Sessions
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| 36 sessions organized into tracks: |
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| Continuous
Improvement Fundamentals |
Advanced
Continuous Improvement |
| Supply
Chain Strategies |
Workforce Development |
| Leadership
& Innovation |
Manufacturing
Technology Strategies |
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| Keynotes |
Pete
Selleck, Chairman & President - Michelin North America Inc.
Pete Selleck is a 30-year veteran of Michelin. During his career, he has held
numerous high-level management positions, including manger of quality control
and tire assembly operations, plant manager, VP of Michelin Tire Manufacturing
in the U.S. and Canada, COO of Michelin Americas Small Tire operations, and
President of worldwide Truck Tires. Today, as chairman and president of
Michelin North America, Mr. Selleck is responsible for the coordination of all
operations of the Michelin Group in North America that consists of 18 major
manufacturing facilities and about 22,000 employees.

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Dan
Ariens, CEO - Ariens Company
Lean Leadership: Learn. Develop. Sustain.
Ariens Company has experienced significant employee growth and added new
manufacturing locations since the company originally started its lean journey
in 1998. Its lean culture has enabled the manufacturer to achieve enviable
levels of success. President Dan Ariens will discuss the role of a lean leader
in ensuring that Arien's lean culture remains viable and dynamic for new
employees who have not learned by shared experience. He will discuss the many
tools that have allowed lean to thrive at Ariens, including a lean internship
program, hands-on culture, lean development hours and an employee Lean
Implement program.

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Rich
Morris, VP Assembly - BMW Manufacturing Co.
Leading Sustainable Improvement
What is your leadership legacy? Vice President of Assembly Richard Morris'
keynote address will provide a thought-provoking presentation of how great
leaders effectively guide organizations through process change improvement. He
will review BMW's commitment to profit before growth, lean manufacturing and
continuous improvement as he shares examples of how BMW's plant in South
Carolina has achieved remarkable success in the last 20 years.

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Poul
Jeppesen, CEO & President - SKF USA
SKF: Beyond Our Factory Walls
-- How building closer business partnerships with our suppliers and customers,
and closer participation with our local communities, creates a more productive
and inclusive climate for change.
SKF manufacturing and quality control programs have evolved over the years to
include people far beyond the company's own shop floors in reaching new levels
of quality and performance.
Poul Jeppesen, president of SKF Americas, will describe SKF's
approach of integrating its long-term sustainable development with its lean
manufacturing processes and growth initiatives.
SKF's concept embraces the health and well-being of not only its employees, but
also customers, communities and the shared global environment. By working to
reduce its own environmental footprint, SKF has successfully reduced CO2
emissions while increasing output. Now under a concept called BeyondZero, SKF
helps customers achieve similar reductions in their own plants by sharing best
practices, and by creating new products and services that can reduce energy and
resource use.
Underpinning this development is a “OneSKF” culture that encourages employees
to think and work beyond their own situation or their business unit, and
consider the impact on the total company including supplier partners. Then by
applying lean methods, SKF Business Excellence systematically improves
processes, products and services to deliver customer value in a meaningful,
efficient and sustainable way.

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Reshoring: The
Executive View
Moderator: Harry Moser, Founder & President,
Reshoring Initiative
Panelists: John Higgins, CEO, Neutex Advanced Energy Group
Rick Marquardt, SVP of Global Operations, NCR
No industry phenomenon has received as much attention in recent years as the promise of reshoring manufacturing jobs and operations to the United States. A panel of manufacturing executives discusses why they decided to reshore, how the transition was handled and what they see for the future of this movement.
Panelists: Rick Marquardt,
Sr. VP, NCR Global Operations
Rick Marquardt is responsible for sales and operations
planning, sourcing, supply chain operations, fulfillment and NCR's five
internal manufacturing facilities.
Prior to this role, Marquardt served as vice president of
Global Manufacturing for NCR where he was responsible for in-sourcing the
company's manufacturing operations and opening up two new plants—one in
Columbus, GA to service North America and the other in Manaus, Brazil to
service Latin America.
Prior to this role, Marquardt was vice president of Global
Operations for NCR's Financial Industry Business Unit, responsible for all
aspects of operations including manufacturing, procurement, SIOP, and customer
fulfillment. He joined NCR in 2006.
Marquardt also worked for Motorola Corporation, where he held
increasingly responsible operations and manufacturing positions, including a
four-year assignment in Taiwan and a one-year assignment in Mexico, managing
operations with an excess of $1B spend annually.
His assignments have included vice president of Asia Manufacturing Operations, Motorola Connected Home Division; Vice president Mexico Manufacturing Operations, Motorola Connected Home Division; Vice president Global Operations, NCR Financial Solutions Business; Vice president Global Manufacturing, NCR.
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| Continuous
Improvement Fundamentals |
Zero is
a Beautiful Number: The ‘Zero Optimum' Concept using World Class Manufacturing
Tools
Speakers:
Humberto Del Rio,
Manager of World Class Manufacturing, Case New Holland
Eddie Smith, Manager of Operations, Case New Holland
How many losses are acceptable? ZERO. How many accidents are
acceptable? ZERO. How many problems are acceptable? ZERO. The goal of Case New
Holland's facility is to be a zero-problem site, and World Class Manufacturing
provides the map to get there. A system of continuous improvement built on a
structure of 10 technical pillars, WCM serves to guide employees to focus
improvement efforts using financial losses, and set priorities in major areas
such as safety, quality, production, logistics, cost deployment, maintenance,
environment, and people deployment. The Case New Holland Wichita facility
embarked on its WCM journey several years ago.
Attend this session to learn about the “Zero Optimum” Concept
and World Class Manufacturing from Humberto del Rio and Eddie Smith, both of
Case New Holland's Wichita, Kan., manufacturing facility.
Key takeaways:
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Learn how Case New Holland improved throughput by approximately 30% in its
highly automated weld shop during its pursuit of the Zero Optimum Concept.
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Gain a better understanding of World Class Manufacturing and the bottom-line
impact it can deliver when applied properly.
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See the many improvements and bottom-line financial impacts WCM has delivered
for Case New Holland, even as the Wichita facility's journey continues.

