LEAN and GREEN Manufacturing

Lean manufacturing is about companies embracing change to reduce waste in producing a product or service. It engages and empowers employees to come up with and implement ideas requiring continuous improvement. Making this change in culture, while necessary for any company to survive the next 50 years is incredibly difficult. Companies who adopt “Lean and Green Manufacturing” are embracing the environment at the same time embracing change itself, and starting down a path towards more efficient processes, less waste of all kinds, empowered employees, continual innovation, etc. Going Green can be a tremendous motivator for change. Going Lean can become much easier if you connect it to going Green too.

Many large, multinational companies are aware of impending overseas environmental regulations and growing consumer demand for a new generation of environmentally friendly products. The Europeans have implemented take-back laws for autos, electronics and appliances. "Take-back" laws or “Producer Responsibility" require companies who make or import items to be involved in the "end-of-life" phase of their products’ life cycles. In almost all cases, there is a requirement to meet minimal recycling or re-use rates. Some companies have embraced the notion that GREEN products and production techniques are a competitive weapon, and will become one of industry’s greatest strategic challenges, not only from an engineering perspective, but from a business and marketing perspective as well. Other companies continue to complain about environmental regulations and their inability to meet the more stringent requirements.

Most U.S. automobile companies are complaining about meeting new clean air emissions limits, yet Honda and Toyota, have developed and produce new engines to exceed requirements. For these companies, it is part of their business strategy.

The world’s population is projected to increase by a factor of two over the next 50 years. Looking at it from a global perspective with the population growth, total emissions, and rate of rainforest depletion, U.S. manufacturers must drop their skepticism of the green movement and begin to address the deleterious impact their products and manufacturing processes have on the environment. No other sector of the economy comes close to the manufacturing in generating vast volumes of waste.

Environmental waste is just as bad as any other waste in manufacturing. Lean manufacturing activities are renowned for being focused on increasing production efficiency, but environmental wastes, such as excess energy and water use, and the costs involved with them need to become a big component of lean. If cost-reduction opportunities from environmental wastes become overlooked then the true costs of production is not correctly accounted, and that is not Lean.

Companies such as GE and Toyota are at the forefront with green manufacturing. GE will invest more than $1 billion on cleaner technology research and development for 2007, and plans to invest $1.5 billion annually on “ECOMAGINATION” R&D by 2010. Toyota plans to increase the sustainability and environment friendly production operations. This initiative will emphasize the role of nature in creating production sites. These “sustainable plant” activities implemented at the Toyota Tsutsumi Plant, makes the Prius hybrid vehicle factory well positioned as a “model sustainable plant.” LEAN and GREEN seems to be the new motto!!

Leanovations, a Connecticut based Lean Consulting Company with extensive international experience, emerged as a new innovative consultant company that goes beyond the traditional lean operational approach. Focusing on innovative Lean and Green Manufacturing approaches differentiates Leanovations from other lean consultant groups. To Learn more about Leanovations LLC, and Lean and Green Manufacturing please go to www.leanovations.com !

WHY LEAN FAILS

Leanovations has successfully worked with many manufacturing companies to implement a Lean transformation, after they have struggled or failed multiple times with their lean journey. Hiring the right coach is an important part of a successful journey.

Companies that fail usually do not understand what Lean really is. Lean focuses on eliminating waste in all the enterprise processes, thereby reducing costs and expanding capacity creating new profitable growth opportunities for the company. It is not about eliminating people, rather it is about involving all employees in improving processes, product quality and customer satisfaction (internally and externally) so you can profitably grow the business.

So why does Lean fail? The current company culture plays the biggest part in the successes or failures with a Lean Transformation. There is no one magic “step by step” cookbook for Lean. Although many consultants may want you to think there is. Each company has a specific culture, organizational structure and performance needs and at Leanovations, we tailor our approach to establish a transformation process that will work for each client, but be aware Leanovations mantra is to apply “Constant Gentle Pressure” for Lean Transformation success.

Leanovations has found 10 major reasons why many companies fail at Lean.

