Butt Ugly by Friday: How the Kaizen Ninja Makes Improvements Stick with Adam Lawrence

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Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Allied Advisors Podcast, the podcast for mid-market manufacturers looking to scale operations and improve that ever important bottom ladder.
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My guest today is Mr.
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Adam Lawrence, founder of Process Improvement Partners and the guy the manufacturing world knows as the Kaizen Ninja.
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Adam's an industrial engineer who spent the better part of three decades inside Armstrong World Industries, starting on the floor at Thomasville Furniture and working his way across multiple continents to become global lean champion for the Building Products Technology Group.
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In 2018, he struck out on his own, and since then he's facilitated more than 400 Kaizan events around the world, driving over half a billion dollars in business impact.
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His events average about$1.2 million in annual savings apiece, and he does it in a week or less.
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He's the author of The Wheel of Sustainability, a framework he built after watching too many good improvements quietly die once the consultants went home.
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And his work has been featured in Industry Week, Aerospace America, and Artisan Spirit.
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He operates out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and his core belief is a simple one.
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The real solutions to business problems don't come from conference rooms.
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They come from the people doing the work.
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Adam, welcome to the show.
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Thanks so much for coming on.
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Justin, I really appreciate the offer, the opportunity, and the wonderful introduction.
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No, like the pleasure's all mine.
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Really appreciate you anytime I get somebody on here that that shares my passion for continuous improvement and my belief, like like you, that you got to go on the shop floor.
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You got to break the chain to the desk and actually go out to where the work is done.
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So you know, you and I had a had a little pre-meeting where we discussed a little bit about our philosophy and our approach to continuous improvement.
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And you know, maybe before we get too deep down the rabbit hole, maybe if you don't mind, take a minute and and tell the folks listening, you know, how you approach your kaizen events, you know, what your kaizen events entail, how you lead them, and then how do you make sure that the improvements you identify during the event are sustained long term?
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Well, great question, of course.
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And we could do an hour on just this one question.
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So feel free to jump in anytime you want.
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Yeah.
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So what I've learned is do what you love and you never work a day in your life.
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That's been said many, many times.
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So what I realized during my almost 30-year career with Armstrong was working with the people, doing the work was my was my joy, right?
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Helping them resolve their key issues was where I really felt like I was providing the most value.
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So when I struck out on my own, uh, I decided to say, I'm just going to focus on helping manufacturing leaders solve their toughest manufacturing problem in a week or less in a sustainable way.
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So Kaisen event is kind of where I landed.
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Uh, I love facilitating them.
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I love the adventure of them, and I love getting people to create improvements that they never suspected were possible.
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Hey, we've been working on this 20 years.
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No one's figured it out yet.
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Uh, we're gonna do this in a week.
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We always do, we figure out something.
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And and like you said, the key is understanding the problem from the perspective of those doing the work.
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So the core of my team is always, will always be the people that do the work.
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And the way we sustain it is we put a framework that I've called the wheel of sustainability around the changes that we make.
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And I prepare leadership well in advance so that they understand what their role is before, during, and after the event.
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So I hope that explains it.
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Either that or I went down my own rabbit hole.
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No, that's great.
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Um, you know, one of the things that I really liked, you know, during our free meeting discussion was the focus on being out on the shop floor, right?
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Like the whole week, as I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong, is essentially spent on the shop floor at the place where the work happens, making rapid improvements, brainstorming in real time, and and making it, you know, right here, right in front of us.
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Let's do it, let's make the changes and let's see what works and and and what doesn't, and then we'll adjust.
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And and you're right.
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So the first thing we have to do, obviously, is level set the team.
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So a lot of times I get people that have never been involved in Kaizen, they really don't know what to expect.
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They think they're just gonna be sitting in a classroom the whole time.
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So that typically takes two to two and a half hours, but then we're gonna go assess the current state, we're gonna go on that gamble walk out in their space, and we're gonna let the people that do the work be our be our guides.
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This is why this sucks.
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This is where I have difficulty.
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Why is it so hard to do this?
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It takes too long.
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So we're getting, we're understanding their pain points, right?
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And then what I want to do is I want to make it so easy for people to participate that they're not afraid of continuous improvement.
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So we we don't use a lot of technical terms.
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Uh there are two Japanese terms I use, and that's it, kaizen, because it's kind of different.
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So people should understand this is a different thing we're doing.
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And gemba, meaning let's just go out and see the work as it happens, go to where the work is done.
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So those are the two words.
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The rest of it, we just make it as simple as possible.
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People are taking notes with post-its and sharpie pens.
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Anyone can write their ideas on their own post-it.
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No one's afraid of it.
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Then when we assess, okay, we're back in the classroom a little bit to understand what did we see?
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Why does it suck?
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You know, all those technical terms for your process is not so good.
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And then we're going to go out and after prioritizing the improvements we want to try, we're going to set out to experiment, right?
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We're actually going to apply our ideas to the work as it exists and learn and fail and learn some more and try something else.
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And so I use a term I call butt ugly by Friday.
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And the reason why I use a term like that is it's first of all, sounds a little silly.
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But the second thing is don't wait for perfection.
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Try something, see what you learn.
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Don't make it pretty.
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We don't have time for that.
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We what we want is many rapid learning cycles during the week so that by the end of the week, they have something that they can live with, that they feel like, oh, this is safer, this is easier, this is less stressful.
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I want to do this.
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I don't ever want to go back to the old way of working again.
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So they promote it that way to their leadership.
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Leadership participates the whole week by supporting, by approving, by just being there to see their team doing amazing things.
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By the end of the week, we have something that gets implemented.
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Uh, it may not be perfect, but it is better.
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And now the team feels like, hey, we own this.
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Don't make us ever go back to the old way of working.
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Yeah.
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I mean, I love the the focus on doing, right?