Using Kanban Systems to Drive
Your Lean Strategy
Speaker:
Will Franks,
President, ICON Business Associates
The best lean journeys are driven by a lean strategy supported
by the appropriate tools. Although many companies think that implementing tools
such as kanban systems will automatically deliver results, they are
disappointed to learn that the problems exposed have overrun the results
demonstrated. Results-driven successes come from implementing the right lean
tools when needed, where needed -- a true just-in-time implementation approach.
Under this new lean model, participants will learn what kanban systems are, why
they are important, how to calculate key values such as trigger point and lot
size; and they will see examples of various types of signals. Join the
discussion about how kanban systems fit into and can be used to drive your
overall lean strategy.
Key takeaways:
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Learn what kanban systems are and their potential benefits to your
manufacturing operation.
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Hear real-world examples of various kanban systems.
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Find out how to calculate key kanban system parameters.
Applying Lean A3 Methodology for Continuous
Improvement
Speaker:
S. Manivannan (Mani),
Manager – Global Continuous Improvement Lean Production Systems, Franklin Electric
What is A3 and how can you utilize it as a
template or structured approach to develop strategies for continuous
improvement? During this presentation, Franklin Electric's Subra Manivannan
will review the step-by-step processes of A3 thinking and will describe how the
A3 tool illustrates the meaningful and measurable results of
continuous-improvement activities in a one-page management summary. His
discussion will include the use and benefits of A3s in manufacturing and
non-manufacturing areas.
Key takeaways:
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Gain an understanding of how continuous-improvement strategies can be linked
with A3 and quality/lean tools.
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Learn about A3 problem-solving and Six Sigma DMAIC integration.
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Find out how A3s can help facilitate the search for solutions to an organization's most-challenging problems.

Quick Kaizens: Get Your Disenfranchised Employees
Involved
Speaker:
Bob Cortese,
Controller, CTS Automotive
In today's environment, manufacturers need every employee to be
a contributor. To get the commitment, companies must ensure that they have not
placed any barriers in the way. Yet they do! Organizations today are very good
at assigning a team to develop processes that ensure most, if not all,
variables are controlled and addressed. They even use this process when
developing a kaizen process. Look at a kaizen process within an organization,
and there is paperwork, approvals, data gathering, filings, team assignments,
network directories established, meeting schedule requirements, etc. Companies
put controls and processes around the very process—kaizen—that they intend to
employ to improve efficiency and eliminate non-value added tasks. So many
controls are not necessary. This session is not for individuals who feel a
kaizen must last three to five days and be documented prior to, during and
after. It is designed to provide a path/method for the disenfranchised to get
involved.
Key Takeaways:
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WOW! Be prepared for a surprise: Kaizens are easy; there is no need for
paperwork, approvals, committee oversight, facilitators or special directories
to access.
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Learn how to conduct a complete training session in less than an hour using a
three-page handout.
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Find out how to document an organization's entire kaizen process on a business
card.
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Discover a starting tool for the introverts and those put off by process
complexity to step up and lead.
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Hear how an employee suggestion program can impede an organization's goal of
achieving greater efficiency.

Bold Continuous Improvement, bold investment, bold
innovation: The BMW Story
Speaker:
Mark Fendley,
Continuous Improvement Manger / VPS Program Leader, BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC.
To exceed customer expectations, BMW Manufacturing must focus on the element of
flexibility that comes from lean manufacturing. In this presentation, you will
gain insight into how BMW can achieve the flexibility of producing millions of
possible build combinations of the X3 and X5 Sports Activity Vehicles, and the
X6 Sports Activity Coupe, delivering to more than 130 markets worldwide, and
adhering to a pull principle of production. An overview of BMW's approach to
training, good practice sharing and development for the future will be
highlights of the discussion.
Key Takeaways:
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Bold focus: determining what processes to focus your continuous improvement
efforts on
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How taking more definitive, measurable actions has resulted in bold
accomplishments for BMW
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Bold innovation: Why sustainability needs to be a part of your continuous
improvement plan
1, 2, 3 … 5S: An Easy-to-Follow Roadmap to a
Successful 5S Program
Speaker:
Rob Temple, Plant Manager, The Harris Products Group
Don't know where to start on your 5S plant or office program? What its benefits
are? How to get employees involved? This session delivers easy-to-follow proven
techniques to help guide you to a successful and sustainable program. Done
right, 5S will only enhance an organization's safety and efficiencies while at
the same time reducing the stress of day-to-day tasks. It is the initial
transition to a fully visual workplace. What does that mean for your teams? It
means a fully engaged culture ready for and open to change. 5S is a strategic
seed that must be planted and promoted. It can be an easy first step on your
company's lean journey.
Key Takeaways:
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Gain a clear picture of how simple it can be to get started on your 5S program.
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Learn how to develop an inspection and scoring program.
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Find out how to expand your 5S program to office areas.
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Obtain a guide to creating employee ownership of the program.
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| Advanced
Continuous Improvement |
Quick
and Simple Simulations: A practitioner's collection of quick and simple lean
simulations to engage employees and drive lean understanding
Speaker: Michael Thelen,
CI Training Manager, Wells Enterprises, Inc
Ever wondered how you can get basic understanding of lean philosophy to your
employees? Perhaps wondered how to generate excitement to jump on
board? Hands-on participation and classroom presenting are great learning
aides, but they don't seem to be driving home the message? Feel bogged
down with tools and techniques that still aren't helping with culture and
concepts? How about a few quick and simple simulations to help speed the
learning? Get exposed to the “5S numbers” game (and see how standardized
work can even be included), a fast and simple “gemba kaizen” ball-pass
technique, and the ergonomic “OK” in this interactive, full-participation
seminar. Other simulations that support a variety of lean tools may also
be discussed. All simulations have been and are continuously utilized by
the presenter in practical training settings.
Key takeaways:
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Participants will participate in simple, easy-to-use and
easy-to-understand simulations.
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Through active exposure, participants will be shown how a facilitator drives
learning to the workforce in either the shop or the office.
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Learn how interactive simulations promote better understanding of the lean
philosophy.
Awaken your Continuous
Improvement System with a War Room
Speaker:
Amit Mukerji,
Executive Manager Quality, ABB Inc.
Does your quality system or lean efforts include a "war room?" They should. War rooms are proven tools to improve your quality system or lean efforts, and make such activities visible. A war room spotlights the "voice of the customer" as well as the "voice of the process." In this session, ABB's Amit Mukerji will share how his facility uses a war room to focus, drive and execute improvements. He will explain the process required to implement and maintain a dynamic war room. Finally, he will discuss how to use the war room as a marketing tool.
Key Takeaways:
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Learn the anatomy of a war room
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Find out how the war room serves as the “glue” that sustains and creates a
dynamic CI process
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Discover how a war room helps you better understand and serve your customers'
needs.

