Upcoming Events

Upcoming conferences, workshops, kaizen events and plant tours.  Visit the Change Management Associates website periodically as this information is often changed.  

Conferences

Lean Transformation Summit, March 1-4, 2010, Orlando FL.  The summit is put on by the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), the not-for-profit organization of James Womack, co-author of “Lean Thinking”.  Pre-conference workshops will be scheduled for March 1-2.  The main summit runs from March 3-4.   Plenary and breakout sessions will allow for attendees to hear how companies such as Grainger, FedEx, Lantech and Goodrich have applied lean concepts within their organizations, and to actually meet with the representatives from these companies for further Q&A.  Learning sessions on various topics such as “Lean Thinking Driving Behaviors”, “Extending Lean Thinking to Office & Services”, and “Lean in HR” will provide attendees with the opportunity for in-depth discussion with LEI faculty on a particular subject of interest.  The summit will be held at Omni Orlando at Championsgate.  For more information go to the LEI website.

Honda Lean Network Annual Conference, May 11-13, Columbus OH at the Hyatt Regency Columbus.  This conference is held each year with many of Honda of America’s suppliers in attendance.  Workshops, keynote speakers and networking events will be held over the three days.  CMA will be delivering a workshop on “VSM for Office and Services”.

Shingo Prize Conference, May 17-21, 2010, Salt Lake City UT. at the Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown.  Dr. Stephen R. Covey and Ritsuo Shingo will be keynote speakers.  The main conference runs from May 19-20.  Plant tours of Autoliv and OC Tanner will be available on May 21.  Workshops will be offered on May 17-18.  CMA will be delivering a workshop “Value Stream Mapping for Office & Services”, as well as a luncheon seminar titled “Lean Office Transformation: How-to”.  For more information go to the Shingo website. 

6th Annual Lean Accounting Summit, September 20 to 22, 2010, Las Vegas NV at Red Rock Resort.  This event brings together members of the finance and accounting community to discuss subjects such as “Accounting in the Lean Enterprise”, “Lean Accounting practices”, “Performance Measurements”, and related subjects.  For more information go to the Lean Accounting Summit website.  Click here for a brochure.  Instructions are provided to receive a 15% discount.

26th AME Annual Conference: The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) is holding its annual conference in Baltimore MD from November 15 to 19, 2010.  The conference will offer 60 company presentations, 40+ workshops, and 20+ plant tours.  Change Management Associates will be delivering workshops on "Office Value Stream Mapping" and “Lean Office Overview with Simulation".  Several companies with whom Change Management has worked with over the years will be presenting as well.  While the program is still under development, you can get more information on the AME website.

Workshops

Lean Enterprise Institute Regional Workshops: Change Management Associates is a faculty member of the Lean Enterprise Institute, the not-for-profit organization of the co-author of "Lean Thinking" Jim Womack.  LEI has monthly offerings of workshops scheduled throughout 2010 in different regions. Some offerings will have specific themes.  For more information go to the LEI website.

Building a Complete Lean Enterprise, San Diego CA, January 12-14, 2010.  Workshop subjects supporting this theme include, “Optimizing Flow for Office & Services”, “Lean in HR”, “Lean in IT”, “Value Stream Mapping for Office & Services”, and more.  This workshop event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay. 

Creating a Learning Organization, Miami FL, February 2-4, 2010.  Workshop subjects supporting this theme include, “A3 Management Process”, “Developing People with Capability for Lean”, “Lean Problem Solving”, and many others.  Several Lean Healthcare workshops will also be offered.  This workshop event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Miami.

Optimizing Flow in Office and Services, Cambridge MA, March 17, 2010.  This special workshop offering at the Lean Enterprise Institute covers the application of lean concepts and tools to office and services.  It makes use of a simulation to enhance the learning experience.  Standard Work, Flow, Pull, Visual Management and more will be covered.  For more information go to the LEI website.

General Offering, San Antonio TX, April 6-8, 2010. 5S, Understanding TPM, VSM for Office & Service, Made-to-Order Lean, Creating Continuous Flow, and many others.  This workshop event will be held at the Hyatt Regency San Antonio.