1. There is No Strategic Deployment Plan with Breakthrough objectives for the company to focus on (It is like taking a trip with no map or plan)
2. There is no formal Plan – Do – Check – Act process in place
3. Expectations, Accountability and Results (EAR) are rarely shared/known
4. People are not motivated because they do not understand the urgency for change (no vision of what “great looks like”)
5. Managers do not enforce a structured process to Lean, nor do they see their role as roadblock removers. Managers must start each day of a Lean journey by living “If it is meant to be, it is up to me”
6. Companies truly do not involve and empower their employees
7. A standard process (standard work) for “how to complete a task” is not established, therefore you cannot improve on a process that does not exist
8. There are no “Internal” supplier/customer measurements to see how one department’s actions/performance is affecting another department
9. Visuals are not used. Visuals will expose problems, or opportunities to improve (In the office as well as the factory) Office functions need to use visuals to indicate the health of a process rather than use computer systems.
10. At the first sign of trouble (and there will be some) the tendency is to revert to the old way, and then the blaming process begins. At this point it is most critical for managers to re-read #5 above.

If you are interested in learning more about how Leanovations may help your company with a Lean Transformation please contact us at: info@leanovations.com, or call (860) 479-0293. Please visit our website at http://www.leanovations.com/.

Connecticut's Lean Aerospace and Defense Initiative (ADI)

Leanovations, LLC is a Registered Lean Service Provider for Connecticut’s Aerospace and Defense Initiative (ADI).

If you are a Connecticut company who has obtained $500,000 or more of defense or aerospace manufacturing contracts over the past two years, and are interested in implementing Lean Manufacturing, you may be eligible to participate in Connecticut’s Aerospace and Defense Initiative (ADI), and receive up to 50% reimbursement of the costs for Lean consultant services from Leanovations.

In keeping with the State of Connecticut’s Next Generation Competitiveness Strategy to help Connecticut suppliers achieve world-class productivity, the Connecticut Aerospace and Defense Initiative was created. The State of Connecticut, through the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), made available $2,000,000 to assist companies in the introduction or continuation of Lean manufacturing techniques within their organizations. Companies can receive up to 50% reimbursement for the costs for Lean training and services supplied by a Registered Service Provider such as Leanovations.

Connecticut Center for Manufacturing Supply Chain Integration (CMSCI) administers the Aerospace and Defense Initiative (ADI) and qualified Leanovations, a consultant company with extensive international experience, as a Lean Service Provider for Connecticut companies in the aerospace and defense industry.

Leanovations focuses on lean and innovations, assisting businesses in developing solutions to create profitable growth, through lean operational excellence and to re-invent themselves through new products or process innovations.

If you are interested in finding out more about ADI please contact Leanovations at info@leanovations.com, or visit our website at http://www.leanovations.com/ or call the office at (860) 479-0293.

Business Owners and Leaders Must Sell Their Passion

Small Business Owners/Leaders Must Sell Their Passion to Create Profitable Growth

Leanovations has worked with many family owned manufacturing companies to implement lean in their companies, with sales in the range of $1-$50 million annually. One of the first tasks we usually embark upon is how to promote the owners’ passion for the business, and desire to grow to their employees. This entails coaching the business owners and the staff on how to teach and apply lean principals to the workforce to meet their objectives. At Leanovations, we believe that to enjoy continuous improvements at your company, you must apply “Constant Gentle Pressure” to a “Plan, Do, Check, Act” process through Lean Kaizen Workshops.

Promoting and selling a passion and vision about lean to create profitable growth is the most important job of a business owner and leader. The Business Owner must fuel the fire of passion through leadership within every employee, and turn employees into advocates, and advocates into the disciples who promote your vision. Leadership is the key in building a spirit of co-operation, which means interacting frequently with the employees, expecting them to improve continually, reaching for a higher standard and inspiring them with a brighter future. Lean Kaizen Workshops provide employees a new level of teamwork, which will improve productivity and make profitable growth easier.

