ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Practical Value: Workshops to Offer “Lessons Learned”
Lea Tonkin, editor in chief
Blending innovation and experience provides a powerful educational “kick” for participants in the AME 2012 International “Excellence Inside” Conference to be held in Chicago. Program volunteers have lined up an impressive slate of veteran lean practitioners and consultants for the Oct. 15-19 event.
“Workshops offer a different value from the best practice presentations. Practitioners offer real-life experiences and provide takeaways for the attendees, but the workshops provide the ‘how-to’ knowledge of applying the tools and techniques necessary to move forward on your lean journey,” said Richard Evans, co-chair of workshops. “The consultants show you the key points (such as TWI terminology) with application, through hands-on simulations. Workshops are the building blocks of how to apply lean.”
Effective Training, Standardized Work
Strong production supervision and effective training can jumpstart lean strategy, according to Bob Wrona, executive director of the TWI Institute. Wrona and TWI Institute Senior Master Trainer Patrick Graupp will lead a workshop session on “Training Within Industry, No Longer Toyota’s Best Kept Secret.” They will discuss how companies use TWI to sustain their lean efforts and the impact this training has on operations around the world.
“Having few problems in equipment uptime, defect-free materials, and strong production supervision are prerequisites for a lean implementation to run smoothly,” Wrona said. "Although lean provides the tools to improve machines, materials, and methods, operators working under unskilled supervision are typically left to make decisions on their own about how the work is done — the result being unstable performance due to the lack of standardized work.”
Wrona explained that the TWI program, originally used during World War II for training unskilled workers to produce war materiel in quantities never thought possible, later gained followers in manufacturing as well as health care, energy, and other enterprises. “Industries adopt the TWI program to help themselves compete in today’s global markets,” Wrona said. “Researchers uncovered that TWI is the way people were, and are, trained in the Toyota Production System (TPS).” Participants in the TWI workshop will learn about gaining management commitment for TWI training, implementing TWI in manufacturing and other industries, gathering “before and after” metrics to measure the impact of TWI in lean, etc.
Other workshop topics range from “Lean Business Simulation” to “Lean Tools for the Office,” “Creating a Lean Culture,” “A Factory of One — Applying Lean Concepts to Create Personal Flow,” “Lean Product Development,” and “Lean Behaviors — Creating a High Performance Climate for Sustained Transformation,.”
Six presentation value streams, insightful keynoters, 30 plant tours, networking sessions, and exhibits also offer great learning opportunities for conference attendees.
For conference information and registration, visit ameconference.org
