Dr. Richard Kunkle Presents at Lean Education Academic Network

The 6^th annual Lean Education Academic Network in association with MIT and the University of Alabama in Huntsville was held in Huntsville, AL from 29 Sep-1 Oct, 2011.  Dr. Richard F. Kunkle delivered two presentations and was selected to a panel of colleagues to discuss Integration of Lean across Curricula.  Organizations including MIT, Univ. of Alabama-Huntsville, Ohio State University, University of Michigan, Auburn University, University of Kentucky, Old Dominion University, Loyola Marymount, University of Southern California and many others including participants from China and Mexico were in attendance.

Dr. Kunkle delivered a presentation entitled, “Teaching Cultural Change at the Graduate and Undergraduate Level.”  The presentation described the pedagogy involved in teaching students how and why to lead cultural change in an organization to develop a culture of Mutual Trust and Respect between leaders and front line employees.  This class has been very successful with doubling of class enrollment over the last year.

Dr. Kunkle also presented a program on the, “Success of the Cultural Change First Model in Healthcare.”  This presentation described the implementation of the cultural change first model in a Cardiovascular Surgery Value Stream.  Both the techniques and the outcomes were elucidated which resulted in this “Greenfield Initiative” being selected as one of the top fifty Cardiovascular Surgery groups in the nation within 2 years after initiating the program and consistently performing well above the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ Database means.

The Panel Discussion on which Dr. Kunkle participated was entitled, “Integration of Lean across Curricula.”  Dr. Kunkle was joined on the panel by members from Ohio State University and University of Alabama at Huntsville.  Dr. Kunkle shared the integration of Operational Excellence content that we have been able to achieve at Saint Vincent through the dedicated and enthusiastic support of fellow Saint Vincent faculty including Mark Abramovic, Jeff Goodwin, Bill Hisker, Tom Cline and Bob Markley as well as others.  We have integrated Operational Excellence into our MIS courses, Finance and Accounting, Marketing and Strategic Management.  We continue to expand our integration to proposed courses including, Advanced Statistical Process Control, and Advanced Quantitative OE and Simulation.

Dr. Kunkle has been elected to the Planning Committee of Lean Education Academic Network for next year.  Our next meeting will be held in Norfolk, VA at Old Dominion University in Sep 2012.

For more information about Dr. Kunkle’s participation in the conference or either the graduate or undergraduate academic programs, please give KCOE a call at 724.805.2142 or by email.

The OE System| Infrastructure Strategy

Click to Register (Details at bottom)

After your organization has shifted from the current culture to a culture of Operational Excellence – it’s time to begin planning for the Implementation Phase.  The Implementation Phase of the Operational Excellence System includes lean tools such as one-piece flow, kanbans, andons, and standard work.  Now that your organization understands the surface of operational components such as kanban and andon, as well as human components such as team work and problem solving – you should begin to plan your strategy for organizational structure and infrastructure.

The two Operational Excellence System components that pull an organization from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of Operational Excellence include Infrastructure Strategy and Organizational Strategy.

About Infrastructure Strategy

The objectives of infrastructure strategy include being a world-class organization, supporting and meeting operational objectives, and meeting the planned business case.  This is done by meeting or exceeding the balanced scorecard objectives, achieving a culture of mutual trust and respect, and being recognized by all customers as a benchmark.  Infrastructure strategy is supported by earlier OE components in that there should be process stability, manpower stability, increased productivity, one piece flow, and a continuous improvement culture.

When planning the infrastructure strategy there are a few business considerations.  Developing an infrastructure strategy should help your organization reduce space utilization, turn inventory more frequently, solidify material flows, and increase asset utilization.  It is required that an organization must have a business strategy that supports long-term objectives by having a clear understanding of the core business, business closely related to the core, non-core business, and customer required non-core business.

About the Deep Learning Forum on Infrastructure Strategy

During this Deep Learning Forum attendees will learn key components of infrastructure strategy, including master plans that must be developed, considerations before, during, and after infrastructure strategy, and how your company can begin developing your infrastructure strategy.