Leanovations utilizes Lean Kaizen Workshops to engage employees and teach them the importance of lean and innovations to provide a competitive advantage and to enjoy employment stability with opportunities in the future. A Lean Kaizen Workshop is normally 3 ½ days to 5 days in length with a focused approach that brings critical resources together and empowers participants to identify problems, determine a solution, and implement the change wherever the opportunity to improve exists.

As the organization gains knowledge, experience and confidence in lean and the Lean Kaizen Workshops, it is encouraged by Leanovations to have our clients begin conducting their own internal lean training/workshops. Essentially, the role of Leanovations should be to teach, coach and challenge an organization as a whole to attain higher improvement goals, and to be a resource for further learning.

Lean Just Got Easier For Connecticut Manufacturing Companies

Lean Just Got Easier.....

Do you find it harder and harder to enjoy profitable growth opportunities at your company? Are you interested in learning how Lean Manufacturing can create profitable growth? Do you need to rejuvenate your manufacturing capabilities to compete? Are you interested in knowing if you qualify for funding, to offset the cost to implement Lean Manufacturing? If the answer is “Yes”, then Leanovations, LLC can help you.

Fred Shamburg, President of Leanovations is a “National Shingo Prize Board Examiner” and is a registered Lean Service Provider/Consulting Group with, The State of Connecticut Center for Manufacturing Supply Chain Integration (CMSCI) for Aerospace and Defense and Northeast Utilities PRIME Program, administered by CL&P. Leanovations also enjoys a relationship with NETAAC for Lean cost sharing services between 50-75%.

ADI Funding
If you are a Connecticut company who has obtained $500,000 or more of defense or aerospace manufacturing contracts over the past two years and are interested in implementing Lean Manufacturing within your facility, you may be eligible to participate in Connecticut’s Aerospace and Defense Initiative and receive up to 50% reimbursement of the costs for Lean consulting by Leanovations.

CL&P PRIME Funding
If you are a Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) manufacturing customer and classified with a SIC code between 2000-3999, you may be eligible for up to six (6) funded Lean Manufacturing events! The Northeast Utilities PRIME Program, administered by CL&P, will pay up to 100% of the cost of Lean Manufacturing events, led by Leanovations, for CL&P manufacturing customers who qualify. Manufacturers are eligible for up to six (6) funded events! This is a new policy by Northeast Utilities PRIME Program and is an increase of four additional events.
- Events 1 &2 are 100% NU PRIME Program funded
- Events 3 & 4 are 75% NU PRIME Program funded
- Events 5 & 6 are 50% NU PRIME Program funded

NETAAC Funding
The New England Trade Adjustment Assistance Center Inc. (NETAAC), is a government funded non-profit corporation. NETAAC offers cost shared assistance for import-injured manufacturers through a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Companies that have experienced recent declines in sales and employment, due at least in part to increasing imports of competitive products, are eligible for participation in the program, in which the federal government pays 50% of the cost of consulting services such as Leanovations designed to help the client firm improve its competitive position. (The federal government pays 75% if the firm requests $30,000 or less of assistance.)

Contact Leanovations today to see if your company qualifies for any of these funding opportunities (ADI Funding, CL&P PRIME or NETAAC). The objectives of these programs are to produce measurable and sustainable process improvements that will enhance growth opportunities for your company through world - class productivity.

Please contact Leanovations at (860) 479-0293, or e-mail us at info@leanovations.com or visit http://www.leanovations.com/ for more information.

Leanvoations is a consulting group with extensive international experience, who train and coach companies to compete worldwide with lean manufacturing techniques and to win profitable growth through innovations. We focus on developing a partnership with our clients and tailor our approach to meet their specific cultural, organizational and performance needs.

Lean and Innovations Are Basic To Profitable Growth

Lean and Innovations Are Basic to Profitable Growth – Just Look at the Boeing Model

Successful companies such as Boeing, continually reinvent themselves by focusing on solving newly identified problems, or opportunities as we suggest at Leanovations, with lean or innovative solutions. Lean and innovation not only provides companies like Boeing a competitive advantage, but also helps them meet strategic challenges such as confronting accelerating rates of overall change and globalization.

