LeanEx<sup>sm</sup> Events

The Lean Product Development Exchange

Events

Upcoming Events
Agenda
Attend As a Guest
Hosting Facts / FAQ
Past Events
Questions?

Upcoming LeanEx^sm events: Unless otherwise noted, events are scheduled for:
the 4th Wednesday of the month, 7:30 – 11:00 a.m.

Location: ProductSpace Solutions, lower level meeting room, 2021 Midwest Road, Oakbrook, IL 60523

Map of 2021 Midwest Rd.
Oak Brook, IL 60523-1342

October 16, 2008 (3rd Thursday) (Register)

Topic: "Changing your culture to support learning-centered product development"

Applying Lean Principles in any part of an organization involves some culture change and it is no less true in product development. In addition to learning how to apply new skills and methods, lean champions and leaders need to be aware of how change affects the organization, help drive the right changes to the culture, and help others cope with and join the change. Lean Leaders really have their hands full! We will revisit leading culture change in lean transformations and actively work on how to lead these efforts in our own organizations more effectively.

Guest Speaker: Jim Luckman, Lean Transformation Group

About the Speaker: Jim Luckman is a partner of Lean Transformation Group, a company with experienced practitioners of Lean and corporate coaches, focused on helping companies manage a transformation to Lean. Recently, Jim was the President and CEO of iPower Technologies, a company serving the distributed generation market of electrical power. In this position, he successfully applied lean across all functions in the organization providing a common change model.

Jim has an Electrical Engineering Bachelor's degree from Tri State University and a Masters degree from Case Western Reserve University in Computer Engineering.

December 3, 2008 (combined Nov-Dec. meeting due to holidays) (Register)

Topic: "Set-Based Concurrent Design"

Agenda

Each session will consistent of a group of 6-16 product development professionals and 1-2 facilitators as described above. A typical session will consist of the following:

7:30 a.m. Networking over continental breakfast
8:00 a.m. Updates and Hot Topics: Review of past action items for members. Prioritization of needs and issues participants are currently facing.
8:30 a.m. Lean Product Development Forum Topic Overview
9:00 a.m. Topic Discussion: Participants evaluate fit with their experiences and organizations' needs
10:15 a.m. Open Space Exchange: Discussion and problem solving of priority issues facing participants with shared management savvy, experience, and know-how
10:45 a.m. Wrap-up: New action items, Session evaluation, Next Session details
11:00 a.m. Head out to apply what you've learned in your organization

Attend As a Guest

We allow interested non-members to attend as guests for up to two meetings prior to joining to better understand the benefits of LeanEx^SM. This can include hosting a session at your facility if desired to receive a direct example of the type of interaction and exchange you will have with your LeanEx^SM peers.

Note: Guests must sign an agreement (as members have already done) to allow open discussions of business issues and experiences. Be prepared to sign the agreement before the start of the meeting. Alternatively, you may download the agreement and submit it in advance (by fax: 847.672.6038 or e-mail).

$95/person introductory rate (may be credited toward membership)
Limit of two meetings prior to joining
Download Guest Agreement - MS Word form
Download Guest Agreement - pdf

Hosting Facts / FAQ

One of the ways to contribute and also to reap greater benefits from LeanEx^sm is to host a meeting at your facility. Many hosts give a formal presentation where they review some aspect of their operations and process, though that is not always required. Hosting is your chance to review what your company does with your product development peers and receive some specific feedback to help you benchmark and improve. You have an hour or more available on the agenda to focus on your burning issues or hot topics. You also can give a tour of your facility.

If you are not comfortable with a formal presentation, alternate formats are available and the LeanEx^sm facilitators are here to help you prepare.

Both members and guests can host. If you are interested in hosting, then contact us.

For more information on what's involved in hosting, Download the Hosting FAQ - pdf

Past events:

August 27, 2008 Hosted by: Maclean Vehicle Systems (MVS), Dynalink Division

Topic: "Working with and as a supplier in a learning-centered development environment"

In the lean world, suppliers do not just provide a component to a limited specification, rather are integrated into the process. It is not your typical outsourcing. The supply chain in Japan is actually a different model with interlocking companies that may even hold equity in each other, sharing risk, taking on more responsibility, providing notable technical contributions to the work, developing new competencies and more. This session explored different ways of working together to accomplish better results through applying the foundational principles of lean in supplier relationships.