DATE: November 16, 2011
TIME: 8:00AM – 12:00PM
LOCATION: Fred M. Rogers Center, Saint Vincent College
TOPIC: ”Infrastructure Strategy”
COST: FREE to Institute Members & $50 to non-Institute Members

Click to Register

Infrastructure Strategy

On Tuesday October 18, KCOE held its 8th annual North American Operational Excellence Summit at Saint Vincent College.

The topic of this year’s conference was “The Spark: Igniting an Excellent Culture.”

The Summit began with its traditional Pre-Summit Dinner which was held the evening before and featured Eric Kulikowski of Philips Respironics. Tuesday’s keynote presentations featured Scott Becker, the CEO of Conemaugh Health System and Dany Paradis, the VP of Change Management and Supply Chain at Fibrek.

Breakout speakers at the Summit included Brian Wilmoth and Dewey Ice of Fibrek’s Fairmont division, David Marshall the Lean Development Manager at Signature Healthcare, Peggy Hayden, and KCOE’s own Rodger Lewis.

Photos from the Summit

Video from the Summit

Photos from the Pre-Summit Dinner

Community Leadership Award

The Saint Vincent College Center for Operational Excellence Community Leadership Award recognizes an individual whose leadership has made a significant impact in his / her community.

The mission of KCOE is engaging organizations to help them achieve world-class performance. Our core values are:

1. People matter, a lot (mutual trust and respect, all around)

2. Make it better than you found it (constant improvement is part of my job).

Boniface Wimmer

To whom is the Community Leadership Award awarded?

The award is for an individual who exudes mutual trust and respect and who believes that “continuous improvement is not only a part of my job, but a part of my life.” This individual is leading his or her organization not only to a profitable bottom line, but to profit the community, serve the community, and make the community a better place to live and work.

Why the Community Leadership Award?

Our vision is to start and sustain a movement that causes every person in every organization to feel like world champions.

The Community Leadership Award showcases individual excellence in leadership as demonstrated by outstanding initiative, impact of work, and inspiration of others. With each award, KCOE, through the Institute for Operational Excellence, publicly affirms present achievements, seeks to encourage further work, and hopes to motivate others to follow their lead by empowering individuals to be a community of world champions.

When will the first Community Leadership Award be given?

The Community Leadership Award will be granted at KCOE’s North American Operational Excellence Summit Dinner on October 17, 2011.  The Summit Dinner is an Institute-only event where great minds and great steering committees who are implementing operational excellence system will convene prior to the North American Operational Excellence Summit to take place on October, 18, 2011.

At Fibrek’s Fairmont Recycling Paper Mill there are times when 50+ trucks a day of recycled paper are coming into the facility and times when just as many are leaving with finished products. This number doesn’t include all the contractors, vendors, and other deliveries in and out of this facility on a 3 mile stretch of road.  Unfortunately, not everyone takes pride and appreciates what mother nature has given us; but here at Fairmont, the employees are trying to improve our environmental foot print, make a difference out in the community and be good neighbors. We had about 11 employees, made up of the majority of the management team at Fairmont, go out on a busy Wednesday afternoon and pick up enough trash and other debris to fill about 30 bags of garbage. Moving forward, we will be doing this three times a year and hoping the participation will increase.

OE Suggestion System Monthly Winners

OE Suggestion System Monthly Winner

More information on the OE Suggestion System

Dany Paradis

As Vice President, Change Management and Supply Chain, Mr. Paradis has corporate responsibility for supply chain, human resources, information technology, communications and public affairs, as well as for the implementation of Fibrek’s operational excellence program. Mr. Paradis has held senior positions in human resources for over ten years, including that of Vice President, Human Resources at Domtar, and Vice President, Human Resources and Continuous Improvement at Reebok/CCM (a subsidiary of Adidas). He has also been involved in internal communications, corporate development and public relations for other industry sectors. A dedicated member of his community, Mr. Paradis sits on the Board of the HMR (Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital) foundation.