Boeing rolled out their new 787 “Dreamliner” passenger jet on July 8, 2007 - “7/8/7”, which has many analysts believing this will begin a new era in air travel. Boeing’s 787 is an example of a company focused on finding better ways to delight customers and exceed their expectations. Continually assessing and enhancing products and services that customers need today and transforming them into what customers will require in tomorrow's business challenges to quote Leanovations, is called “Transforming Tomorrow Today”.

Years ago, Boeing embraced lean manufacturing, which is about eliminating waste with the goal of creating value. Eliminating waste does not just aim at reducing costs, but is also important to improving quality, safety and responsiveness to changing market requirements. Innovation is defined as, the process that transforms ideas into commercial value. Successful innovation requires the ability to break into new business arenas that are ripe for growth. Innovation includes not only new offerings and new businesses, but also extends to new management methods and other aspects of growing a business. As an example of Boeing’s recent innovations, the 787 jet is the first large passenger jet to have more than half its structure made of composite materials instead of aluminum sheets, which is revolutionary. Because of the composite materials’ lower weight, the plane will use 20% less fuel than similar size jets. The Dreamliner will require less maintenance because it has fewer parts and will experience less corrosion. It is estimated about a 30% reduction in maintenance expenses will be realized.

Boeing also continues to use innovations to enhance their lean manufacturing processes, using composites on the 787 airframe has a number of manufacturing advantages. They are able to build large subassemblies, in such places as Italy and Japan, and ship them to the final assembly facility. This essentially means having the major subassemblies coming together in final assembly. It will now take the final assembly process 3 days, compared to a month under the old traditional process.

Lean and innovation are equally important business disciplines for sustainable growth and enduring success in today's fast-changing business world. True lean and innovation comes as the result of meshing between three critical concepts: knowledge, process, and leadership. Growth through innovations along with a lean system to eliminate waste in production does not have to be a highly complex system involving numerous processes, approaches and models. Just look at Boeing and their “787 Dreamliner”, a new passenger jet ready to usher in a new era of air travel. Analysts are saying the innovative approach and lean production process for the Boeing 787 will be the basis for all future aircrafts.

U.S. Can Compete With China Through Lean and Quality

Manufacturing Performance Institute (MPI) Study Reports U.S. Can Compete with China Through Lean and Quality

China reported on July 4th, 2007 that nearly a fifth of the food and consumer products that it checked on their own store shelves, in a nationwide survey was found to be substandard or tainted, underscoring the risk faced by its own people even as the country’s exports come under greater scrutiny here in the United States. Regulators said that the broad survey of foods, agricultural tools, clothing, women and children’s products and other types of goods turned up sizable quality and safety failure rates for products sold in China. The announcement came in the midst of a growing scandal over the quality and safety of Chinese-made exports, and follows a series of international recalls involving everything from contaminated pet foods and counterfeit toothpaste to toxic toys, defective tires and contaminated seafood.

So many U.S. companies are directly or indirectly involved in China now that the commercial interest of the United States has allowed imports to come in easily and quickly. Trading with the largely unregulated Chinese marketplace has its risks, and until recently, many companies and even the federal government felt, on average, those risks were worth taking. However, those risks are now showing up as poor quality in many products imported to the United States from China.

With high quality expectations by consumers and customers in the U.S., Leanovations believes having a strong "lean and quality" culture in our factories, provides U.S. manufacturers with an opportunity to compete with low-cost, low quality global competitors.

Recognizing that many U.S. manufacturers view China as both public enemy No. 1, and the land of opportunity, a study reported by The Manufacturing Performance Institute (MPI) compared a select group of Chinese manufacturers’ operational practices of applying lean manufacturing to that of U.S. manufacturers. In China, less than 20% of manufacturing managers surveyed stated they have adopted "lean manufacturing," which is about eliminating waste, improving quality, and being responsive to changing market requirements, as their primary operational improvement. This very low percentage by the Chinese provides an opportunity for the U.S. manufacturers, as 55% of the U.S. managers surveyed said they are using “lean manufacturing” as the driving force behind operational improvement. What concerns us at Leanovations is that 45% (almost half) of the U.S. companies are not using lean as a competitive process to compete worldwide.
Many U.S. manufacturing executives who have adopted lean believe they can compete with China’s labor-cost difference, through superior trade skills, greater teamwork, lean processes, improved quality and innovations to provide higher productivity and the ability to meet market changes faster then their counterparts.

