Blackbelts go out on the water

Three current blackbelts go out on the water with LSI. Nomi, Racheal and James excited to see Vancouver from the water!

LSI after lunch at VCH

This afternoon at VCH, we are working through more icebreaker games in order to promote team building!
This simple simulations teaches important concepts about customer value.

LSI is working on teamwork

Today we are having an interesting day of team building with Vancouver Coastal Health!

Quote of the day

"If you can't imagine the future, you can't achieve your goals."

David Chao

Blackbelt Kickoff

Our fall session of Blackbelt is just getting started! More to come...

Wisdom of the week for Blackbelts

Photos from the last Blackbelt program

We approach this new work week with  eagerness and excitement as we look forward to the start of another Blackbelt Program. 

This rigorous three month program is designed to challenge participants to pursue excellence in, not only their lean journeys but personal growth too.

Welcome Blackbelts!

We will be known forever by the tracks that we leave.

  ~ American Indian Proverb

Greenbelt Winnipeg Fall Kick-Off

We are happy to have 24 new Greenbelt participants joining us in Winnipeg this fall. In partnering with CME in Manitoba, we are very excited to kick off this insightful Lean journey.

Carrying on the Lean methodologies, which were introduced by our coaches on Monday, our Greenbelts then moved onto the three-day hands-on Kaizens starting.

Wish all Greenbelt students best of luck!

Calgary Green Belt Kaizen Blitz!

Calgary's Green Belt program went well this week, which included 5S kaizen blitz. Here are some pictures from this event.

Executive Benchmarking Tour, Vancouver

This past week, we kicked off our Vancouver Executive Benchmarking Tour hosted by 6 companies in different industries to see their operations.  It was an eye opening program which prompted one participant to comment, "I can't believe how much we've learned in such a short time - I'm truly inspired by their passion to improve."  LSI plans to organize another tour later this year so please stay tuned!

Day 1:
Our first stop was Nuheat Floor Heating Systems located in Richmond. Nuheat provides "soothing warmth" to various types of flooring surfaces including tile, stone, granite, laminate, and engineered wood.

Here is the Nuheat office tour as we learn about the lean initiatives implemented.

After learning from Nuheat, we visited Alpha Technologies Inc. which is in the telecommunications industry. Alpha Technologies Inc. provides the most reliable, technologically advanced and cost-effective powering solutions available and is built to support expansion and provide unlimited opportunity.

While visiting Alpha Technologies Inc., Blackbelt Certified Derek Nakamoto from First West Credit Union spoke to the group. Below are a few short clips from him describing the journey of lean and lean future plans.

Below is a video about First West Credit Union's lean journey...

Plans for creating a lean video and a First West Lean School to share with the organization...

Our last visit of the day was at Moulding & Millwork which is one of the world's largest manufacturers of doors and moulding products.

The group gets insight from Moulding & Millwork from their lean experience.

Questions & answer time.

Day 2:

We started the day off by visiting Regency Fireplace Products International Ltd. (FPI) Regency strives to be a world leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of hearth products. Every day they employ EXCITE (Exercising Continuous Improvement Towards Excellence) in all of their processes which assures customer needs are met. FPI has continuously improved their training, including such programs as 6S training (vs just 5S because it includes safety). We also had the opportunity to film inside the plant and capture some of the 'lean initiatives' in action!

 Tracking inventory helps to eliminate waste.



Visual signage ensures fewer mistakes.

Traffic light inventory (supplier-managed) tracking/repleneshing system

Our second tour was at the North American Tea & Coffee Inc. They manufacture and distribute teas, dry mix, and grocery products in North America and internationally. The company also provides dry blended food products. Below is a video about North American Tea & Coffee's lean experience.

The group about to go for a tea factory tour.

 

Our last tour of the day was at Ideon packaging LLP. They provide solutions to packaging needs. Their packaging products include: corrugated containers, stock boxes, protective packaging, single-face lamination, POP, and folding cartons. Lean strategy has helped increase their efficiency and the factory is extremely organized. Ideon also strives to eliminate their waste and created their own charity for kids in their community.

Mike explains FITT (Finding Innovation Through Teamwork) training at Ideon. True to his Lean Blackbelt Training, he has absorbed the 'lean philosophy' and transformed it in order to suit Ideon's unique lean needs.

Ideon has created visual cues to increase efficiency and quality.

Ideon ensures lean consistency with a health check and scoring system.

Wisdom of the Week: Go and See

"Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day."
~ Thorton Wilder

Continuing with the Lean Tour

Now we are at Ideon Packaging where lean has truly made a difference...

Lean Benchmark Vancouver

LSI is taking 20 people through some of the best companies in Vancouver that are going through lean. Today we are visiting FPI, NATC, and Ideon. More info to come.

Greenbelt for Operation Calgary Fall 2011

We are excited to share that the first Fall Geenbelt for Operation in Calgary happened yesterday! A total of 17 participants are being coached this week by Bob Low. Module 1 will take place from September 12th-16th with an introduction to Lean & the 5S Kaizen Blitz. We hope they have a great experience and learn a lot!

Quote of the day

You have a choice everyday to "move forward", "stay where you are", or "go backwards". Which step are you going to take today?

David Chao

LSI Europe Lean Tour to include a visit to Florence

Our next Europe Lean Tour for June 2012 will include a stop in Florence Italy. This will serve as the primary "hub" from where we will coordinate visits to the Lamborghini factory and hopefully, Ferrari factory (which is still to be confirmed). Excitement is brewing.

Photo of the day

Lean Assessment in Silicon Valley

LSI is conducting a comprehensive lean assessment at a medical device company in the Silicon Valley area, just minutes from Apple headquarters in Cupertino.

Two Master Blackbelts (Janka and Alicia) have joined us to help us with this important lean assessment.  More updates to follow.

Wisdom of the week

The start of another academic year is upon us and many students will be making their way back to class.  Learning is a life long process and we are never too old to tackle something new and challenge ourselves.  In a few weeks, LSI's Greenbelt and Blackbelt classes will resume.  Here's a timely piece of advice from Mark Twain:

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.

Photo of the day

Quote of the day

Life has its ups and downs, its twists and turns - no one know knows exactly what is coming around the corner. But having faith and trust that things will always work out makes it possible to wake up each morning with a smile and passion. Life is meant to be embraced and challenged.... as long as you are always ready.

David Chao

2012 Porsche 911 Revealed

Porsche is introducing a new 2012 Porsche 911... an exciting time indeed. LSI will be bringing a group of people to Germany again in June of 2012 as part of our executive program. It will be the first time we will be able to see the brand new 911 being built at Porsche's renowned factory in Stuttgart.

What does new 911 look like? Take a look....

Who is Lean Sensei?

A brief introduction about Lean Sensei from hollywood action star Byron Mann: