“Share your story and bring your questions”
As part of our mission to help organisations with their lean journeys the Lean Enterprise Academy held its first Sharing Day in partnership with the Centre for Lean Enterprise Applications and Research (CLEAR), Cardiff School of Management, Cardiff Metropolitan University.
The day was structured to connect the lean community of practice together so that all of us are able to learn from like-minded others.
The day also included presentations from Mark Reich, Director of Strategy and Operations from Lean Enterprise Institute and be facilitated by experienced lean practitioners including: Mark Davies, Section Manager and Kevin Robinson, Senior Manager from Toyota Lean Management Centre, UK Nick Rich, Associate Dean from Centre for Lean Enterprise Applications and Research, UK Daniel Jones, Chairman, Dave Brunt and John Kiff, Senior Fellows from Lean Enterprise Academy
Purpose of the Sharing Day
A critical element of any lean implementation is the process of reflection – looking back and thinking about what we have done and capturing the lessons learned so we can improve the way we work in the future. Whilst leading lean companies have formal reflection meetings to identify problems, develop countermeasures and communicate improvements to the rest of the organisation there is often little opportunity to share and learn with people outside the organisation. Therefore we organised the LEA Community Sharing Day – connecting the lean community of practice together so that we are able to share and learn from likeminded others.
Process for the Sharing Day
The process for the Sharing Day is quite simple. We were looking for organisations to share their lean implementation stories in small groups of approximately 20 people. We allowed 30 minutes per story. Each organisation had 20 minutes to present followed by 10 minutes of questions and discussion. A member of the Lean Enterprise Academy’s faculty and an experienced lean practitioner facilitated the sessions. The opportunity to present gave each storyteller the opportunity to reflect on the dialogue created and to think through potential next steps. The stories were presented in various formats including A3s, posters, video clips, photographs or a maximum of 6 PowerPoint slides.
To share your story we invited abstract submissions – a summary of what you wanted to share on the day. This was then reviewed by a panel organised by LEA.
People at the Sharing Day
In addition to the sharing sessions we also topped and tailed the day with two guest presentations from Mark Reich, the Lean Enterprise Institute Director of Strategy and Operations. Mark spent 23 years at Toyota in various senior positions in both Japan and North America and headed up Toyota’s Supplier Support Centre (TSSC) in the US. He shared Toyota’s reflection and capability development process as well as reflect on the lessons learned managing and implementing their hoshin kanri process during his time as assistant general manager of corporate strategy.
Other Members of our expert panel chairing the sessions and discussing the presentations are: –
- Mark Davies, Section Manager and Kevin Robinson, Senior Manager from Toyota Lean Management Centre, UK
- Nick Rich, Associate Dean from Centre for Lean Enterprise Applications and Research, UK
- Daniel Jones, Chairman, Dave Brunt and John Kiff Senior Fellow from Lean Enterprise Academy, UK
This was a unique opportunity for the Lean Enterprise Academy’s community to come together to share and learn.
We would like to thank the various organisations who contributed to the day which include:
- Avis
- eVSM
- Exeter University
- Gates Corporation
- GKN
- London Underground
- Lufthansa Technik
- Milliken European Airbag Products
- Nike
- Portsmouth Business School
- Rabobank
- Solar Group
- Volvo Group – Truck Operations
- Wye Valley NHS Trust
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