leangurus.com Blog

Demo for Colleges and Universities

2010-05-15T22:18:36Z

On May 24th at 12:00 noon central time, I will be hosting another web demo for colleges and universities. I will be demonstrating Proplanner’s IE tools: Flow Planner, Workplace Planner, and Pro Balance. Please send an e-mail to aaron@proplanner.com to get the web link and conference call number so you can join.

UCF Facility Layout Class – Feb 9th

2009-11-21T04:45:27Z

On Tuesday, February 9th I will be doing a Proplanner demo for Prof. William Thompson’s facility layout design lab. I will be showing his IE students how the Workplace Planner calculates non value added tasks on a layout. I will also show how FLow Planner diagrams material handling flows on an AutoCAD layout. Both types of spaghetti diagrams help determine how to create a layout that facilitates better material flow and reduces waste. I unfortunately do not get to be at the University of Central Florida in Orlando on Monday, so I will be doing the demo over the web.

Process Planning at Cessna Aircraft

2009-02-05T03:59:34Z

I spoke with Doug Karlin at Cessna Aircraft recently. He visited the lean gurus site, and sent me an e-mail. Doug is working on a large project where they will be building a new aircraft. I had the opportunity to work with Doug when he used Proplanner at Case New Holland in Wichita. I told Doug to stay in contact, and perhaps he can share more specifics on his how he designed the new layout and production process.

Master Black Belt Certification:

2008-11-29T18:08:07Z

I received an e-mail from Sharon de Courla-Souza, who is the head of Process Excellence, the Americas, for Tomson Reuters. She is on a quest to standardize master black belt (MBB) certification for her organization. She is proposing the following criteria, and would like members of the Financial Services Business Transformation roundtable to provide her with feedback on her criteria:

Projects Completed: 5
Projects Coached to Completion: 50
Classroom Training Received: 20 days BB + 20 days MBB
Classroom Training Delivered: 5 days
Written Exam: yes
Panel Interview: yes
Black Belt Experience: Minimum 2 years

If you would like to respond, please send an e-mail to me or to sharon.decorla-souza @ thomson reuters.com.

Lean in Government Article

2008-11-28T22:18:29Z

Teresa McMahon who is the director of the State of Iowa Deparment of Management’s lean initiative sent me this link to her article that is located on LEI’s website: Lean Thinking In Government: State of Iowa . Theresa has spearheaded the Lean Government Collaborative which was formed with Six private companies that include members from Wells Fargo, Rockwell Collins, EDS, Pella Corp., John Deere, and the State of Iowa. If you are interested in joining her collaboration and have business operations in Iowa, please contact me or Teresa for more information on how to join her group.

Demo for Universities – Nov 20th

2008-11-14T16:59:18Z

I will be hosting another demo of Proplanner’s Flow Planner, Workplace Planner, and ProBalance software programs on Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 1pm CT. Once again, Many engineering colleges use these programs in their lean, process improvement courses. Professors, teaching assistants and students are invited to attend. Please visit our “See a Demo” page for more information:
“See a Demo” of Proplanner’s IE Software.

Proplanner Demo – Oct 23, 2008

2008-10-15T20:20:31Z

I will be hosting a demo of Proplanner’s Flow Planner, Workplace Planner, and ProBalance software programs on Thursday, October 23rd. Many engineering colleges use these programs in their lean, process improvement courses. Professors, teaching assistants and students are invited to attend. Please visit our “See a Demo” page for more information:
Leangurus “See a Demo”

Financial Services Lean Roundtable

2008-07-06T21:11:13Z

At the WCBF Six Sigma conference in Chicago I met Karim Houry who is the VP, Business Reengineering and Quality at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation in New York, NY. Karim sponsors a quarterly lean meeting called the “Financial Services Business Transformation Roundtable.” Attendees meet in person, but remote members can attend via a conference call and webinar. I have been invited to attend his upcoming meeting on July 10th at 9am EST in New York City and through the rest of the year. There are lean mgmt professionals representing the largest financial services companies in the United States including Wells Fargo, Citi, HSBC, Bank of NY Mellon, Edward Jones, Vanguard, Textron Financial, UBS, Bank of America, and many others. The meeting facilitator for the July 10th, 2008 meeting is Habs Moy, lean master blackbelt with the DTCC. If you are interested in attending please contact me and I will forward your information to Habs. Habs will then provide to you the web conference link and the phone number to dial in on. The Agenda for the meeting is:

IBM on BPO trends and procurement outsourcing
Tools and Methodologies (Morgan Stanley, DTCC, Merrill Lynch)
Preview BMGI Lean survey results
Plans for Q4 Meeting and 2009

I have spoken with Habs Moy, and I may be presenting at their Q4 meeting. I will post the meeting time and agenda for the Q4 when the details have been confirmed.

Process Improvement Help

2008-05-04T17:32:27Z

I have put together an outline of topics that are included in my continous process improvement course.
To view or download the outline click on the link below:
Course Syllabus (25k Word Document)

This course is designed to be completed in four 1 1/2 hour segments in a classroom or over the web. I also have a deep dive 3 day course that covers an introduction of continuous process improvement. Please contact me for more specifics.

Six Sigma Presentation

2008-05-04T17:14:20Z

I had a great time presenting at WCBF’s Lean and Six Sigma Summit last week in Chicago. The presentation highlights a project we completed to improve a document sourcing and fulfillment process. If you want to view or download my presentation, please click the link below:

Lean Fulfillment at Financial Company (4.5 MB PPT File)