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I I think too many teams, too many companies, they fall into this analysis, paralysis where they what if themselves to death, right?
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Well, if we did that, what if you know a tree falls in China?
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And you know, how how is that going to impact us?
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Just try it, right?
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I mean, yeah, stop letting perfect be the enemy of better.
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Yeah.
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So those that know me know I'm quite the storyteller, so I can't help myself.
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So let me give you a story to illustrate that very issue.
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We were doing a value stream mapping for one of my first clients when I went out on my own.
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And I noticed in the room they were looking at a growth strategy.
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We want to put a new line in.
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So the plant manager is with one of the hourly operators and a maintenance mechanic.
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They were on their own team and they were thinking about part of a process.
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And they're looking at an AutoCAD drawing in a room and they're talking about where the post is.
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Where's the post?
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Well, here it is on the drawing, but no one could get their sense for where that really was.
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So I watched this play out for a couple minutes.
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I said, Hey, you know, the best way to find out where the post is is go out and see it.
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And I got that look that we all get.
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Plant manager gave me the look, and but he respectfully said, Okay, we're gonna go out to Gemba.
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What I didn't know was my the person that brought me in who worked for Plant Manager came in and he said, What did you do to Matt?
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I said, What?
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I made him go to Gemba.
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He goes, Yeah, Matt came into my office and said, That dang Adam made me go to Gemba.
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And also, and my sponsor said, Well, good, you probably needed to.
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And then when they came back, what I noticed was they didn't acknowledge that going to Gemma was a good idea right away, by the way.
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That's okay.
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I don't I don't need that acknowledgement.
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But what they did do, you could tell the conversation was a lot more focused, deeper, and more meaningful than where do you think the post is?
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What they found out was the post would have been in the way of their concept.
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I found that out a few hours or maybe days later.
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I don't care about that.
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What I wanted to get leadership to understand is go see.
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It'll cut the time by a factor of 10.
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And it also shows that you're listening to your people and you're taking their thoughts seriously.
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I love that.
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I, you know, I can't tell you how many times I've sat in conference rooms and listened to people debate something just as trivial as you just mentioned for an hour and me staying the whole time.
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Let's just go look at it.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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We we don't have time for that.
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Let's I'm like loose, loose, right?
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I you know, it just drives me off a wall.
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Like, guys, the work is done on the shop floor.
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We're not you can't level set on something removed from the thing.
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Like, let's go there, actually look at it, and then we can all be singing off the same sheet of music, right?
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We can all talk about the same thing, but right now we're debating, like like in your example, where the post is, right?
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That's not something we should debate.
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Just go look, and now we know where the post is, and then and then we can have the meaningful discussion on the actual problem.
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So yeah, I I love that.
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And I love that you got the plant manager out there because that that's another thing.
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I feel like at some point, you know, in our journey up the corporate ladder, sometimes we get into this position where we think, well, good for me.
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I'll never have to go back out on the shop floor again, right?
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That's for the the minions to do that.
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But but no, if you're gonna lead, if you're gonna make more you know meaningful changes, if you're actually gonna improve the organization, you gotta be able to all levels of the organization have to spend meaningful time on the shop floor.
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That's that's my humble but accurate opinion.
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Well, I I think we all the true leaders, the great leaders, understand that we're continually learning and we have to be open to it.
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And sometimes it doesn't feel like something we want to do right then and there.
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But what I what I really respected about this plant manager was that he knew what I was trying to do.
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He may not have liked my approach.
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Right.
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And I will be honest with your listeners and with you, I am an acquired taste, right?
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So I am not the most subtle nor patient person.
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But I will say comparatively, I have been pushed out to Gemba in less than a minute.
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I call my Gemba tolerance about five minutes.
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So let them argue for a little while, right?
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Make sure you're paying attention.
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And sometimes I say, shouldn't we go to Gemba?
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And maybe I'm not really listening properly to the thing, but when they defend it, right, then I can listen to the defense of it.
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Well, we know where the post is, and I'm not so sure.
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Let's go.
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And sometimes if they won't go by themselves, I'll go with them.
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Hey, let's go see it.
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I'm really curious.
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Let me see it.
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And then I I have said early on in these sessions, you know, Gemba, going to Gemba, that's a that's a couple slides early on to say to truly understand the situation.
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Go see is so much better than talk about it.
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And then and then we demonstrate it very quickly through the go to Gemba portion of the see understanding the current state.
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So even with IT groups, and I've done this before, you know, where it's not a physical Gamba, virtual Gamba tells us similar things.
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We can see waste if you if you really know how to look for waste, and we can we can do that.
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Uh you can see it in business process, in virtual process, sometimes even easier than the physical process.
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Yeah, for sure.
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I mean, I do an event on a value stream design and administrative areas.
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So right, going to gimbal when you're doing an administrative workflow is is a little difficult, but still, during the course of the conversation, you you always get as a well, wait a minute, you do that?
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Well, I'm doing the same thing, or I'm doing that except maybe a slightly different flavor.
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So, yeah, I do think it's a little bit easier to kind of get at the root cause of administrative issues compared to shop floor issues.
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Because shop floor, there's a lot of parameters and a lot of things that can cover up or hide problems that you gotta really know what you're looking for, really be willing to dig into it.
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But you said something a minute ago that I want to go back to.
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You talked about real leaders know that they're continuously learning.
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And and I think that's something that a lot of people miss in terms of why lean manufacturing is so important or what the goal of it is.
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You know, some people think the goal of of a lean transformation is having lean tools in place, 5S, plan for every part, or whatever.
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That's not really it.
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I mean, as I understand it, and maybe you can tell me if you disagree, but the goal of a lean transformation is to create a company or an organization that is always learning, right?
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Then is rapidly experimenting, learning from its mistakes, and then constantly implementing changes to get better.
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I don't think most people realize that.
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Yeah, you know, I think what may have fooled people early was we're chasing perfection, right?