If you are one of the 45% of U.S. manufacturers who have not started on a lean transformation for your company, we need to ask, why are you waiting? Please do not hesitate to contact Leanovations to see if we can assist you. Many of our clients today are calling us the “Transformation Teachers”.

Fred Shamburg
President, Leanovations
Contact Leanovations at:
http://www.leanovations.com/

Leanvoations is a consulting group with extensive international experience, who train and coach companies to compete worldwide with lean manufacturing techniques and to win profitable growth through innovations. We focus on developing a partnership with our clients and tailor our approach to meet their specific cultural, organizational and performance needs.

Lean Supports Breakthrough Innovations

Research shows that most CEOs, regardless of industry, consider innovation critical to success. It also shows that in the end, companies that excel at “breakthrough” innovations in products or processes outperform competitors that focus on incremental improvements. Yet over the past 15 years, the importance of innovation for both top-and bottom-line performance of many companies has decreased. The focus of most projects has shifted dramatically from breakthrough-type innovations to incremental improvements and the share of new products growth in total company sales has dropped.

U.S. companies know they must find new ways to grow the business. The challenge today for many U.S. companies is to be innovative, but at the same time, continue to apply lean to eliminate non-value wastes, so they are using their time, resources and money wisely. Companies must avoid developing products or processes that either have no market or may have too much competition to be viable. Using the Lean principles, companies can eliminate wastes in developing their innovations, listen to the voice of the customer (VOC) and create speed to the market.

Lean will remain a constant business practice, but U.S. companies must stay keenly aware that they cannot cost reduce their way to success, they must continue to re-invent themselves through product or process innovations that the market values. Companies must be serious about creating growth through innovations, and also serious about using lean methods that effectively utilize the company's resources to a maximum benefit, to significantly reduce time to market. Below are three Lean methods for identifying new innovations and exploit new business opportunities:

Step 1: Involve customers in your ideation. Form a customer idea advisory board. This will ensure the Voice of The Customer is valued.
Step 2: Involve customers in new ways. Use methods such as the Lean/Kaizen 3-P Process to understand the customer in non-traditional ways.
Step 3: Benchmark ideation techniques to determine the best ones. Teach the Lean principles of identifying the 7 Wastes to establish methods that encourage continuous improvements in ways to bring future innovation needs to market faster.

The Connecticut SBIR Office, an initiative of the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc. (CCAT), plans to award 40 idea assessment reports to the best and most innovative technology ideas that have commercialization potential, to Connecticut entrepreneurs, small high-tech businesses and innovative small manufacturers. Winners of the assessments will be announced at the June 20-21 SBIR/NALI conference, “The Future of Manufacturing is INNOVATION”.

Leanovations, LLC is a proud sponsor of the June 20-21 SBIR/NALI conference, “The Future of Manufacturing is INNOVATION” at the Pratt & Whitney Air Museum.

Leanovations is a consulting group with extensive international experience, who train and coach companies to compete worldwide with lean manufacturing techniques and to win profitable growth through innovations. We focus on developing a partnership with our clients and tailor our approach to meet their specific cultural, organizational and performance needs.

To learn more about Leanovations go to http://www.leanovations.com/

Lean Leadership Criteria

A Lean Leader is business savvy and understands how to make money and grow a business. They understand the strengths and weaknesses of their business’s activities. Lean leaders teach simple techniques to solve problems and identify opportunities, how to sort out the complexities and variables in the business to achieve results. Lean Leaders are outstanding teachers, who:

1. Challenges The Status Quo
2. Creates A Compelling Vision
3. Establishes Shared Values
4. Enables Others To Act
5. Models The Way
6. Encourages Through Praise

Lean Leaders do these six things constantly in large and small ways. Cumulatively, these actions change attitudes, responses and methodologies within the organization. Lean Leaders are visionaries. They want to transform, not merely maintain. Lean Leaders challenge status quo, and see opportunity everywhere and believe that sacred cows make the best hamburger. They revive failing companies, develop new products and revolutionize processes.