How Lean Maintenance
Helps Caterpillar Improve its Remanufacturing Process
Speakers: Mark Stratton, General Manager - Cat Reman Remanufacturing
& Components Division, Caterpillar Inc.
Mark Hardesty, General
Manager FMS Operations, Advanced Technology Services
In this presentation, Mark Stratton, general manager of Caterpillar's
Remanufacturing & Components Division, discusses lean maintenance and how
it benefits Caterpillar's remanufacturing production process. He details how
employing best practices in lean production maintenance drives measureable
results in production rates, reduced downtime and improved on-time delivery.
Stratton also will address the critical elements necessary to develop and
implement a lean maintenance process, including a discussion of key performance
indicators. In addition, Mark Hardesty, operations general manager of Advanced
Technology Services Factory Services, will provide insights into best practices
in lean maintenance from ATS' experience with a highly diverse group of
customers.
Key Takeaways:
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Learn how lean maintenance is driving improved performances at Caterpillar.
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Understand the critical elements necessary to develop and implement lean
maintenance
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Gain insights into developing appropriate KPIs to keep your lean maintenance
program headed in the right direction.

Obeya Operations: Tearing Down the
Walls to Achieve Breakthrough Performance and Operational Excellence
Speakers:
Sam MacPherson:
President, The Lean Leadership Academy
Bill Levealle, General Manager, A. M. Castle Metals Aerospace
Bob Porter, Operations Manager, Timken Shiloh Plant
The Toyota Production System often is described as a biological
autonomic nervous system. If that is the case, then the Obeya or “Big Room” is
its brain! For first-time visitors to Toyota Motor Corp.'s headquarters in
Japan and throughout the world, many are surprised to discover an operating
environment without walls – the Obeya. Toyota's Obeya management process allows
leaders to share timely vital information, see emerging trends through
cross-departmental analysis, prioritize and coordinate efforts to maintain
focus on what's important, make timely decisions, orchestrate and foster a
common vision, and strive for excellence. Obeya management is the best way to
achieve face-to-face communications. Toyota has established Obeya management
centers for design engineering, sales and operations -- even in projects as
large as the global Camry project.
In this session, presenters from Castle Metals Aerospace, Timken and The Lean
Leadership Academy will share their knowledge of and successes with Obeya
operations.
In addition, you will learn:
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Overview of Toyota's Obeya operation management in sales, engineering and
manufacturing
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Obeya management and the andon system
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Obeya leadership structure and leader standard work
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Toyota's Obeya dispatcher, data mining and support of kaizen teams
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Much more
Key Takeaways:
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Hear how Timken Co.'s Shiloh Aerospace and Machine Tool Bearing Plant in
Rutherfordton, N.C., uses Obeya operations, and on management and Toyota's zone
control to achieve a 300% productivity increase, breakthrough performance in
operational availability of equipment and quality, a 60% increase in existing
capacity and daily on-time delivery to demanding customers.
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Gain insights into Castle's Obeya operations in inside sales, logistics/traffic
operations, warehouse and manufacturing operations.
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Take home an A3 plan for Obeya operations, including a blueprint for Obeya
layout.
IW Best Plants Winners Panel:
Lessons Learned on the Road to Operational Excellence
Moderator:
Jill Jusko, Senior Editor, INDUSTRYWEEK
201
IW Best Plants Winners Panelists:
Rob Temple, Plant Manager, Harris Products Group
David Robinson, Continuous Improvement Manager, Metal Supply Chain Manager, La-Z-Boy
Mark Hayes, Site Quality & Mission Success Manager, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
No manufacturing facility's journey to operational excellence
follows precisely the same path, as demonstrated by these representatives from
three of the 2012 IndustryWeek Best Plants winners. One of the manufacturing
plants represented on this panel discussion, for example, sprawls across 1.2
million square feet and builds furniture. Another engages in assembly and test
of high-tech products for the defense industry. A third makes brazing and
soldering consumables, doing more today with the same number of people it had
in 2008 and achieving the highest quality it ever has. While all three operate
in very different environments, what they share is a drive for excellence
coupled with the constant challenge to build enduring cultures of continuous
improvement. Learn specific practices these winning facilities employ to drive
manufacturing excellence in their facilities—and come armed with plenty of your
own questions!
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| Supply
Chain Strategies |
Vertically
Integrated Manufacturing as a Long-term Business Strategy and a Way of Life at
Crown Equipment
Speaker:
David Beddow,
VP Manufacturing Operations, Crown Equipment Corporation
Has your manufacturing company or plant been considering a move
toward vertical integration? Who better to share its rewards and challenges
than a manufacturer that has adopted vertical integration as a long-term
strategy? Crown Equipment Corp. is one of the world's largest material handling
companies. Its manufacturing processes are integral to the design and
engineering of its forklifts. The company designs and manufactures up to 85% of
its forklifts and components, including electric motors, drive units,
electronic modules, and seats. Crown is vertically integrated across 16 global
manufacturing facilities, and its approach extends throughout its distribution
model of Crown-owned branches and independent dealers.
In this presentation, the speaker will share how a long-term,
vertically integrated manufacturing approach can bring together every aspect of
a company's production process toward the common goal of creating superior
products, while meeting customer needs of quality, performance, cost and
delivery.
Key Takeaways:
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Hear advantages of vertical integration and how a long-term strategic approach
can provide unique flexibility and support creative product design and
engineering with the freedom to innovate and offer customized solutions in
compressed timeframes – resulting in value to the customer in terms of
flexibility, quality, cost and delivery.
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Understand processes and selection criteria used to choose vertical-integration
opportunities.
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To mitigate risk of vertical integration, hear examples and considerations
regarding levels of commitment, types of infrastructure and partnerships to
assure manufacturing's ability to be the best long-term choice in producing
components that achieve high quality and maximum flexibility at competitive
costs.
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Hear specific examples of “re-shoring” successes and other vertically
integrated accomplishments that achieve stringent product engineering
specifications and best value solutions, enhancing customer satisfaction.
Extended Lean for the Total Supply Chain
Speakers:
Eric Lail,
Vice President Continuous Improvement, Transportation Insight
Renae Ledford, Process Engineer and Continuous Improvement Leader, Valdese Weavers, Inc.
Companies look everywhere for improvement opportunities, including beyond their four walls, but they soon realize they lack the tools or systems required to apply lean principles to this magnitude. Valdese Weavers, a jacquard fabric manufacturer, has been using lean principles to optimize its supply chain, reduce
its sourcing costs and connect its value streams directly to its customers'
value streams. This Extended Lean approach has enabled Valdese Weavers to
thrive in North America. One of only three major manufacturers of its kind left
in North America, Valdese Weavers believes that it takes a team approach to
attack the tactical and strategic wastes within the supply chain to truly gain
competitive advantage. Transportation Insight and its sister company, Total
Insight, have partnered with Valdese Weavers to attack these supply chain
wastes.
Key Takeaways:
-
Recognize the difference between a tactical approach to lean versus a strategic
approach.
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Learn how the lean journey can impact the true customer more quickly.
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Gain a strategy for investing in your people and your lean journey.
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Understand where the lean executive needs to focus energy to help the
practitioners.
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Learn how to increase the speed to competitive advantage.
To Offshore or Reshore: How to Objectively Decide
Speaker:
Harry Moser, Founder, Reshoring Initiative
Recent reshorings by Apple, GE and Foxconn are causing companies to reevaluate offshoring and reshoring. Increasingly, companies are recognizing manufacturing location's impact on innovation, time to market, inventory, IP risk, consumer preference, etc. The Reshoring Initiative's Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Estimator software helps companies quantify these costs and 23 more. If companies make sourcing decisions based on TCO instead of price or landed cost, about 25% of what has been offshored would come back, while increasing profitability and reducing risk.
Learn how to use the free Initiative tools:
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TCO Estimator for sourcing decisions
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Case studies for free publicity about your reshoring successes
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Library for seeking customers and competitors that are reshoring
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| Workforce
Development |
The
Death of the 8-Hour Shift
Speaker:
John Frehse,
Chief Strategic Officer and Managing Partner, Core Practice
In a world of global competition, tightening margins and advanced technology,
corporations have been slow to make aggressive adjustments to their labor
strategy. The overwhelming use of eight-hour shifts is a key sign of this
lack of transformation. As “just in time” becomes more widely adopted,
the eight-hour shift will become a relic of “how we used to do it” and no
longer part of the “this is how we have always done it” excuse.
Key takeaways:
-
Learn new ways to deploy labor, including real examples of shift schedules that
have been implemented successfully.
-
Learn why the current eight-hour shift may be costing your business millions of
dollars.
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Learn the pros and cons of the most common shift schedules
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Learn what employees think about a variety of options through real benchmarking
data