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Yeah.
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So by saying perfection, that appeals to engineers and and and managers that aren't really into it.
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But what we realize is why are we going, why do we keep calling it continuous improvement?
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It's because we got better, but we still could get better, and we still could get better, or we could still could get better.
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Well, you can't get better if you aren't willing to learn how to get better, right?
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So I I said real leaders, but what I really meant to say was great leaders, okay?
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Because you know, there are a lot of leaders out there and they are real.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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I think you know it's probably uh I said first.
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I said it first.
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Uh so that's on me.
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Like I said, I'm an acquired taste.
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Uh but but but what's nice about it is when leaders are have the humility to show they're willing to learn, then what happens is their workforce is more willing to expose problems that they've been dealing with forever.
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And I have many examples of that.
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I'm sure you do too.
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Uh, but yeah.
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Well, I think you gotta be willing to learn because we don't work in static environments, right?
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What works today may not work a week from now because things change, we get different batches in, machines wear out, tooling wears, people change over, right?
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You've got to be willing to learn, you've got to be willing to change because you're in an environment that's always changing.
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And if you don't change with it, you know, performance is gonna fall, and and so are your business results.
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Right.
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So that's that's what do they call that?
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The law of entropy, right?
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So if you just make an assumption that everything's gonna stay the same, you're making a terrible assumption, terrible, yeah.
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Yeah, chaos always increases over the course of time without additional energy, and that's a fact in every system for sure.
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So right, you know, one of the things that we talked about in the in the pre-meeting that that I maybe I'm telling on myself here, but I've struggled with is getting people to buy into these continuous improvement projects over the long term, making getting leadership bought in.
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And you know, I I think you've got a you wrote a whole book about about how to do that.
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So what's your experience and how do you how do you get leaders to buy in and keep the momentum after you're gone?
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Right.
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So you're right.
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I experienced a lot of loss of improvement over many years, and I wanted to resolve why why is that and how do we stop that?
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So the book I wrote was a labor of love during COVID.
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It's called The Wheel of Sustainability.
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So it was nine elements that I found out work together to help teams sustain improvement.
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So, first question you have to ask yourself is if you just made something safer, easier, and simpler, so you produce more without hurting as many people, why would you ever want to go back?
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Right?
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So, so you work under that premise, no one wants to go home hurt, no one wants to disappoint a customer, no one wants to work harder than they have to, right?
00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:20.880
Then, okay, so that start with that foundation.
00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:25.599
So now what we need to do is we need to build a framework that makes that possible, right?
00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:33.440
So very simply, because in for time's sake, the wheel has these nine elements.
00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:35.440
The first piece is called leadership commitment.
00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:41.039
So the idea first is that leaders truly understand their role in change, right?
00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:52.079
So the way I do it with leaders is we charter any improvement effort so that they understand what's the problem we're trying to solve and why is it so important and why would I want to keep it solved, right?
00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:55.359
Because if they don't know that, don't put a team together.
00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:58.480
And remember, I'm working with Kaisen events, but this applies anywhere.
00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:05.039
This applies to projects, this applies to just do-it type stuff, capital deployment, whatever you want to call it.
00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:11.920
But okay, once we get that resolved, now we're saying, okay, we've got a charter that the team is going to action on.
00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:15.759
It's basically blanket approval for whatever they want to do.
00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:16.559
Right?
00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:19.119
So that's a pretty important distinction.
00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:22.400
Charter doesn't mean tell them what to do.
00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:26.240
Charter means go at it, see what you can do with this.
00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:27.200
Okay, great.
00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:32.240
So teams make a change, but why did you make the change and how does it help me?
00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:34.240
You need to be able to understand that.
00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:41.599
So, for example, two weeks ago, I was helping a large company create a better preventive maintenance process.
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:42.319
Okay.
00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:47.920
So what they did was they created an area, go figure, to do preventive maintenance.
00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:48.400
Okay.
00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:49.920
So why did you do that?
00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:51.519
Because it's simpler, safer.
00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:52.799
I can find my stuff.
00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:53.920
Okay, good.
00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:58.160
Now that you can describe that, knowing why, that's what I call notification.
00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:01.680
So you need to understand the why of what you did, not the what.
00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:03.759
I can see it looks like a different workstation.
00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:04.400
Who cares?
00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:04.799
Okay.
00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.960
The second piece is the people doing the work need to understand how to do it to standard.
00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:10.559
What is the new standard?
00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:12.319
So I call that training and review.
00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:16.880
So the idea is you and I one-on-one, I will demonstrate it to you.
00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:18.799
I will ask you for questions.
00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:20.559
You will not ask any questions.
00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:22.640
Then I will ask you to demonstrate it to me.
00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:25.200
And oh, by the way, now you have questions.
00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:27.920
Fine, not shocking.
00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:29.039
Okay, good.
00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:30.799
But it's respectfully done.
00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:35.839
The same message of why we did it resonates all the way around the wheel.
00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:42.960
And I show respect for you by working with you to help you understand it so you can do it safely, simply to standard.
00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:43.599
Okay.
00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:45.839
The next piece is called visible evidence.
00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:50.799
So what I want to be able to do is 30 feet away, tell whether you're working the standard or not.
00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:57.839
So this is why we outline things, this is why we label things, this is why we have and-on lights, this is why we have flags, whatever you want to do.
00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:01.119
But what I want to know is, is Sally at standard?
00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:03.759
If she is, thank her for that.
00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:07.359
If Sally's not at standard, coach her back to standard.
00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:13.119
But I can tell so that I don't have to like wonder if she's doing it right.
00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:13.680
Okay.
00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:16.480
The next piece is called All Tools Available.
00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:26.720
And what that means is Sally has everything she needs to do the job to standard without searching for it, without going into her toolbox, without getting an approval from a supervisor.
00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:30.160
She can do her work easily without searching.