Be sure to check out our video above where David Adams, Executive Director of KCOE, introduces Mr. Dany Paradis and his relation to this year’s theme.

Details about the 2011 North American Operational Excellence Summit can be found below. If you would like to see a video from last year’s Summit, click here. If you would like to register for this event now, please click here.

• Date: Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
• Time: 8:30am – 3:00pm
• Location: Fred M. Roger’s Center, Saint Vincent College
• Topic: “The Spark: Igniting an Excellent Culture”
• Cost: $199

As in previous years, this year’s Summit will conclude with a discussion forum in which there will be a panel of speakers to address the personalized questions of audience members. This forum will give attendees the opportunity to ask any questions they might have regarding the theme of the Summit, The Spark: Igniting an Excellent Culture.

This year’s discussion panel will include four speakers. The panel members include Scott Becker, CEO of Conemaugh Health System; Dany Paradis, Vice President, Change Management and Supply Chain of Fibrek; Rodger B. Lewis, Executive in Residence of the Saint Vincent McKenna School of Business; and David Adams, Executive Director of KCOE. With the diversity in industry background, this year’s panel promises to bring a wide variety of perspective and experience regarding Operational Excellence and the challenge of cultural change.

Attendees will have several ways to submit questions to the panel prior to the beginning of the forum. If you so wish, you can call KCOE’s office at 724.805.2142 or email us at contact@engagingkcoe.com to submit a question. Additionally, all attendees will have the opportunity the day of the Summit to submit questions they would like to be addressed by the panel. Over the years, we have consistently found the discussion forum to be a great chance for intense learning and meaningful conversation. We hope to see you there and encourage you to brainstorm questions for the discussion panel!

Be sure to check out our video above where David Adams, Executive Director of KCOE, describes the forum discussion with focus on the common “And OE” question.

Details about the 2011 North American Operational Excellence Summit can be found below. If you would like to see a video from last year’s Summit, click here. If you would like to register for this event now, please click here.

• Date: Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
• Time: 8:30am – 3:00pm
• Location: Fred M. Roger’s Center, Saint Vincent College
• Topic: The Spark: Igniting an Excellent Culture
• Cost: $199

The theme of this year’s North American Operational Excellence Summit is entitled The Spark: Igniting an Excellent Culture.

As leaders, it is our responsibility to develop the vision of our organization and create a strategic plan to arrive at that vision. The future and sustainable growth of an organization depends on the ability to see the long-term and guide employees thusly. When discussing the implementation of Operational Excellence and the theories of continuous improvement within an organization, the topic of culture change inescapably surfaces every time. In order to successfully implement the Operational Excellence system, the first obstacle to overcome is transforming the current organizational culture into that of one which engages and embraces continuous improvement with mutual trust and respect at the very center. Although having an engaged culture sounds like a great idea, an organization does not arrive at that state overnight; the journey of culture change is a long and grueling one. We can run our minds and exhaust every idea as to how to change culture, but oftentimes we ignore one crucial step: the very first one. Inspiring and igniting that change in culture is the imperative preliminary step many organizations struggle with. This year’s Summit seeks to address that very issue – how to take that first step in initiating culture change to achieve your organization’s long-term vision of world-class status.

At the Summit on October 18^th, we will discuss this issue from several different angles. First, we will address the initial change from the leadership perspective. Second, we will introduce a framework to exercise within an organization in order to create and sustain the change. And third, we will discuss some of the pitfalls that organizations experience when igniting culture change and how they can be prevented or overcome. We will explore the theme through these different lenses by way of our panel of speakers and a discussion forum in which attendees will be able to address the speakers directly with questions.

Be sure to check out our video above where David Adams, Executive Director of KCOE, describes more behind the reasoning for this year’s theme.

Details about the 2011 North American Operational Excellence Summit can be found below. If you would like to see a video from last year’s Summit, click here. If you would like to register for this event now, please click here.