Location:

July 30, 2008

Topic: "Ready, Set, Dominate" - What we can learn about applying learning-centered product development in our companies

This session reviewed key learnings from the newest book out on how to apply Toyota's set-based learning approach based on some who have been successful at it. Michael Kennedy's first book "Product Development for the Lean Enterprise - Why Toyota's System is Four Times More Productive and How You Can Implement It" helped get most of us started. His newest book, written with his associates Kent Harmon and Ed Minnock, who are helping companies apply the principles in their organizations, follows up to continue the story. Based on efforts in actual companies, they relate both the fictitious journey as well as include some actual case study summaries. We can learn how to help change our organizations to a learning centered product development approach by understanding what has worked for others ("Look") and what is different in our organizations.

Thursday June 19, 2008

Topic: How reusable knowledge enables innovation - Moving beyond A3s / Knowledge Briefs to engineering checklists / design guidelines and, more so, a system for learning.

Guest Speaker: Bill Lynn, M.S., MBA - University of Kentucky

A key aspect of Toyota's success is how learning is captured and shared across projects. Toyota has repositories of knowledge, including trade-off data, constraints, current capabilities, integration considerations and so on. Toyota calls the documents with reusable product design knowledge 'Engineering checklists'. They are not checklists in the typical sense of check-off lists, rather detailed information and knowledge to guide design, transfer learnings across projects and teams, as well as make sure past problems are not repeated. This access to and understanding of this reusable knowledge is a key driver behind Toyota’s ability to innovate. It is not the way the information is stored or what it looks like that is important. It is the embedded approaches and processes of capturing, sharing, and mentoring that builds success.

About the Speaker: Bill Lynn was Director of Engineering at Fargo Electronics (Eden Prairie, MN) where he first became intrigued as to how to apply Lean principles to the product development of ID card printers. That interest led him to the University of Kentucky where he was invited to join their Lean Systems Group. He has a Master’s in Manufacturing Systems Engineering (Lean Systems emphasis) and a MBA (International Management Emphasis) from the University of Kentucky. While in Lexington, Bill also worked at Lexmark in their Inkjet Printer Division as a Business Process Manager. He had ownership of both their Technology Development Process and their Product Commercialization Process which provided the opportunity to introduce and explore Lean Product Development (LPD) fundamentals. Bill currently has the benefit of limited, but continuing, access to a Toyota Chief Production Engineer. In addition to LPD, he has an interest in the nature of knowledge, organizational culture, problem solving and innovation.

May 14, 2008

Hosted by: Maclean Vehicle Systems (MVS), Dynalink Division

Topic: Metrics for Lean in Engineering

Measuring progress and success is important in any effort, including Lean NPD. What gets measured gets done so it is important to focus metrics on what really adds value to the customer or drives the right behaviors and actions to create value. During this session, LeanEx^sm members worked through creating an initial set of metrics for the host.

Location:

13820 W Polo Trail Dr
LAKE FOREST, IL 60045-5102

Map

April 17, 2008 - hosted by Bretford, Inc. (www.bretford.com)

Workshop - Understanding A3 Thinking

Special Time 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Lunch included)

SPECIAL LOCATION!

Map

A-3 reports (sometimes also called knowledge briefs) are simple, flexible tools that enhance problem-solving, consensus-building and knowledge capture by summarizing the key information concisely while making it visible and accessible to others. A-3 reports may be used throughout the enterprise and are especially valuable to improve information-driven activities such as product development and engineering.

This workshop was co-developed with Dr. Durward Sobek and copies of the companion book Understanding A3 Thinking will be available that are signed by Dr. Sobek.