00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.960
So 5S fits a lot of that, right?
00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:35.599
Again, why does it matter?
00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:39.519
That message stays the same all the way across the wheel.
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:41.519
The next one's called clear benefits.
00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:45.119
So this is the internalization of this actually helps me.
00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:47.599
Oh, I like that.
00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.640
So, us humans, I've been told this many times.
00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:53.039
Maybe you have also, hey, we've made this change.
00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:53.839
What do you think?
00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:58.000
And somebody that wasn't on the team, the first thing they say is, What do you think they say?
00:20:58.160 --> 00:20:58.880
I'm just curious.
00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:00.160
What am I getting out of this?
00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:01.279
Why am I doing this?
00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:01.440
Yeah.
00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:03.440
So my version of it is, that's stupid.
00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:04.240
Why would you do that?
00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:04.559
Yeah.
00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:05.759
Yeah.
00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:06.640
That's stupid.
00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:09.440
So okay, you try it.
00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:12.000
And then they try and they go, Oh, maybe that wasn't so stupid.
00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:15.759
So instead of just leaving it at that, then we say, Well, what do you like about it?
00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:16.880
What don't you like about it?
00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:18.160
What could we improve about it?
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:19.119
So, what are we doing?
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:25.119
We're internalizing, we're having them internalized the change in a way that is beneficial to them.
00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:29.440
Not to not to me, not to the team, not to managers, to them.
00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:31.279
I call that clear benefits.
00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:33.039
So we used to call that with them.
00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:33.920
What's in it for me?
00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:34.720
Same idea.
00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:35.519
Same idea.
00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:36.720
I just I don't know.
00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:38.880
The term just came to my head at that point.
00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:42.559
The next one is called daily uh layered audits.
00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:46.240
So the idea here is trust but verify, right?
00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:51.920
So the person doing the work should check their work at some regular frequency.
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.599
We create daily audits, we create daily checklists, things like that.
00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:59.759
With less frequency, their supervisor or manager, with even less frequency.
00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:04.160
The plant manager, the ops leader, the director, the CEO.
00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:05.759
But basically, what are we doing?
00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:22.000
We want an engaging, one-to-one audit that takes less than three to five minutes, that we're just verifying with you, not to you, with you, that everything's okay, that it's okay, it's easy to work to standard, that you understand why standard's so important.
00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:24.160
We're going to check three things together.
00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:29.599
Um, instead of doing it, like I said, doing it to you and telling you what you did wrong, we're gonna do it together.
00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:34.000
So there's that learning again, because what we may find out was oh, we missed something.
00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:38.079
Or, hey, you know, if you added this here, it'd make it even better.
00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:40.880
So we want to create that opportunity.
00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:41.519
Okay.
00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:43.680
The next one's called accountability.
00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:45.519
So this is leadership accountability.
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.799
Do not turn your back on somebody not following standard.
00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:52.000
Do not turn your back on somebody who is following standard.
00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:55.279
So I like a balanced equation here.
00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:57.279
Coach back to standard.
00:22:57.359 --> 00:22:58.640
That's kind of our obvious one.
00:22:58.799 --> 00:22:59.759
Hey, you're doing it wrong.
00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:00.559
Let me fix you.
00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:02.160
Don't do it that way, by the way.
00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:04.160
Uh, the other is hey, you're doing it right.
00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:05.359
Thank you for doing it right.
00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:06.640
Here's why it matters.
00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:15.279
So that's not typical in many organizations that I visit or work with, but it becomes more typical.
00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:20.000
Now people don't hide from leaders coming to visit.
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:23.440
It's not a it doesn't always have to be a punishing moment, right?
00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:31.519
And then the last one is uh what I call recognition, which is stories, telling the story to show what we did and why it mattered.
00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:32.079
Okay.
00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:34.480
So that's a little wheel.
00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:43.920
The the idea is leaders, I prepare them for any event by explaining what their role in all of that will be and what to expect.
00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:49.759
By the end of the week, all of those elements have been applied to the change.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:51.359
The audit has been built.
00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:52.640
We just did it two weeks ago.
00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:54.319
I think maybe it was three weeks ago.
00:23:54.480 --> 00:24:02.240
The visuals are there, the message is completed, the standards have been, the standard work has been created, the story has been told.
00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:09.039
Others that weren't on the team got to try the thing and tell us it was stupid until they tried it, and then it was better.
00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:10.160
Oh, I like this.
00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:11.119
I actually have room.
00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:12.960
I don't have to chase down stuff.
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:20.400
So as much as I can, very rapidly, we're applying the wheel to the system.
00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:26.559
And you're really incorporating the entire all levels of the organization, which is what I really like about that, right?
00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:32.000
You've got the shop floor out there making the improvements with you, they're helping you develop the standard, they're trying it out.
00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:47.759
I had a conversation uh with somebody the other day, and they were making the argument that lean is um antithetical to cup to most leaders, right?
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:58.079
Because they're not trained on how to you know coach to standard or or or how to you know encourage people to follow the standard or correct them when they follow a different standard.
00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:03.359
So, you know, you you have to build that skill set in them, you have to show them what that looks like.
00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:10.240
And and it sounds like your methodology does that, which is unusual in a great way, right?
00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:30.240
I I think a lot of uh, and I'm guilty of this, just being honest, is we focus on the the problem, the shop floor, maybe the engineers, but the leadership really doesn't get we cast them aside, we don't bring them in and explain to them their role in it.
00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:36.480
So I yours is a that's a very complete way of approaching continuous improvement.
00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:42.240
And I appreciate that, yet I have found that it's still is confusing to people.
00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:46.240
So let me tell you what yeah start.
00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:55.599
No, yeah, I can see where it's different, like that's a totally especially through in an organization that doesn't have that lean Tion backbone, right?
