AME Atlanta 2013 Lean Summit: Aug. 26-29 It’s All About Leadership

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Don’t miss the Lean Summit in Atlanta, Aug. 26-29.

For more information and to register, visit www.ame.org/atlanta.

The Southeastern Region of AME will host a Lean Summit in Atlanta, from Aug. 26-29.

This Lean Summit provides an intimate environment focusing on excellence in workshops, tours and keynote speakers, while allowing participants to network with peers. The theme of the summit is “It’s All About Leadership.”

Summit Chair Larry Fast said, “I’m told this is the largest AME event to be held in our great city of Atlanta. I believe our team has put together a compelling agenda.”

Marketing Chair Art Hau said, “It is with events like this where we can showcase world-class lean transformations and hear from those who have gone down that path.”

The benefits of an AME event are many, but probably the most rewarding ones are personal. There are countless new insightful “aha” and “that’s funny” discoveries that set innovative thinking into motion. And the new lean thinking and insights you gain at the Lean Summit will likely result in saving your organization time and money.

There is nothing like the sharing that a fellow practitioner can provide. Be it from a keynote speaker, a workshop or a tour, our event attendees always tell us they benefit most from learning about lean from peers who are passionate about how they achieved success — warts and all. They will tell you about the good, the bad and the ugly, and how they managed everything along the way.

Tours

There will be many exciting gemba walks to choose from. We have eight confirmed tours with others to be added later. On Tuesday, we will have doubleheader tours — one in the morning and one in the afternoon. These tours include Power Partners, Acuity Brands, Sunny Delight Beverages Co., Milliken and KIA Motors, all award winning facilities. On Thursday, the tours (in the morning only) will be to world-class facilities such as TOTO USA, ZEP and Philips Respironics.

Workshops

We will cover the span from lean basics and specific tools, all the way to the most important aspect of lean — culture and people. Experienced practitioners and educators will share their experiences and lead you through some exciting concepts. Choose from among six sessions  — Leading the Lean Revolution/Hoshin Kanri Planning,Toyota Kata, Complex Multi-tiered Supply Chain Flow, People-Powered Lean, Lean and Safe! and Accounting in a Lean Environment.

Keynote speakers

The following speakers will address the Lean Summit.

Art Byrne, author of The Lean Turnaround: How Business Leaders Use Lean Principles to Create Value and Transform Their Company, will speak directly to the topic “Lean Turnaround.” Byrne’s successful lean implementations at Danaher and Wiremold — and more recently as an operating partner with the private-equity firm J.W. Childs Associates — are powerful case studies for the fruits that can be harvested from faithful devotion to the fundamentals of the Toyota Production System.

Joe Barto, a retired Army Lt. Colonel with his own consulting business, Training Modernization Group, TMG, Inc., will speak on the topic of “AME Vet Friendly.”

Luke Faulstick, co-owner, president and CEO of PPI, the parent company of Power Partners based in Athens, GA, has led various companies on the journey to excellence, most recently as COO of DJO Global whose operations won numerous awards including the Shingo Prize, Industry Week’s Best Plants and the AME Manufacturing Excellence Award. He was also Chairman of AME from 2009-2010. Faulstick will speak on “Lean Deployment & AME.”

Larry Crull is the manager of lean operations for FedEx Express. Crull will discuss how FedEx Express is creating a lean culture in a unique service environment. In seven short years, those efforts have had a significant impact on the FedEx global operations. He will also discuss some of the challenges faced, lessons learned and accomplishments achieved along this journey.

More information about the summit is available at www.ame.org/atlanta.

Larry E. Fast is AME Atlanta 2013 Summit Chair, AME Southeastern Region Director.