Lean Leaders have a Vision about what could be and should be, and envisions an uplifting future. They appeal to values, interests, hopes and dreams. A Lean Leaders vision is simple and they never lose an opportunity to share it. They bring it to life with metaphors, stories, symbols, slogans and examples.

Lean Leaders share values to build strong teams. Lean Leaders verbalize organizational and personal values that bind together the organization and develop a culture for change.

Lean Leaders give away power and enable others to act. The Lean Leader reduces perceived risk by focusing on success rather than failure and they rarely will second-guess. They provide necessary support and resources. Lean Leaders develop competence through teaching and training and understand that competency leads to pride and pride leads to superior performance.

Lean Leaders demonstrate their vision through action, they go out and “Just Do It”. They act as a snowplow and clear a path for others to succeed.

Lean Leaders do not assume individuals, teams or their organization knows when they have done well. Lean Leaders understand the need for encouragement through praise. Praise can be as simple as a handshake, a "Job Well Done", or to make the praise formal in a public recognition.

At Leanovations, LLC we believe developing solid Lean Leadership is the most important factor in a successful Lean transformation.

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Leanovations is a consulting group with extensive international experience, who train and coach companies to compete worldwide with lean manufacturing techniques and to win profitable growth through innovations. We focus on developing a partnership with our clients and tailor our approach to meet their specific cultural, organizational and performance needs.



To Learn more about Leanovations go to http://www.leanovations.com/

China Surpasses U.S. as Exporter

Recently I read an article on China surpassing the United States as the world’s second-largest exporter last year. As I read this article, I kept thinking about my trips to China and India and how much manufacturing growth I witnessed in both countries. I would like to share some facts on India and China as global competition continues to heat-up, such as; one in three people worldwide lives in either China, the largest communist country, or India, the largest democracy.

Export growth from China grew 27% last year, helping China finish behind only Germany in total exports. At the current growth rates, China will over take Germany as the world’s biggest exporter in 2008. China's emergence as a world economic power follows years of expansion, with growth of 9% or more the norm.

India has also seen dramatic growth, of more than 7% a year, as it is the recipient of large sums of foreign investment. India’s total export mostly manufactured goods, are rising at a 26% annual clip. The manufacturing sector in India is growing at 9.4 % annually. India is going all out to lure foreign manufacturers to its shores. Special economic zones that spearheaded China’s export-led industrialization are now spreading across India.

India’s city of Chennai developed 1,400 acres as a special economic zone and 2,000 more acres are under development. 30 manufacturers have already set up factories to take advantage of tax breaks and efficient infrastructure. Companies like Hyundai, Infosys, BMW and Madras Engineering are in the process of building factories. By 2009, this special economic zone expects to employ over 50,000 people. Chennai because of its growing reputation as a manufacturing hub, is being referred to as the Detroit of India.

General Motors recently announced plans to ramp up production and sales in India, one of the world's fastest-growing auto markets, the company introduced the Chevy Spark - a mini car - to Indian customers. General Motors Corp. is also scaling up procurement of low-cost auto components from India to lower costs at its plants in other parts of the world.

India wants to imitate China's low-cost manufacturing success. Manufacturing is proving to be the next big growth industry for India. I have personally witness this growth first hand in both China and India and know U.S. manufacturing companies must continue to pursue Lean Manufacturing to compete.

Fred Shamburg
President, Leanovations
Contact Leanovations at:
www.leanovations.com

Leanvoations is a consulting group with extensive international experience, who train and coach companies to compete worldwide with lean manufacturing techniques and to win profitable growth through innovations. We focus on developing a partnership with our clients and tailor our approach to meet their specific cultural, organizational and performance needs.