00:25:55.680 --> 00:26:08.000
If you're right coming in here, I'm sure there's some walkiness in that first in that in that week of people just figuring out what they're supposed to be doing at this present moment.
00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:09.440
Oh my goodness, yes.
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:14.160
So let me tell you what I tried to do and then what I've done very recently.
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:22.720
So I introduced the idea of the wheel of sustainability in the first day, and of course they hear Charlie Brown's teacher saying, Wamp www.
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:27.039
Because what they want to do is solve the problem before they even know what the problem is.
00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:28.559
What the problem is, right?
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:33.279
So I introduce it and then I get it deeper and deeper, and by the end of the week, we've applied it.
00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:43.519
But about three and a half, four years ago, one of my team members said to me, You know, you make it sound so easy, but we really don't understand it still.
00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:46.160
What do you, you know, we don't see how to apply it.
00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:47.119
Okay.
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:55.119
So what I started to do, usually day three, day four, day three and a half, something like that, I do what I call improv.
00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:00.960
So I get one of the team members to be the challenging employee.
00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:10.480
And I apply the wheel to whatever project they tend to be working on at that moment, whatever level of completion it is.
00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:13.839
So it forces me to actually pay attention to what the team's doing.
00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.039
I know that sounds crazy from a facilitator standpoint.
00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:21.200
My point is not to understand their topic, my point is to help them win.
00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:24.319
Uh, so that's why I call myself Kaisen Ninja.
00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:25.680
I'm I wasn't even there.
00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:27.039
That's the whole point of that.
00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:30.720
However, again, what I learned was they didn't really understand it.
00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:33.680
So what we do is 10 to 15 minutes of improv.
00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:47.200
So I come in and I basically take in front of the team, and we go around the wheel based on their work, their project, and how we might describe it and explain it and prepare it for the rest of the organization.
00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:52.000
And again, I say you be as challenging as you want to be.
00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:54.720
PG 13 and below is best.
00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:55.440
Right.
00:27:55.839 --> 00:27:57.680
But but you do what you want to do.
00:27:57.759 --> 00:27:59.519
And then I'm not trying to disarm them.
00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:06.160
I just want them to see why the message matters so much versus the stuff we did.
00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:12.400
Here's why it's safer, here's why it's easier, here's here's how this can help you, etc.
00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:12.960
Okay.
00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:18.000
I'd done that for about three and a half years, and then I realized that wasn't good enough.
00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:18.799
Okay.
00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:26.000
Because I even created what I call my sustainability assessment, sustainability system assessment.
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:29.920
And it based it was based on the wheel directly.
00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:35.680
And what I realized was this was hard to observe.
00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:39.920
So I took a step back.
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:46.000
And and the reason why I knew this beyond me was what my marketing team says, I don't understand it.
00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:48.400
I'm like, damn you, you're right.
00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:59.759
They said what this really needs to be based on is observable leadership behaviors that tell you that you can actually see and tell if you've got a shot at sustaining.
00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:03.920
Oh crap, that actually makes sense.
00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:07.039
They don't know anything about my business, by the way.
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:10.480
I mean, they act like they don't, which is which is bright of them.
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:12.000
So they did that.
00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:14.960
And so I took a step back and I said, you know what?
00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:15.680
They're right.
00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:16.799
Dang it.
00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:18.799
It's like me saying go to Gemba.
00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:19.519
Dang it.
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:20.319
Okay.
00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:30.720
So I changed it to five structured leadership behavioral sections that you can actually go out and observe.
00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:36.240
And it is based on the wheel, but the wheel doesn't get brought in at all.
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:39.119
Because again, that's my framework.
00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:40.720
That's not your framework.
00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:41.359
Right.
00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:46.400
So this becomes five different behaviors.
00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:50.079
So if you're if you're willing, you can always edit this out.
00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:54.000
I'll tell you those five behaviors and exactly what they are that you can observe.
00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:58.240
So the first one I called people become part of the change.
00:29:59.039 --> 00:29:59.359
Okay.
00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:10.799
And the way you can observe it is if you were out there out on the shop floor in the back office or whatever, after a change, and you ask people why did they make this change?
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:12.400
What does it do for you?
00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:14.720
Do they actually know why?
00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:15.359
Okay.
00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:17.039
So I could just ask three people.
00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:19.440
And I could tell, yeah, I don't think they do.
00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:20.720
Okay, that's a low score.
00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:22.799
Whoa, all three of them know why.
00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:24.480
Hey, that's a high score.
00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:26.640
Very observable.
00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:30.000
The second one I call leadership at the Gemba.
00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:33.519
So this is do we reinforce standard?
00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:44.079
So if three leaders came out into Gemba and they saw somebody either on or off standard, would they recognize it, coach it, or walk by it?
00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:45.839
Very observable.
00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:52.079
So I can actually think about what would my people do, or I could actually watch people do or not do, right?
00:30:52.480 --> 00:30:53.680
Score myself that way.
00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:55.839
Again, who cares what the wheel says?
00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:57.839
It's observable behaviors.
00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:02.400
The third one I think I mentioned earlier, but I call it owning the change.
00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:06.960
And what that means is dude, we're never going back to the old way.
00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:08.799
I don't care what you want me to do.
00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:09.680
I'm doing it this way.
00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:10.720
This is so much better.
00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:14.240
So, do people protect the change?
00:31:14.880 --> 00:31:20.880
Do they actually defend it to the point that you realize that they are owning it?
00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:23.119
That's something you can only get.
00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:26.079
I'm sorry, I don't mean to cut you off, but I just think it's really important.
00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:32.000
That's something you can only get if you're making the improvements with the people at the gimmick.
00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:38.079
You can't get that writing the new standard or improving the standards in an office or a comfort show.
00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:43.279
You can only get that buy-in and that defense if you do it with them at the point of attack.
00:31:43.599 --> 00:31:44.160
So true.
00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:45.920
And that's the underlying principle.