Engaged Employees Drive Continuous Improvement
Efforts at a Snyder's-Lance Bakery
Speakers: Greg
Flickinger, V.P. Manufacturing and Corporate Engineering, Snyder's Lance, Inc.
Keith Mobley, Principal, Life Cycle Engineering, Inc.
Imagine a snack food plant where constant jams, breakdowns and
mistakes resulted in excessive scrap, missed deliveries, loss of customers and
a history of financial losses. One where the workforce had become so
conditioned to the constant failures that workers approached each day with the
expectation of the same frustration. Poor performance had become the accepted
cultural norm. This is the situation that the new leadership faced when they
assumed responsibility for the Columbus, Ga., Snyder's-Lance bakery. The
challenge seemed insurmountable, but this new team, bolstered by their
background in Lean Six Sigma and TPM, harnessed the resilience and ingenuity of
their workforce to make historical performance improvements. For example,
production lines that had run in the 55% to 65% of Tmax (theoretical maximum)
range have now reliably sustained in the high 75% to 85% range without any
significant capital investment. Customer service and fulfillment rates have
gone from the 70% to 75% range to a stable 99%. Recordable incidents have been
reduced more than 40%.This presentation will demonstrate how the team
systematically transformed not simply a production plant, but also a culture.
Key takeaways:
-
Discover the power of employee engagement. The native knowledge of the
workforce was leveraged to develop effective standard work for line setup and
operations. The use of visual control boards and transparent performance
metrics connected the employees to the resultant performance of the line.
-
Gain an understanding of the change-management methodology implemented
throughout the organization.
-
Learn how the application of reliability engineering and cross-functional team
problem-solving identified and resolved inherent design deficiencies.