Understand the key components and benefits of A-3 reports
Use A3 reporting to support and enhance the PDCA cycle
Compare common ways of capturing information with the focused, A-3 approach
Be able to explain when to use each of at least three types of A-3 reports
Improve problem-solving through standard, consistent ways to communicate knowledge
Practice creating A-3 reports on actual problems

March 26, 2008 - Hosted by: Progeny, Inc. (http://www.progenydental.com)

Map to location

Topic: Lean Product Development for Services

Development of services and service products will benefit from applying the principles used in lean product development of goods. Two LeanEx^sm members led a discussion on their experiences and how to apply lean principles to services and service products. They used some actual case studies where they have applied lean NPD to services as examples.

February 27th, 2008 - Hosted by: Prime Advantage Corporation (http://primeadvantage.com)

Special Time 9 a.m. to Noon

Map to location

Topic: Open Meeting - Overview of the Lean Framework - Lean enterprise vs. lean in product development

This meeting was open and complimentary to all. Discussions included lean principles common across the entire enterprise, how tools and approaches are similar and where and when they need to have different emphases for an effective lean transformation in NPD versus other parts of the lean enterprise. Even those members who know about Lean, learned more of the overall framework as well as met others who are working to improve their businesses.

January 23rd 2008

Topic: Lean Scheduling Tools

Many scheduling approaches and tools can be used on projects and understanding the options available is good background. Toyota is known for not missing milestone dates and sets its milestones differently, applying its steady capture of learning across projects to help manage and meet delivery of new products. They focus milestones on when key decisions must be made about how systems and subsystems interact, constraining the work as little and as late as possible. In Lean NPD projects, the focus will be on managing integration milestones and development of key systems and subsystems. Agile scheduling methods also be very compatible with lean approaches. This session addressed how to identify and build the schedule for product development in a lean environment and where and how to apply different scheduling approaches to support lean product development. The concepts were applied to a member's active development project, providing schedule information he began using on his project that afternoon.

November 28, 2007

Topic: Trade-off curves

Trade-off curves are simple tools that graphically show the relationship between two characteristics that affect each other - any two factors that have a relationship. In design and development of manufactured products, these may be limits based on the physics or the constraints of the technology such as noise versus vibration. In other cases, they may be things like website usability and the amount of page viewable on a standard computer monitor. Toyota uses trade-off (sometimes called limit curves) consistently to understand relationships and drive sound decisions, especially when reviewing . They can be quick and effective communications tools for complex information, including performance attributes important in set-based.

This LeanEx^sm session evaluated:

How to use trade-off curves with technical and non-technical attributes
The value of capturing trade-offs data and how to get started
How to use trade-off curves to improve communication and decision-making

October 17, 2007

Topic: Innovate Like Edison - Comparing Thomas Edison's innovation processes to Best lean product development practices

LeanEx^sm arranged to have Sarah Miller Caldicott join us as a guest speaker to review the innovation processes followed by Thomas Edison with sound Lean principles and practices. She is the great grand niece of Thomas Edison who has studied and documented the way Edison innovated, after years of research into his world-changing methods. These innovation processes are described in a book she co-wrote with Michael Gelb: Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America's Greatest Inventor. The book provides step-by-step approaches to support 'innovation literacy' in today's “knowledge era” workforce. Key topics explored:

What are the fundamental principles and processes underlying how Edison worked?
How do they compare to the key principles in learning-centered lean product development such those used with great success by Toyota, Honda, Hewlett Packard, and others?
How and where are these approaches compatible and complimentary?
What can we learn from the differences?

September 26, 2007 – Bretford Inc.

Topic: Visual Knowledge

Toyota uses powerful and simple tools to make knowledge both visible and visual throughout its operations. LeanEx^sm looked at how to leverage such tools in our organizations and why they are so powerful for communicating and sharing knowledge. We shared examples of visible communication that LeanEx^sm members have started to employ, including the Obeya's and visual real-time status displays used at Bretford, a spreadsheet-based visual planning board used by a virtual team, and examples from outside the group.

MAP

July 25, 2007 Progeny Inc.

Topic: Front Load the Product Development Process

It is well known that it costs more to make changes or fix problems late in a project. Instead of risking loop-backs due to problems, it pays to explore and understand alternatives earlier. The chance of success of a product improves greatly by building more of this evaluation work earlier in the process, especially when the evaluation is done to understand the limits and trade-offs of capabilities to improve decision-making.