00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:50.160
We, you know, we both believe in it, and lean tells you that, and TPS tells you that.
00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:51.440
And we all get told that.
00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:55.039
And I don't know how many TPS books you've read or lean books.
00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:57.200
Oh my goodness, I've read hundreds of them.
00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:01.839
They all they're all saying the same thing, but the hard thing is, how do I demonstrate that?
00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:02.880
How do I actually do that?
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:03.119
Right.
00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:07.279
So I'm trying to make this as simple as I possibly can and observable.
00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:11.359
The third one, fourth one is earning, I call it earning trust.
00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:13.759
What that really means is leadership has your back.
00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:17.359
So we're making change, and I don't have to wait for anything.
00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:18.720
I don't have to wait for approval.
00:32:18.799 --> 00:32:22.559
I don't have to wait for a part, a piece, a thing, or this or that.
00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:29.759
So two weeks ago, I was telling you, um, we needed a big label printer.
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:31.599
We need a big label printer.
00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:32.880
The team was working.
00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:34.720
So I said, I'll go to the other building.
00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:35.680
I think there is one.
00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:37.759
I'll find somebody that can help me get it.
00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:39.759
So I found the maintenance manager.
00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:41.920
He and I have done a number of these things together.
00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:45.440
He he's a big believer in this stuff.
00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:47.119
He goes, I know where a label printer is.
00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:48.079
I go, you do.
00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:50.400
He goes, Well, one's hooked to my computer.
00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:53.759
I can't actually give you that because it won't work anywhere else.
00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:54.240
Okay.
00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:56.000
He goes, but I know where another one is.
00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:56.799
Let's go take a look.
00:32:56.960 --> 00:32:57.200
Okay.
00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:59.119
So we go, he finds it.
00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:01.920
He's like, okay, who needs?
00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:05.519
I said, my team over there, he goes, All right, let's bring it over to him.
00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:07.599
I said, Well, should we at least leave a note?
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:16.079
Because when this thing is gone and somebody needs a label, so I I had luckily I always have a pack of post-its, four by six post-its, can't be three by three.
00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:17.039
You gotta have a big one.
00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:18.160
And it's sharpie.
00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:19.759
I'm very particular.
00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:22.960
And so I wrote the date and I said, the Kaizen team has this.
00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:24.160
This is in building two.
00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:26.160
Thank you for your understanding.
00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:28.640
And we just took it, and it was pretty heavy.
00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:30.880
He goes, You want me to get a car?
00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:32.720
I said, I said, Do you want me to get a car?
00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:34.720
Oh no, I'll just carry it over for you.
00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:39.279
So he just said, This is too important to wait.
00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:48.559
I took him off whatever he was working on, and we just walked over and placed it right where they needed it, plugged it in, showed them how to use it, and then he left.
00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:49.519
Yeah.
00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:51.599
So leadership has your back.
00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:52.079
Yeah.
00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:54.880
Nothing gets in the way of improvement.
00:33:55.599 --> 00:34:02.240
This it's observable, it's demonstratable, it's it's I don't have to wait two hours for for an answer.
00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:04.319
Did they drop what they were doing?
00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:05.440
I got more stories of that.
00:34:05.519 --> 00:34:06.559
I'm not going to do that.
00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:11.280
The last one I call growing the improvement culture.
00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:14.239
This goes back to the storytelling.
00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:16.719
That, hey, this really helped me.
00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:18.400
I want the same for you.
00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:20.639
Let me show you what we did.
00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:23.119
You could do it in your area.
00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:25.119
Oh, I want some of this.
00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:31.360
So somebody, so it's almost like owning the change, except now you're growing it to others.
00:34:31.519 --> 00:34:36.079
You're you're sharing your experiences in a way that they benefit.
00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:38.159
So it's observable behavior.
00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:44.239
Uh, the truly lean, continuous improvement organizations, they have that.
00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:50.400
Uh, those that are just new to it, they just see it as these, you know, localized things.
00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:51.599
Oh, we got that.
00:34:51.679 --> 00:34:53.440
I don't think it would work over here.
00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:54.480
That kind of stuff.
00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:55.519
I think we've heard that.
00:34:55.679 --> 00:34:57.280
What do you know of my industry?
00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:00.639
You know, I'm sure as consultant, you've heard that one a million times.
00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:04.639
I can feel your eyes roll with over here in Pennsylvania, right?
00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:06.079
I hear that all the time.
00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:13.599
So anyway, so I I basically threw out my assessment, I blew it up, I started all over again.
00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:20.559
And then what I tried to do was okay, depending on how you score, here's what you can do right now.
00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:22.159
Here's what good looks like.
00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:31.280
Here's something without contacting Adam, something that you can now, if you're interested enough to take the assessment, 15 questions.
00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:32.960
So, how long can that take?
00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:36.639
Um, you there's something hopefully you can use right away.
00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:42.639
I truly believe that's easier to understand than my wheel of sustainability.
00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:49.199
I mean, I think it's all pretty straightforward, but again, I've been like you, I've been I've been in this world a while.
00:35:49.360 --> 00:35:51.440
So you've been doing a while, you know, same thing.
00:35:51.599 --> 00:35:53.440
Read a lot of books that all have done the same thing.
00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:53.920
Yeah, yeah.
00:35:54.159 --> 00:36:06.960
Well, you know, one of the things that I think is interesting that we haven't really touched on is your focus on safety too, because you know, I think that often gets overlooked by by leadership in terms of, hey, what improvements are we trying to make?
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:16.239
We're always trying to make quality improvements, productivity improvements, or things that directly, you know, improve net profit or gross revenue.
00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:33.039
But I think safety, especially in terms of lien, if we don't value our employees, if we're not ensuring that they're going home in the same condition that they arrive, um, you know, we're we're we're violating one of the the poor tenets uh of lean, right?
00:36:33.199 --> 00:36:34.320
Respect for people.
