gordon with seed funding from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework.

Lean Sensei youtube channel

Did you know that LSI's youtube channel has been around since 2006, and more than 176,000 people have viewed our videos over the last several years?

Here's a link to our channel:

LSI youtube

Our top rated/viewed video is the Japan Lean Tour video with over 97,000 views (see below):

Lean Sensei programs

We are excited to offer more lean programs than any other firms in Canada.
Here are some video clips that summarize our three top programs:

Greenbelt Program - intermediate program which offers hands-on lean experience through three modules



Blackbelt Program - advanced lean program that focus on lean strategy and enterprise-wide waste reduction through four module which includes a trip to Japan



Executive Program - a la carte program that provides decision makers and managers various ways to learn lean from the basic to advanced levels (one example of Exec Program shown below: our most popular Lean Problem Solving)

Monday, June 25, 2012

Greenbelt Operations & Service Vancouver Module 3

Our 34 Vancouver Greenbelt participants got together at the hosting companies for hands-on kaizen during their last module.  Good luck on your report-out on Wednesday!

Operation Class @ manufacturing company

Service Class at manufacturing company

One of the kaizen tools: Value Stream Mapping

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Taking Time Out to Celebrate


Days when the whole LSI team come together are somewhat rare, given our full schedule.  But yesterday was one of those days.  Among the many things we're celebrating:

- the move to our new office in Fairview Slopes; it has been a slow, difficult and challenging renovation with many "lean lessons" learned and reinforced, but we're comfortable in our new home and have welcomed all the wonderful feedback from clients
- the official start of the summer season; sunny, warm days are not far off
- and the biggest reason to celebrate - the arrival of baby son - a beautiful second son!  Congratulations!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Interview with Lexus Chief Engineer



Check out the Lexus Magazine Interview with Toshio Asahi - Chief Engineer of the sixth-generation Lexus ES.  It's full of insight into the redesign of Lexus’ top-selling sedan.

Read the interview here
- behind the scenes during the vehicle’s development - Genchi Genbutsu, know the customers!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

What is a morning huddle?

So exactly what is a morning huddle from a lean perspective? Take a look at our short video:




Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Custom Designed Greenbelt Service Module 1 in Regina

Custom Designed Greenbelt Service Program is being held at a financial services provider company in Regina this week.  Bob, LSI Senior Coach, is excited to spend a week with the very enthusiastic 14 participants!
Unlike the public program, the participants will implement kaizen at their own company.  We thank all the process owners and sponsors for the great support.







Monday, June 11, 2012

Master Blackbelt - Kevin Wack











Meet Kevin – one of our recently graduated Master Blackbelts. Over the past year and a half Kevin has been travelling locally to cities across North America and internationally to Shanghai, Italy and Germany, to coach and facilitate classes with our coaches.

The Master Blackbelt Program is a rigorous internship program. Through a mutual acceptance selection process, two to three Master Blackbelt candidates enter this program annually. We have been privileged this past year and half to have Kevin working with us. What strikes us most about Kevin is his genuine sincerity and quiet leadership style, blended with his vision and humility. In many ways he can be described, in the words of Jim Collins (author of Good to Great) as a Level 5 Leader.

They are somewhat self-effacing individuals who deflect adulation, yet who have an almost stoic resolve to do absolutely whatever it takes to make the company great, channeling their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It's not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious—but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution and its greatness, not for themselves.

Thank you Kevin! It has been our pleasure to have you on board. You are a true lean leader.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

"Companies chew the fat on lean"



LSI is at CME Lean Conference!

David was one of the workshop speakers and many of LSI clients are present here in Winnipeg!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Florida Lean Tour 2012 Video

16 Executives from both Service and Operation industries visited 8 Lean benchmarked companies in Jacksonville this May.