MAP

June 20, 2007

Topic: Level the Product Development Process Flow

Creating flow and reducing waste in a process are fundamental concepts in lean thinking. In information driven work such as product development, flow and waste are not as easy to see and may need be defined differently to help your teams see and understand it. This session looked at how to improve the flow in NPD, balance how and where resources are used, create a cadence of projects, and reduce knowledge waste.

May 23, 2007

Topic: Build a Culture of Excellence

In The Toyota Product Development System, Morgan and Liker describe building a culture that will support excellence and continuous improvement as one of the thirteen principles underlying a lean product development system (Principle 10). (Book copies available: Book Purchases) The organizational culture can support or undermine an NPD system so it too must be built into your change. Toyota’s culture is much different from most US companies so the principles and practices must be implemented in the context of your organization. LeanEx^SM members outlined the types of changes that need to be made and how to support those changes, including a few very simple starting points that could apply to most any organization.

April 19, 2007 - hosted by Bretford, Inc. (www.bretford.com)

Topic: Rethinking Product Development Fundamentals

Guest Speaker Durward Sobek, Ph.D., Montana State University

Dr. Sobek, one of our advisors and lean product development thought leaders, presented at the IIR Lean Design Conference that week. He joined us for an interactive, thought-provoking discussion on some insights to challenge standard paradigms about product development based on what he has learned about how Toyota develops products.

SPECIAL LOCATION! Bretford Design Center / Showroom at the Merchandise Mart

222 Merchandise Mart Plaza - Suite 330, 200 World Trade Center, Suite 330 (Showroom 3rd Floor)
Chicago, Illinois 60654-1003

Between Wells and Orleans. Just north of the Wacker Drive and the Chicago River. Nearby parking. Walking distance from Metra, Pace, and the 'El'.
Map

Durward K. Sobek II is an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Montana State University. He holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an A.B. degree in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College.

Dr. Sobek’s research focuses on how organizations can increase their performance capacity through the application of lean principles. His current focus areas include new product development, engineering design education, and health care delivery systems. Dr. Sobek has presented his research in numerous venues, and published numerous articles in publications such as Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. He is co-author of the book Understanding A3 Thinking (to be published in 2007), and co-author of the prologue to Dr. Allen Ward’s book Lean Product & Process Development, to published posthumously in February 2007. (Copies available: Book Purchases)

March 21, 2007 – Progeny Inc. – Progeny Inc., Buffalo Grove, IL (3rd Weds.)

Establishing Customer Defined Value

March 28, 2007 – Bloomington, MN

www.savvyconsortium.com

February 28, 2007

Topic: Knowledge Management - Requirements and tools to support learning-based development

January 24, 2007 - hosted by Bretford, Inc. at its Design Center / Showroom at the Merchandise Mart, Chicago, Illinois (www.bretford.com)

Topic: Visual Planning & Coordination - Toyota Obeya Room Demonstration (and tour of the Design Center!)

Guest Speaker Katherine Radeka, Whittier Consulting. Ms. Radeka has experience with the Obeya (a type of project team room) from her time at Hewlett Packard. It speeds product team decision-making with visual information and a shared workspace. It supports and enables knowledge sharing across a team. This was an active session where participants evaluated what they need in an Obeya for actual projects.

December 13, 2006

Topic: Getting started with Knowledge Briefs (The Toyota A-3) to capture and share NPD learning

Working session where participants actively worked on creating and updating knowledge briefs (called 'A3's' at Toyota). We used knowledge briefs from some past LeanEx^SM sessions as examples and to show how knowledge briefs may be maintained and updated over time.

November 14, 2006 - Bloomington , MN

SAVVY^SM Conference & Workshops: Putting Toyota Product Development System into Practice -Integrating Toyota's Lean Principles in US Organizations

LeanEx^SM had the opportunity to join and learn from our older cousin and guide – The SAVVY^SM Toyota peer group in Minneapolis, MN! Only a handful of US corporations have successfully started to integrate elements of Toyota's NPD System in their product development organizations. This conference presented the experiences of many of those firms in a full day conference plus workshops on Lean tools and approaches.