Need Skilled Workers? Industry and
Education Initiatives that Work
Panelists: Bryan Dods, Executive Manufacturing
Technology Leader - Global Supply Chain Management, GE Energy
Werner Eikenbusch, Manager Apprenticeship & Associate Training, BMW
Manufacturing Co.
Anand K. Gramopadhye,
Ph.D, Assoc. Vice President for Workforce Development, Professor &
Chair - Department of Industrial Engineering, Clemson University
Susan Pretulak, Executive
Director, readySC
Moderator:
Hal Johnson,
President & CEO, Upstate SC Alliance
A skilled employee is a company's greatest asset. Learn how
industry leaders and educators are working together to develop unique training
and education initiatives to ensure companies have access to a skilled and
ready workforce to meet both their current and future needs.
Key takeaways:
-
Hear examples of successful collaborations among manufacturers, educators and
local organizations to develop winning models of workforce training.
-
Understand both the benefits and costs (commitment) required of industry and
educators to make collaborative training initiatives succeed.
-
Learn how to get the conversation started in your community
Achieving Excellence using
High Performance Work Teams
Speakers:
Brett Petrie, Senior, Director of Manufacturing, Life Technologies
Tim Dorsey, President, The
Dorsey Group
Four years ago, Life Technologies' Austin, Texas, site set out to improve its
performance. Realizing this is a journey and not an event, Life Technologies
utilized High Performance Work Teams (HPWT) concepts launched by The Dorsey
Group to transform the organizational culture. It has proven to be a journey
filled with obstacles to overcome and processes to improve.
Life Technologies wanted to create a culture that would allow
it to remain competitive in a very challenging and changing business
environment. HPWTs is about engaging the entire workforce in challenging the
way the company does business, and developing the tools, processes and
structure that allow the employees to drive and sustain the results.
Life Technologies has made great progress in its journey. The
Austin site has been recognized at the corporate level, receiving the Life
Technologies Productivity Award. It also was named an IndustryWeek's Best
Plants winner in 2011.
In this presentation, the speakers will share the roadmap,
strategies and lessons learned the team experienced along the journey, as well
as its continued quest for excellence. The presenters also will explore the
challenges encountered at the team, department, site and corporate levels.
Key Takeaways:
-
Learn what High Performance Work Teams are and how they can help transform a
culture.
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Discover how Life Technologies implemented HPWTs at site and corporate levels.
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Gain knowledge of tools that help actively engage employees.

Fueling Strong
Profits: Federal Heath Sign Co.'s Lean Transformation Approach
Speaker: Rick Foreman, Director of Lean
Development, Federal Heath
"Lean" thinking transformation, daily execution and the ability
to sustain improvements are achieved through establishing a cross-functional
lean champion team and a learning structure that engages the “why factor” and
behavioral elements involving change.
Federal Heath Sign has adapted an approach that engages, connects and
influences team members across all functions and levels through book studies,
gemba waste engagements, learning by doing, embracing PDCA and a consistent
coaching/mentoring system. This has led to a deeper, shared level of ownership
and accountability, where team members consistently reflect upon what went well
or did not go well today, and how to improve it tomorrow. This presentation
will share a key tracking mechanism that has contributed to the ability to
sustain a culture of continuous improvement while correlating directly with
Federal Heath's corporate, strategic objectives. Attendees also will learn how
Federal Heath identified the specific lean methodologies that best fit its
organizational environments, across multiple locations.
Key Takeaways:
-
Discover how to develop a cross-functional lean champion group, within the
existing leadership/management structure, that models the way for change.
-
Learn how to engage, connect and influence team members, with lean thinking and
problem solving, across all functions, through lean coaching and mentoring at
the gemba.
-
Learn how to gain and sustain buy-in for change at the individual, team,
organization, customer and enterprise level.
-
Gain a deeper understanding about how to execute a lean transformation, across
multiple facilities, while overcoming past management philosophies,
geographical influences and past improvement failures.
Strategic Training at Siemens Energy
Speaker:
Pamela B. Howze, SPHR, Training and Development Manager, Siemens Energy
Attend this session and learn how Siemens Energy Inc. takes a strategic and holistic approach to workforce development through its employees, collaborative community partnerships with educational institutions and other businesses. In addition, Siemens has created an operational Train the Trainer program using subject matter experts from across the campus. Learn how Siemens started a formal European-type apprenticeship training program for young adults while they are still attending high school and a maintenance apprenticeship program for veterans exiting the military. Siemens also has deployed ToolingU across the site, giving all operators equal access to training regardless of what shift they work, via strategically placed eLearning stations on the manufacturing floor. This session will address:
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Technical Training Development for New Gas Turbine Plant
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Safety Training Program
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Train the Trainer Program
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Apprenticeship Program
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eLearning Through ToolingU
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STEMersion
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| |
| Leadership
& Innovation |
The
Lean Leadership Roadmap: A New Blueprint for Developing Highly Engaged Lean
Leaders
Speakers: Sam MacPherson, President, Lean
Leadership Academy
Art Smalley, President,
Art of Lean, Inc.
What happens when you combine leadership development secrets of
the world's greatest manufacturer with the world's most elite military unit?
Toyota is without question one of the most successful and
studied companies in the world. Yet, despite the volumes of books, articles,
case studies and countless benchmarking tours, few organizations have been able
to match Toyota's performance, profitable growth and culture of
engagement.
Similarly, the U.S. Army Special Forces' (or Green Berets')
elite training, team-based culture and legacy of excellence produce leaders
capable of acting as the front line of American diplomacy in the most remote
regions of the world -- winning hearts and minds, and reaching the highest
levels of service to the United States.
In this session, lean leadership experts Art Smalley (Toyota
Motor Corp., Donnelly Corp., McKinsey and Co., Art of Lean) and Sam MacPherson
(former chief of training, U.S. Army Special Forces Command, award- winning
lean manufacturing senior executive) take you inside the Green Berets and
inside Toyota. Smalley and MacPherson will share their solution to America's
manufacturing and industrial leadership gap and their blueprint for developing
a legacy of highly engaged, organizational lean leaders that will create
bench-strength depth, critical mass and breakthrough performance.
Here is some of what you will learn:
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Lean's Greatest Need: The willingness and ability to lead
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Lean vs. TPS (Toyota Production System): organizational lean compliance vs. the
True Aims of TPS
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U.S. Army Special Forces and Toyota: A comparative case study about how these
two organizations develop a legacy of successful leaders
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How Toyota and the Green Berets are organized to succeed through small group
leadership and the deployment of organizational problem-solving capability
-
The Attributes of a Lean Leader
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10 keys to creating a legacy of lean leaders dedicated to operational
excellence and people engagement
Key takeaways:
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A3 of Lean Leadership Academy approach and model
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A blueprint for developing systematic current and future organizational lean
leaders capable of leading in a Toyota Production System/Toyota Management
System environment
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Example of lean leadership development training plan overview

