Spring Cleaning

In the spirit of the season, the blog is going through a bit of spring cleaning to spruce it up. There's a few posts in the works, with the idea being that this could be a hub for discussion on all things LERC, and lean in general.

Future post ideas include recent employment trends and a few tasters for the annual conference coming up in July (see the website for full details).

If there's any content that you'd be interested in seeing in the future, or you'd like to draw attention to a particularly good article on lean that you'd like to share - don't hesitate to leave a suggestion in the comments.

LERC Conference 2009 DVD

The LERC Conference 2009 DVD and /or download will be available from 1st April. Please email info@leanenterprise.org.uk for advance bookings

New Lean Games Book Published by John Bicheno

John Bicheno has a new games book out. Check it out on Amazon at:


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lean-Games-Book-John-Bicheno/dp/0954124472/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267526951&sr=1-1


The book is suitable for both service and manufacturing.

LERC Conference 2010 Keynote

The LERC Conference 2010 keynote speaker has been confirmed as Mike Rother, author of Toyota Kata.

For more info on Mike, please see:

www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.html

LERC Conference a Resounding Success!

Despite the recession, delegates turned out in force to attend the 2009 LERC conference. Steven Spear, this year's keynote speaker, was praised as 'a great coup'.

Other comments were:
‘Excellent!’
‘Absolutely refreshing’
‘Very accessible’

The DVD set of the entire day will be available from September onwards (discounts will be available for those that attended). Please email LERC for more info: info@leanenterprise.org.uk

Steven Spear, MIT - LERC Conference Keynote

'In his field he has no peers', Clayton Christensen, Harvard

We are delighted to welcome Steven Spear as the LERC Conference 2009 keynote. A four times Shingo Prize publication winner in the USA for his contributions to lean thinking, he has been a keynote speaker at AME (Association for Manufacturing Excellence) three times – in Boston, Chicago, and Toronto. AME is the premier lean association in the world and Steven has been the highest rated speaker at AME on each occasion.

He is a former assistant professor at Harvard Business School, author of three Harvard Business Review articles including the highly acclaimed ‘Understanding the DNA of the Toyota Production System’ (consistently on the Harvard Business Review topseller list of reprints) and author of ‘Chasing the Rabbit’, published in 2009.

Now at MIT, working in healthcare and researching process improvement, he has been the business world's ‘hot property’ of early 2009, following publication of ‘Chasing the Rabbit’. He has been interviewed by Business Week, Bloomberg and on the Lean Blog.org podcast.

To quote Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard, ‘I count having been one of Steve Spear’s colleagues and advisors to be one of my foremost credentials. ... in his field he has no peers.’ To read more about Steven, the LERC Conference 2009 and watch his interviews on Bloomberg and Business Week, please click here

The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence

Background to the Shingo Prize

The Shingo Prize For Operational Excellence is just starting in the UK but has been operating in the USA for 20 years. It is named after Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo who distinguished himself as one of the world’s leading experts in improving manufacturing processes. Dr. Shingo has been described as an “engineering genius” who helped create and write about many aspects of the revolutionary manufacturing practices which comprise the renowned Toyota Production System. The Prize was established in 1988 to promote awareness of lean manufacturing concepts and to recognize companies that achieve world-class manufacturing status around the globe.

The Shingo Prize philosophy is that world-class business performance may be achieved through focused improvements in core manufacturing and business processes. There are two components:

The Shingo Prize - promotes use of world-class operational excellence strategies and practices to achieve world-class results in business and public sector/government owned facilities.

Research Prize - promotes research and writing regarding new knowledge and understanding of manufacturing processes.

To be considered for the Shingo Prize a comprehensive report following specific guidelines must be submitted and if shortlisted, a two-day site visit follows by experienced assessors. The assessors consider whether, on each criteria, the company is operating on the 'tools' level, the 'system' level, or the 'principles' level. Companies receive a comprehensive report.

Shingo Prize, SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers) and AME (Association for Manufacturing Excellence) have also begun individual Lean Certification.