00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:35.840
Truly believe that.
00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:41.119
And so somebody very wise once told me, if you can't get safety right, you can't get anything right.
00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:49.519
So I worked for a company I'm very proud of working for for almost 30 years, Armstrong World Industries.
00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:59.679
And in the late 90s, early 2000s, maybe before then, they had like a 4.5 global OSHA recordable rate.
00:36:59.920 --> 00:37:02.880
And they said, this is just not okay, this is not good enough.
00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:12.079
So they put ginormous effort into safety as a principle of leadership, and safety would always be the first thing.
00:37:12.239 --> 00:37:19.440
So we had to start talking about it first, and then we started to get better at believing it and be believing in it and sharing it.
00:37:19.760 --> 00:37:26.239
And by the end of my time with Armstrong, I think our global rate was 0.28.
00:37:26.559 --> 00:37:27.360
Oh, wow.
00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:32.800
And here's what's great about that it sucked because people were still getting hurt.
00:37:33.039 --> 00:37:33.199
Yeah.
00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:36.880
That our leader said anything over zero is not okay.
00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:37.440
Wow.
00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:38.719
And they truly believed it.
00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:42.400
So we actually had hourly folks coaching leaders.
00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:44.480
We had leaders coaching hourly folks.
00:37:44.559 --> 00:37:45.840
We were doing safety.
00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:47.840
We weren't saying safety anymore.
00:37:47.920 --> 00:37:50.480
We were actually demonstrating it in everything we do.
00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:53.440
So I said, I love it.
00:37:53.599 --> 00:37:54.880
That's the way it should always be.
00:37:54.960 --> 00:38:16.239
So I bring that to every company that I that I assist, and it's going to be a personalized objective of every Kaisen event, regardless of the scope or the topic or the industry, that two improvements must be made by every single team member, and they need to demonstrate what they are by the end of the week.
00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:18.719
I love that because it's not really hard to do that.
00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:22.000
I don't say that they have to be these big massive things or small things.
00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:27.599
If they personally have done something that they believe improves safety, then we win.
00:38:28.480 --> 00:38:35.119
So that becomes the number one objective of I'll say 95% of Archis and events.
00:38:35.199 --> 00:38:39.119
And safety is the first thing we're going to talk about in every single day.
00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:46.000
And if I notice that my team is getting a little groggy, especially after lunch, we're going to have a safety moment.
00:38:46.159 --> 00:38:47.280
We're going to stretch.
00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:53.920
So stretching is good, but it also brings energy back into the room or into the area.
00:38:54.239 --> 00:38:57.280
So now we can't have people doing karate chops.
00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:58.559
One guy tried to do that.
00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:03.679
I always say, hey, somebody volunteer and show us a safety stretch that you like the most.
00:39:03.840 --> 00:39:04.960
And somebody started doing karate.
00:39:05.519 --> 00:39:06.480
Dude, I'm too old for that.
00:39:06.559 --> 00:39:07.280
I can't do that.
00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:10.079
Uh, let's do something that won't kill a few of us.
00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:12.800
But you know, they get so into it, and that's what matters.
00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:18.639
We don't want safety to be a scary thing, and we don't want safety to be owned only by the leadership team.
00:39:18.960 --> 00:39:26.880
Every person is responsible to keep themselves safe first, and then their co-workers second, brothers keeper, sisters keeper.
00:39:27.280 --> 00:39:34.239
And it breaks down some of those walls too, because you know, sometimes it's easy not to care about safety when you're sitting in the comfort of an office, right?
00:39:34.320 --> 00:39:36.400
You're not going to hurt yourself sitting behind the desk.
00:39:36.639 --> 00:39:41.039
But the the the guy or down that's out there working on the piece of equipment, right?
00:39:41.199 --> 00:39:45.920
Out there in the thick of things, they're the ones whose bodies are are kind of on the line.
00:39:46.159 --> 00:39:57.760
So if you don't pay attention to that, if you just kind of throw that out, I just think it unconsciously builds this separation between us and them, leadership and the shop floor.
00:39:57.840 --> 00:40:13.840
And and I think being out there with them, showing that you care about their bodies as much as you care about your own, I just think that's another way of building that morale, building that community, um, and building the culture where continuous improvement can can actually drive.
00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:18.960
So I think safety is one of those inarguable principles.
00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:21.199
No one wants to go home hurt.
00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:21.679
Yeah.
00:40:21.920 --> 00:40:22.960
It's a pretty good one.
00:40:23.119 --> 00:40:27.039
So now the team, this is how I tie it into sustainability.
00:40:27.199 --> 00:40:29.039
So this is my evil Mr.
00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:31.840
Burns uh excellent.
00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:39.440
Anyway, so we have made all these safety improvements to make the work better, simpler, safer, etc.
00:40:40.079 --> 00:40:50.800
If leaders think that it's okay to go back, I'm willing to say something like this to a CEO, a plant manager, whomever is the top sponsor.
00:40:50.960 --> 00:40:55.920
Are you willing to go back to a less safe, safe way of working?
00:40:56.400 --> 00:40:57.760
Are you willing to do that?
00:40:57.920 --> 00:40:59.440
Well, what are you gonna say?
00:40:59.599 --> 00:41:01.599
Sure, let's hurt more people.
00:41:01.840 --> 00:41:06.880
Um, so when you now, this always puts me at risk of never coming back, right?
00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:10.880
But right, but the reality is I'm there for the team.
00:41:10.960 --> 00:41:15.599
I'm you know, the sponsor pays me, I get that, but I'm there to help the team win.
00:41:15.840 --> 00:41:28.320
And one win is to make a much safer workplace for them, but the other win is tie that into sustainability so that hey, this is easier, this is safer, let's keep this going.
00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:33.920
Let's put the systems in and let's show the leadership support so that it does keep going.