Developing Lean Leaders
at IBM's Advanced Microelectronics Solutions
Speaker:
Patrick
Varekamp, Senior Technical Staff Member – Microelectronics Division, IBM
It is often a challenge to transform leadership to truly
understand, think and behave lean. In this session, you will learn about a
structured and repeatable activity for improving the discipline of lean
leaders—an approach that is flexible enough to be applied to any organization
and at any management level. Patrick Varekamp, senior technical staff member in
IBM's Microelectronics Division, will present results from the structured
approach and discuss the critical success factors learned from applying the
approach to the senior leadership team of IBM's Advanced Microelectronics
Solutions organization.
Key Takeaways:
-
Learn how to assess which lean behaviors exhibited by your leadership team are
holding back your organization's lean transformation.
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Understand the details of a structured and repeatable method to transform your
leadership team into disciplined lean leaders.
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Identify lessons learned from the application of this method to a team of
executives in IBM's Advanced Microelectronics Solutions organization.
From Plant Managers to Profitability
Engineers: Meeting the Needs of Today's Global Economy with Business-Savvy
Plant Managers
Speaker:
Susan Nutson, SVP Human
Resources, Saint-Gobain North America
In today's fast-paced and global economy, the role of plant
manager is evolving at breakneck speed. Plant managers who are technically
savvy yet are also financially literate with a strong business sense are
becoming the new standard. Identifying and building a talent pool of managers
who are aware of the marketplace and how the plant manager can position the
plant for an economic advantage while also ensuring smooth and efficient
production brings a whole new level of complexity for those responsible for
talent acquisition and growth.
Attend this session to learn about Saint-Gobain's global and North
American-specific approach to growing and identifying Profitability Engineers.
Key takeaways:
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Learn how the role of plant manager has shifted over time and how your company
can seek to meet the needs of this evolving field.
-
Gain insight into the skill sets needed from this new generation of plant
managers.
-
Learn from Saint-Gobain's first-hand experience in growing and acquiring this
new type of plant manager.
Adapting the Toyota Product
Development System
Speaker:
Bob Melvin, Vice President of Engineering, Teledyne Benthos, Inc.
Test first, then design': How to turn the traditional product
development process on its head -- and
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learn what you don't know early on in a project,
-
eliminate the dreaded “loop-back,” ensure that new products hit the sweet spot:
the right technology at the right price at the right time, and
-
achieve a steady -- and faster -- pace of new product development.
Sound impossible? This Teledyne Benthos presentation shows you how.
Key Takeaways:
-
how to develop a knowledge library to establish a reliable ‘corporate memory'
-
how to change engineering's propensity to start designing immediately thus
eliminating the dreaded project loopbacks
-
how to develop a new product development rhythm embraced by both engineering
and sales
Warren Rupp Tackles Material Flow Optimization to Pump
Up Productivity
Speaker:
William Jones, Vice
President of Operations, East Asia, IDEX Corporation
John Carter – President
Diaphragm & Dosing Pump Technology, IDEX Corporation
Warren Rupp will take you through the process it employed to
successfully implement a plantwide Material Flow Optimization (MFO) project in
a manufacturing environment. During this session you will learn how Warren
Rupp's Mansfield, Ohio, plant, a 2012 IW Best Plants winner, redesigned an
entire plant in order to improve the flow of materials and effectively
manufacture and ship product out at a faster pace. How successful has the
project been? The plant hit its ROI target in three months, a full year ahead
of expectations.
Key Takeaways:
-
Find out why Warren Rupp took on this project. What issues was the company
trying to solve?
-
Learn about the methodology Warren Rupp used to ensure an on-time, successful
project completion
-
Understand how to effectively get buy in from all levels of the corporation.
-
Hear about the challenges Warren Rupp faced along the way.
Natural Capitalism Through Innovation
Speaker: John
Bradford, Chief Innovations Officer, Interface America's Inc.
This presentation examines past attempts to leverage nature in our economic
systems and the vectors that are destined for failure. History shows that it is
impossible to thwart the natural process, and while technology can sometimes
delay consequences, it cannot eliminate them. An introduction to biomimicry
drives the point home that our world evolved over the
last 4 billion years and will continue to evolve, despite humankind's best
efforts to destroy it. With Nature as the instructor, observe how humans can
become a part of nature, rather than moving away from nature. Interface Chief
Innovations Officer John Bradford will explore ideas on how to transform the
economic system to one that is more sustainable, bring thoughts into action and
set up the story of specific projects that have had meaning in the
transformation of Interface, a carpet company aspiring to become a sustainable
enterprise by the year 2020.
Key Takeaways:
-
Not all good intentions have a positive effect on our economic system's balance
and resilience.
-
History shaped current assumptions surrounding our economic system
-
Introduction to biomimicry, highlighting the contrast between an “evolved”
planet over one that is “created”
-
Role of Nature as a teacher
-
Transforming our economic system to a more sustainable enterprise/world
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| Manufacturing
Technology Strategies |
Manufacturing
Visibility & Productivity at Toyota
Speaker: Trever White,
Information Systems Manager - Manufacturing & Quality Business Systems,
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, North America
Toyota has always believed in a “Go and See” philosophy in manufacturing to
make informed decisions with the best information available. Their efforts to
implement a multi-site strategy to integrate production, maintenance and
quality systems with their enterprise is an ongoing, strategic initiative
within Toyota, and one that has brought the Information Systems (IS) group much
closer to the plants they support. Join Trever White, IS Leader – Manufacturing
& Quality Business Systems, Toyota North America, for an open, interactive
discussion on what they have learned on their journey toward enterprise-wide
manufacturing visibility, why they're doing it, and how they're making it
happen.
Key Takeaways:
-
The value of manufacturing visibility to drive productivity
-
The need for cross-functional business collaboration between plants and
corporate groups
-
The key challenges, lessons learned and best practices Toyota has uncovered on
their journey