• Date: Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
• Time: 8:30am – 3:00pm
• Location: Fred M. Roger’s Center, Saint Vincent College
• Topic: “The Spark: Igniting an Excellent Culture”
• Cost: $199

OE Suggestion System Example

I had a great day today in regards to the “OE Suggestion System” and have seen many great suggestion system examples.  First off, some of our clients are calling the OE Suggestion System the “Solution System” or the “Improvement System.”  I started my day off by driving a few hours to a client who was selecting their top monthly departmental winners for their “Improvement System.”  Starting in June, we piloted the improvement system for about 2 months in one area of the company, and, after the pilot, we expanded to the rest of the company.  The plan is to run the pilot mill-wide until January 2012, followed by “going live” throughout the mill.

Overall, in the month of August – they had over 300 improvements – all self-implemented with minimal cost and simple tools.  This morning, connecting at multiple daily meetings, the Director of Continuous Improvement and I brought to each departmental daily meeting the improvements that were implemented in their department.  By 9:30am each team had selected the top improvement that best represents their department, and the company as a whole.

After having a short break, I noticed another client who is also implementing the OE Suggestion system, had just in fact copied me in an email regarding their implementation of the “Solution System.”  This client (whose email is shown below) has been implementing the Solution System for almost a year.  Over the course of the past few months, there has been some turnover in the management team (i.e. steering committee), and there was a need to reinvigorate the solution system.

Chief Operating Officer to the President

Subject: The OE Suggestion System Example

Dear [President],

Here is a little story to share with you concerning the Solution System. 

 Earlier this week, the management staff was challenged to provide one solution each and then go out and recruit another individual from the company that has not provided a solution yet.  The managers were asked to take their time and explain how the solution system works and encourage the employee to offer a solution, while not provide them with a solution.  Well, Goose was my target.  [Goose is a part-time janitor who was been with the company since 2006.]

First off, Goose was surprised that he was even being asked to implement a solution!  When I first approached him, his first solution, as you can imagine, was to get a new sweeper.  I then coached him back to the Solution System policy as to the reasons why that didn’t fit the criteria of the solution system.  Then he suggested “hand dryers” to eliminate all of the paper waste.  Once again, this was an interesting idea but not a good solution, given the definition in the policy, and he was provided with the reasons.  Then, he was asked to look around as he sweeps the floor and empties the garbage over the next week to see if he notices anything from a safety standpoint that he could improve.  He apparently took this to heart.  By the end of the morning, he had met with Albert [his supervisor] and filled out a solution form. 

His solution, as it relates to safety, was to address the fact that people are sometimes standing in the hallway when he travels through with his sweeper and he is unsure if they are going to turn around and walk right into him.  In most cases, they are just not aware that he is there.  He felt this could be a safety concern because there might be an undesirable meeting between his sweeper and an individual.  So, to deal with his safety concern, he went over to the hardware store and purchased a bike horn for his sweeper with his own money ($2.89/ea).  He then borrowed a screwdriver from maintenance and assembled the horn by himself onto the sweeper!  Yes, we will be reimbursing him!

 Now, I’m sure your first though might be “this is really funny” and the employees may take this as a joke.  Many people here are amused by the situation, but we truly believe they are laughing with him, and not at him.  This solution is a perfect example of how the solution system should work.  This has a positive impact, it was implemented and tested by the submitter, it aligned with the balanced scorecard (safety), it required minimal cost and simple tools and was in the submitter’s area of responsibility.    

So, if you see Goose today (and you can keep a straight face when he blows his new horn), please thank him for the solution!     

OE Suggestion System Example

Learnings from the OE Suggestion System Example

To quote the second to last sentence (and most of the Suggestion / Improvement / Solution System policies we implement at hospitals and manufacturing facilities): “This has a positive impact, it was implemented and tested by the submitter, it aligned with the balanced scorecard (safety), it required minimal cost and simple tools and was in the submitter’s area of responsibility.”   Also note how the solution was coached – the solution was encouraged from stage 1, and never declined, denied, etc.  The COO took the approach of “how can I help Goose implement a solution that fits the criteria.”  Thanks for the awesome OE Suggestion System Example, Goose!