Lean Healthcare and Office, Seattle WA, May 11-13, 2010.  Lean Problem Solving, Mistake Proofing, Healthcare Leader Standard Work, Management Accounting, VSM for Healthcare, and others.  This event will be held at the Marriott Seattle Airport.

General Offering, Indianapolis IN, June 22-24, 2010.  Workshops include A3 Management Process, Problem Solving, Change Agent Skills, VSM for Office and Service, and Optimizing Flow in Office and Service with Simulation.  The event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis.

AME Regional Events:

Value Stream Mapping Event, hosted by Northrup Grumman, Linthicum MD, March 16-17, 2010.

Plant Tour of Medrad, Pittsburgh PA, April 29, 2010.

Plant Tour and Pull/Kanban System Workshop, hosted by Troemner, Thorofare NJ, May 14, 2010.

Lean/six Sigma Training, hosted by Northrup Grumman, Baltimore MD, July 13-14, 2010

DiscMakers Sequenced Pull in a Job Shop, Pennsauken NJ, July 29, 2010

Kaizen and VSM Events

From time to time, Change Management Associates opens up its on-site events to outside participants.  Come experience firsthand a Quick Changeover Kaizen Event, a Cellular/Flow implementation, or a 5S/Workplace Organization Kaizen Event, along with other improvement efforts.  Learn the various methodologies while actually applying them in the host company.  See the actual benefits for yourself.  Check out Change Management website periodically to see what events are upcoming.  

Plant Tours

Get out of your "box" and see the results of a successful implementation of Lean/World Class, Quality Management, Employee Involvement and other concepts.  Plant Tours are an excellent means to do this.  Change Management Associates and its partner organizations around the country, periodically offer tours of companies who have implemented, or are in the process of implementing various business improvement concepts.  See and hear first hand from those that are doing it.  A list of ongoing regional Plant Tours is provided below.  Check out the Change Management website from time to time to see what other Plant Tours are up-coming.

DiscMakers, July 29 2010, Pennsauken NJ.  Disc Makers was started in 1946 pressing 45s for record companies in Philadelphia and New York.  Since that humble beginning it has had to reinvent itself several times to keep up with ever changing technology.  Today it is a full service provider for independent musicians and filmmakers.  The services offered include design, engineering, authoring, manufacturing, distribution and fulfillment of physical and digital content.  Come see how this custom order “job shop” has successfully applied sequential pull systems to control the flow of jobs through the production process - no easy task when parallel flows are involved, and job routings, quantities, and work content can vary from order to order.  Attendees will also get to see the application of lean concepts to an office environment including two pilot cells which Disc Makers has been experimenting with for the past year.  Other highlights include numerous visual management techniques applied in both production and non-production areas.  After the tour, a half-day workshop on the subject of “Pull Systems” will be delivered.  To register go to the AME website.  This is an AME sponsored tour.  Click here for a brochure for the event.

Podcasts

Lean Office Podcast (December 2006): Drew Locher of Change Management Associates participated in an approx. 10 minute podcast on this subject.  During the podcast he discusses typical results as well as the most common obstacles encountered when Lean Thinking is extended to administrative and office processes.  Click here for access to the podcast.

Value Stream Mapping (December 2009): Value Stream Mapping has been described as the “assessment and planning tool of lean practitioners”.  It answers the most common questions such as; “Where do we start?”, “What lean tools should I be looking to apply?”, “What results can I expect to achieve?”  Drew Locher participated in an approx. 20 minutes podcast on the use of the powerful Value Stream Mapping tool, and the common pitfalls in the use of the tool. Click here for access to the podcast.

Lean Nation Radio (April 2, 2010).  The Lean Nation radio program is broadcast on station 790 AM out of Providence RI.  It is also available via live audio stream.  Each week there are different speakers covering various subjects.  Drew Locher will be appearing to discuss Lean Office and Services on the program.  The show will be aired from 4:00 – 5:00 PM (eastern time).  For more information go to the website.   Internet access and call-in information is available.