How
Reynolds American Transformed its Business – An End-to-End Transformation
Journey Linking People, Processes and Technology
Speakers: Missy Moore,
Senior Director Information Management, RAI Services Co.
John Southcott, Co CEO,
Brock Solutions
Learn from Missy Moore as she shares the challenges R.J. Reynolds faced -- a
shrinking market, increasing taxes, obsolete infrastructure, and an aging
workforce with decades of knowledge walking out the door -- and the call to
action to transform the business. R.J. Reynolds' transformation began
with the development of a five-year manufacturing strategy, coupled with
leadership's commitment to build a high-performance culture and enabled by the
appropriate technology boost. This session will detail how R.J. Reynolds
tackled its challenges and emerged more efficient and profitable than before.
Key takeaways:
-
Discover the lessons learned by R.J. Reynolds as it pursued its
transformational program – learn what to do and what not to do.
-
Gain a clear picture of the technology and implementation steps required to
enable such a transformation.
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Hear specific quantitative and qualitative achievements the transformation
delivered.

Driving
Continuous Improvement through Workflow Automation
Speakers:
Rusty Callier, Director of
Operations, Uponor
Mike Stuedemann,
Engagement Manager, Savigent Software
A pillar of manufacturer Uponor's strategy for operational
excellence is its focus on continuous improvement to increase product quality,
improve manufacturing efficiencies and reduce operating costs. This
presentation provides an overview of the continuous improvement strategy of
Uponor, an international provider of plumbing and indoor climate systems for
the residential and commercial building markets. The overview will include a
special focus on the company's lean manufacturing initiatives and Six Sigma
efforts. In addition, two case studies will provide detailed insight into
continuous improvement at Uponor's North American manufacturing facility. One
case study documents Uponor's efforts to improve asset availability and
utilization within its large installed base of plastics extruders – part of its
effort to improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). A second case study
focuses on the role workflow automation (business process management) plays in
driving responses to actionable events and their ability to change behavior on
the plant floor.
Key Takeaways:
-
Discover actions you can take to improve equipment availability and
utilization.
-
Gain an appreciation of the role behavior change and data-driven
decision-making play in the success of continuous-improvement initiatives.
-
Learn how an increased focus on the incidents (exception events) that impact
efficient, effective and economical manufacturing drives change in an
operation.
-
Increase your understanding of workflow automation and its application to drive
continuous improvement in manufacturing operations.
Manufacturing
Technology Evolution at Mondelēz International
Speaker:
Erik Nistad, Director, Enterprise Business Services, Integrated Supply Chain, Mondelēz International
For many years, corporations have realized the value of
standardized systems across the enterprise level for driving consistency,
simplicity and efficiency. In recent years, companies have turned their eyes
toward the plant floor attempting to extend those benefits all the way to
production. Come hear how one large global manufacturer has begun that journey
and the pitfalls it encountered along the way. Learn how you can leverage its
experiences to extend those benefits to your organization.
Key Takeaways:
-
Approach to aligning organizations across functions and the globe on
manufacturing systems strategy
-
Leveraging standardization to capture and drive information from manufacturing
automation to ERP
-
Developing and aligning an approach for integrating both the “old” and the
“new”
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| Cellular-Flow |
| Monday,
April 22 - 8:30 am – 11:00 am
Additional fee to attend. |
| Instructor:
Jim Woody, Technical
Specialist, South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership |
I.
The Basics of Lean Quick Review
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Definition
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Value Added vs Non Value Added
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8 Wastes
II.
The Value of Time
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Cash Flow
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$ Value of Cost
III.
Tying in Lean Concepts with Flow of the Product
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Impact of Inventory to Flow of the Product
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Impact of Balance to Flow of the Product
-
Basic Considerations in Cellular Flow
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Calculating Optimum Inventory in a Cell
IV.
Managing Differently in a Lean Environment
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Process Lead Time
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A Realistic Measure of Productivity - Breaking a Paradigm
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Key Measures to Use in Managing a Workcell
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| Training
Within Industry (TWI) |
| Monday,
April 22 - 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Additional fee to attend. |
| Instructor: Susan
Whitehead, Technical Specialist, South Carolina Manufacturing Extension
Partnership |
TWI was
developed in the United States during WWII to train replacements for an
industrial workforce who left to fight a war. It was very successful and
is credited with helping the United States out-produce the enemy. After
the war, our experienced workforce returned home. TWI was just a memory
in the United States, but we taught it to other countries who have been using
it ever since. Now it's back! Competition and has forced us to look for more
help. TWI has been called the missing link. It creates the culture to
sustain our lean improvements. It's a return to foundational tools
and so much more!
Learn how to implement the three modules of TWI.
Job Relations: Build a culture of
cooperation and respect, where employees and supervisors have strong
relationships enabling them to develop their own skills as well as continually
improve processes. Teach lead people and supervisors Foundations for Good
Relations to help prevent problems along with a 4 step method to deal with
people problems when they arise.
Job Instruction: Build a culture where
your most skilled employees know how to share their knowledge with other
employees. Teach them to efficiently bring others up-to-speed so more and
more employees can execute work consistently. This creates a strong teamwork
culture between employees at many levels. (Wouldn't you trust someone who
taught you a valuable skill efficiently and effectively?).
Job Methods: Teach lead people and
supervisors to work with employees to review work processes and create
continuous improvement. You don't have to wait for a team event. We want all
employees looking for better ways to do the work every day. Job Methods teaches
a method for coming up with improvement ideas and creating a concise proposal
to present to management.
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MESA
International Business Forum
(open to IW Best Plants Conference attendees, part of
co-located MESA's 2013 North American Conference) |
| Monday, April 22 -
9:00 am – 12:00 pm |
Join the MESA
International Business Forum to kick off the conference. Meet