October 25, 2006

Topic: Managing the Lean NPD Project – Design and Product Reviews in Knowledge-Based Development

August 23, 2006

Topic: Look-Ask-Model-Discuss-Act = The LAMDA Cycle in Problem-Solving for NPD

The group reviewed how Toyota uses LAMDA throughout its NPD Process as a core part of its learning organization, compared similarities and especially contrasted the differences with the more common Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) continuous process improvement process many US organizations follow.

July 26, 2006

Host & Guest Speaker: Keith P. Stout. VP Operations, ACE Metal Crafts, 10550 Anderson Place, Franklin Park, Illinois 60131

Topic: A Culture to LEAN On

Mr. Stout did a follow-up to the June session, giving another view on leading change to a lean culture. He reviewed how ACE incorporated lean philosophies with a culture driven by nurturing the value in others, which resulted in a winning combination. ACE started its lean journey three years ago in response to customer pressure to lower prices, reduce run quantities, and address customer lead time challenges. ACE has two unique value streams, one that supports it’s fast-paced, quick turnaround jobs and the other for more complex, labor intensive products. On the tour, LeanEx^sm saw how the Lean culture is imbedded and communicated visually in ACE’s operations on-site.

ACE Metal Crafts is a custom job shop specializing in stainless steel fabrication.

June 21, 2006

Guest Speaker: Robert Hafey, Director – Manufacturing, Flexible Steel Lacing (FlexCo)

Topic: Lean Leadership – Leading Culture Change to Build a Lean Organization

Wednesday May 24, 2006

Starting the NPD Project - Product Value Statements

After reviewing and discussing some specifics on what should be included in a product value statement and what were key considerations in making the value statement successful and fit both the customer and the organization that produces and delivers the product, the group discussed how to obtain the voice of the customer (VOC) to build the value statement in the words of the customer. We also evaluated how the value proposition changes over time as technology and the customers needs and interests evolve, such as for the telephone - from basic land-line service to today's multi-functional cell phone technologies.

Thursday March 16, 2006

Product Development for the Lean Enterprise

Topic: Mike joined us for a special one-on-one session in the morning for an in-depth discussion on creating a learning organization. Then he lead a special half-day workshop on The Toyota System: Knowledge-Centric Product Development.

Thursday February 23, 2006

Topics: How ProductSpace recently has incorporated Toyota's Lean, Knowledge-based Product Development principles into their NPD Process for Service Products

'What are Value and Flow in a product development process' with Guest Speaker Jim Jacobs, Innovation Management Partners.

Thursday January 26, 2006

Topic: Value Stream Management (VSM) as a tool to improve productivity
In addition to an overview of VSM, the group helped the host create a value stream map for the current state of one of Dynalink's product development processes.

November 9, 2005

Topic: Increasing Productivity by Eliminating Waste in Product Development

A new attendee, who has been leading a lean manufacturing effort across multiple divisions, shared details and examples of how his organization has applied value stream mapping to manufacturing and are now starting to use it with office activities. He emphasized that:

'Point Kaizens' often miss the value to the customer and can reduce value in unintended ways.
When redesigning the process, emphasizing flow is more important than focusing on removing waste. You will eliminate waste in order to create a continuous flow process.
They have learned to start mapping from the customer backward, rather than working from the start of developing ideas into products or the first step in manufacturing. Often the biggest improvements only are realized when the process is mapped and the lead times between tasks are determined to understand the total time involved, not just the cycle time for the work activities themselves.

September 22, 2005

Rob Franzo, Director of Engineering, discussed Shure’s Product Realization Process including: Ideation, Risk Management and Planning for benchmarking and discussion.

After a thorough discussion, participants identified increasing productivity in product development operations as the top priority topic. 'Aligning the NPD function with business needs' and 'Tools to increase NPD capacity' were tied for the 2nd most important topics.

Questions? / Contact us

If you are interested in joining or hosting, then contact:

Tricia Sutton: 847-445-2098 or LeanEx@suttonenterprises.com

Sutton Enterprises Inc.

Events