00:41:34.079 --> 00:41:39.280
And now the next phase will be to improve upon it to the next level.
00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:41.360
Yeah, absolutely.
00:41:41.519 --> 00:41:53.440
You know, Adam, this is a great, but before I let you go, I do have to ask you, you know, when you got improvements averaging$1.2 million in annual yearly savings, what's the biggest one you've ever achieved?
00:41:53.519 --> 00:42:01.599
Like, what's the one you're like, well, the one time we saved that's a really good question.
00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:08.559
Um couple times we've done improvements that allowed a factory to double output.
00:42:08.960 --> 00:42:12.719
So we eliminated the bottleneck, so that might have been in the tens of millions.
00:42:12.880 --> 00:42:21.199
Uh, I have done a number of global cost reduction sessions where we identify actionable savings, but that's not immediate.
00:42:21.440 --> 00:42:40.559
Uh, I did one where we had one we were cutting pieces off of product as it came down the line to do quality checks, and we found out that we could eliminate that and do this better quality check without cutting, and that was in the moment$1.4 million of savings.
00:42:40.880 --> 00:42:41.280
Jeez.
00:42:41.920 --> 00:42:44.079
Um I had to back a low.
00:42:44.239 --> 00:42:44.559
Yeah.
00:42:44.880 --> 00:42:50.000
Well, I yeah, so and you know, I don't charge a percentage.
00:42:50.159 --> 00:42:54.960
It's just like, and and honestly, they were a little stuck, so I had to take off the facilitator hand.
00:42:55.119 --> 00:42:58.239
I couldn't allow that waste to continue.
00:42:58.400 --> 00:43:01.679
It just felt like, oh, we have such an opportunity for breakthrough.
00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:07.920
There have been a number that have been in the tens of millions, like like annualized type savings.
00:43:08.239 --> 00:43:12.639
Now, just one thing to know 400 Kaisen events hasn't been in the last eight years.
00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:13.519
I don't want anybody.
00:43:14.320 --> 00:43:16.320
Um I mean, that means I'd never be home.
00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:17.199
I can't do that.
00:43:17.360 --> 00:43:18.960
This is over my career.
00:43:19.119 --> 00:43:21.679
Um, and those are the ones that I'm aware of.
00:43:21.760 --> 00:43:29.119
But yes, um, we think that half a billion is a conservative number, but it sounds so good.
00:43:29.360 --> 00:43:29.519
Yeah.
00:43:29.679 --> 00:43:30.320
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:33.440
I don't have to say 580 million or 600.
00:43:33.679 --> 00:43:34.400
I mean, who cares?
00:43:34.639 --> 00:43:42.320
It's just like, okay, I'm I'm pretty sure, you know, based upon the records that I have, it's easily that, if not more.
00:43:42.559 --> 00:43:46.800
But so why aren't we doing more would be a great follow-up question.
00:43:47.039 --> 00:43:53.760
Um, I think there are organizations that number one are not believing that that's even possible.
00:43:54.480 --> 00:44:00.159
And there are also organizations, well, I said I'm an acquired taste, so I think that's part of it.
00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:04.639
So as charming as you think I am, um, you know, I'm pretty direct.
00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:15.920
The way I'm talking to you right now would be how I would talk with a prospect or how I talk with people that I've been working with for years, because I think it's just easier to be who you are and understand what you're getting.
00:44:16.159 --> 00:44:26.480
But I also think there are organizations that truly feel like their way is the way, and making any change will be destructive in some way.
00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:35.519
Um, so I think that's I'm not able to share that image in a way that helps them see that there are other possibilities.
00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:39.760
Um, so they're missing out, I think, and I'm missing out.
00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:40.880
I know that.
00:44:41.199 --> 00:44:43.360
Uh, there are lots of people I'd love to help.
00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:46.079
Not everybody feels the same way about me helping them.
00:44:46.400 --> 00:44:47.679
Yeah, I think that's common.
00:44:47.760 --> 00:44:53.519
If you're a consultant, I I think you see that a not uncommon amount of times, right?
00:44:53.679 --> 00:45:00.239
Where you have an organization that just really believes deep in their core that the way they do it is the best way they could possibly do it.
00:45:00.400 --> 00:45:05.440
And right, you know, that they really don't, you're not interested in in digging into alternatives.
00:45:05.519 --> 00:45:08.880
So yeah, I uh I've I've also had that experience.
00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:13.679
Not a lot, I don't want to say a lot, but I've I've definitely had that experience more than once.
00:45:13.840 --> 00:45:14.400
I'm not sure.
00:45:15.360 --> 00:45:18.239
So well, Adam, thank you so much for carving out the time.
00:45:18.320 --> 00:45:33.119
I know you're a busy guy, and and the conversation today, I know everybody listening to this is gonna walk away with at least three things that they're gonna be able to take back to their office or their shop floor and uh and implement, which is our goal here at the Allied Advisors Podcast.
00:45:33.199 --> 00:45:40.880
We always want people when they leave, when they get done with the episode, to be able to take some something they've learned and apply it in their day-to-day.
00:45:40.960 --> 00:45:45.599
So thank you so much for being for coming on the show and being so willing to share your expertise.
00:45:45.679 --> 00:45:47.679
It it really is very much appreciated.
00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:49.119
Well, thank you, Justin.
00:45:49.199 --> 00:45:52.719
I appreciate the opportunity and hopefully I'll see you again soon.
00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:53.519
Absolutely.
00:45:53.679 --> 00:45:58.719
And if you've enjoyed my conversation with Adam today, please do like and subscribe, share with a friend.
00:45:58.800 --> 00:46:03.280
You know, we want to reach more people and help others um be successful in their manufacturing journey.
00:46:03.519 --> 00:46:05.360
So, really, really, it really does help.
00:46:05.519 --> 00:46:06.159
So, all right.
00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:08.559
Until next time, see ya.