the MESA International president, board of directors and fellow industry
professionals. You're invited to participate in MESA's International
Board meeting from 9-10:30am. Or join us at 10:30am to learn about recent
MESA accomplishments and future objectives. Dive into the MESA Global
Education Program (GEP) and on-going strategic initiatives. And, champion
your own cause by telling MESA leaders what you need from the association to
deliver on-going value in your organization. Limited seating available.
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MESA
unConferences: Open Forums on Making Your Plants Operate Best
(open to IW Best Plants Conference attendees,
part of co-located MESA's 2013 North American Conference) |
Monday,
April 22 – 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
The Value of Manufacturing Technologies in Continuous Improvement
OR
ROI & Justification for Manufacturing IT Solutions
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Improving Manufacturing Performance so Executives Notice
OR
Your Voice: What tools, technologies, education and capabilities you and your
business need to thrive.
|
Forget
the lectures, let's roll up our sleeves! MESA International is bringing
their “unConference” format to Greenville to offer you a safe, open environment
to address your most pressing challenges. These sessions offer a rich,
interactive environment in which knowledge sharing works best.
No presentations or speakers here, in a MESA unConference, you set the
agenda. Choose which themed unConference you'd like to attend and bring
all your burning challenges. Experienced MESA professionals will moderate
the discussions between you and your peers, encouraging all to contribute to
the sharing of ideas and lessons learned.
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| Building
a Sustainable Safety System |
How
Milliken Built a Culture of Safety Excellence Through Engagement
|
| Monday,
April 22 - 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Additional fee to attend. |
Instructors: Chris
Glover, Director - Milliken Performance System, Milliken & Co.
Phil McIntyre, Director
Business Development and Marketing - Milliken Performance Solutions, Milliken
& Co.
|
Through
numerous real-world Milliken examples, you will be able to understand the
fundamental beliefs and strategies behind a successful World-Class Safety
operation. You'll learn how to:
-
Create a ‘Bottom-Up Approach' that facilitates associate empowerment,
ownership, and engagement
-
Understand how Leadership and Team Development play an integral role in your
safety journey and your Culture
-
Obtain Leadership commitment and desire and how Safety should be the ‘Core
Value' of your organization
-
Create, train, and educate sub-committees based on your particular environment
and needs
-
Avoid reaching a safety plateau and how to keep driving continuous improvement
Workshop outline:
I.
The 9 Immutable Keys to a Successful and Sustainable Safety Process
-
The aspects of Leadership Commitment
-
What role does ‘Culture' play?
-
How to incorporate the right metrics at the right time.
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Training, Education, Audits, Code & Compliance all part of a ‘holistic'
safety process. Tools are not Enough!
II.
The Milliken Safety Process
-
Safety as the ‘Trust' factor
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How to develop a culture of associate engagement and empowerment
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Selecting a Steering Committee
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Selecting the proper Sub-Committees
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How associate-led safety teams and committees create the culture whereby
improvements are sustainable
III.
Financial Benefits
-
The financial benefits of being ‘Safe'
Milliken & Company is a 147 year old textile and chemical company based in
South Carolina that has been internationally recognized for its achievements in
safety and operational excellence. With safety as its #1 core value, Milliken
has 29 OSHA certified Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) STAR sites and is one
of the few organizations to have its headquarters—Roger Milliken Center in
Spartanburg, SC—that has become an OSHA certified Voluntary Protection Program
(VPP) STAR site.
Milliken's Safety Process is a proven, 20-step process that engages the entire
workforce. Driven by the desire to eliminate ALL safety incidents, this
proprietary process has been developed over the past decade through
benchmarking best practices around the world and actively engaging and
empowering the entire workforce. While Milliken & Company has been
recognized as a benchmark in safety, the goal still remains ZERO.
Milliken's Safety Process is a comprehensive system that leads to dramatic
breakthroughs in employee safety, motivation and morale, and overall cost
reduction. It is all about cultural and systems changes and not just about the
application of tools. This process applies to all types of businesses from
manufacturing to public and private industry. It is about changing the way
employees go about doing their job, not bolting on safety initiatives that are
not sustainable over the long term.
Milliken's Safety Process is an employee-centric approach to improving safety
that is designed to build an organic, internal capability that is permanently
infused into the organization. Milliken has been recognized repeatedly by
organizations such as Occupational Hazards magazine as one of the safest
companies in the U.S., regardless of industry. Milliken is the only American
company that has won the top manufacturing award in both the United States and
Japan — the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the U.S. and the TPM
Excellence Award sponsored by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance. In
addition, Milliken has been named five times as one of the Best Companies to
Work For inFORTUNE Magazine's annual top 100 listing. The company has also been
named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Magazine.
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| Lean
Product Development |
| Monday,
April 22 - 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Additional fee to attend. |
| Instructor: Chris
Wayne, Growth Services Manager, South Carolina Manufacturing Extension
Partnership |
If your
company is like most, the transition of new products from engineering to
manufacturing is difficult and inefficient.
Help streamline the flow of new products from engineering through
manufacturing. Reduce wasted time, energy and resources. Improve communication
and teamwork. Companies that use Lean Product Development techniques reduce
time to market by up to 70%, and reduce development costs by over 30%.
Topics include:
-
Visual project boards
-
Stand-up coordination meetings
-
Lean Product Development Process Flow
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| How
and Why to be an IW Best Plants Winner |
| Monday,
April 22 - 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
|
| Instructor: Jill
Jusko, Senior Editor and IW Best Plants Awards Coordinator,
IndustryWeek |
The
IndustryWeek Best Plants Awards program annually salutes North American
manufacturing excellence. During this session, IW Best Plants awards
coordinator Jill Jusko discusses the IW Best Plants competition process and
walks you through the IW Best Plants application. She will highlight key
questions and provide insights into performances achieved by past participants.
Audience questions will be encouraged throughout the presentation.
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