lean management Archives - Partners in Business Excellence, LLC

Does Your Business Want to Learn to Fish with a Lean Sensei?

January 17, 2020 By Peter Holtgreive No Comments

Along with personal New Year’s Resolutions, there are also business ones. We often spend time each year reflecting on our numbers and then come up with strategies to improve them. For some, improving numbers means increasing sales or efficiency. For others, it means reducing accidents (and insurance claims) or inventory waste.

These needed changes are often discussed over boardroom tables, and other times are given as directives from upper management. Unfortunately, just like personal resolutions, business goals can start strong and then lose ground, sometimes ending up in a position worse than where they started. This is when consultants are often called in.

The Problem with Consultants

Consultants, with a wide variety of specialties, are often called in to help management fix a specific problem they are having. This is like hiring a personal trainer when your goal is to increase your fitness levels. The consultant or trainer takes some background information and starting metrics and then prescribes an action plan.

You then implement that plan, along with accountability from the consultant. While the accountability is in place and you continue to implement the plan, goals materialize. Everyone celebrates! However, too often, once the accountability is gone, there is a sliding back, or even a maladaptive behavior, and this creates a bigger problem than what you started with.

When someone from outside the business comes in, they bring with them the benefit of a fresh perspective, but, if they only give a solution, without really understanding the problem, they will create a bigger fish to fry.

Learning to Fish

Lean consultants often carry the title of Sensei. They do this because unlike consultants, who show up, solve a problem and leave, they look for the root cause of the problem to begin with. A lean sensei doesn’t simply offer a quick fix, but rather seeks knowledge. They don’t look for the “fish” that will solve a problem, temporarily changing results, and celebrating prematurely. Instead, they learn about the lake that is the business at hand, the fish that occupy that lake, and the best bait to use.

When a lean sensei works with a business, they seek to understand how holes got into the systems and lead management into processes that help them discover and solve those on their own. This way teaches managers concepts they can use going forward, rather than giving them a single solution. Instead of a fish, a lean sensei teaches the business how to fish.

PBEX, LLC provides a complete review and analysis of the business processes that create efficiency and profitability, and the barriers to them. Providing consulting and lean process improvement training, we are ready to support your organizational goals. Contact us today to learn more about lean business management and to schedule your review with a lean sensei.

Business Process Management

Having Trouble with High Employee Turnover?

June 24, 2019 By Peter Holtgreive No Comments

It May Be Time to Look at Your Processes

Some industries are known for high employee turnover. They tend to be jobs in retail or food service, where jobs pay low and are plentiful, but they aren’t the only ones. In fact, according to LinkedIn Learning, Software and Media jobs also rank among the highest.

There are some reasons for this high employee turnover that have a lot to do with changes in the industry, creating a wave of trends that those in employment sectors are watching. But, if you have discovered that your business is suffering from unusually high employee loss, and it doesn’t seem to fit the industry trend (or it does but you’d like to reverse that), you may want to take a look at your processes.

The Management Hole

One of the biggest complaints by employees is that they feel management makes decisions from behind a desk, without really understanding the front line. There tends to be a gap between what managers want from staff and what staff is able to provide. This becomes the forever battle between the front line and management teams.

Hands-on management encourages and equips leaders to spend time getting to understand their direct subordinates. Learning employee motivations and interests helps to close the communication gap, but is it enough?

Lack of Awareness

Sometimes, high employee turnover comes from a lack of awareness about why it is happening to begin with. Are there exit interviews in place? Is the management team open to feedback and continuous improvement?

Simply reviewing the motivations for employee terminations and resignations can create a huge insight from which management can begin to make positive, money saving changes. Just like changing a manufacturing error that creates a physical defect in the end product, making a change to a hiring, on-boarding, or management practices can correct problematic employee results.

High employee turnover and repeated disciplinary actions may be a sign of a broken system

An Example from the Trenches

Recently I discovered that someone close to me left his job in frustration over something that could have been fixed for under $20. The employee had been given warnings with increasing penalties for consistently not taking his lunch break on time. He was often focused on work, and with no clock in the work space, often lost track of time. Due to the type of work he was doing, wearing a wrist watch was dangerous, and he wasn’t allowed to have his cellphone on the floor.

Overall, he felt he was ‘magically’ supposed to know when it was lunchtime, and clock out at the appropriate time. Most of the time, a certain person returning from their break would be a visible trigger for him, but other times he missed it, and therefore, missed his break start, setting in motion a domino effect of missed lunch breaks for others. This was obviously a frustration for management.

When the employee asked for a clock to be installed, or the one on the wall to be repaired, he was told it would happen, but that day didn’t come before he received his third verbal warning for a late lunch clock out. Frustrated, he offered his resignation. No surprise, this wasn’t the only management fail he had experienced, but it was the straw that broke his back.

So, given the cost of replacing the employee, or purchasing a $20 clock, what would you choose? What systems need to be in place in order for this type of mistake to be avoided? A feedback loop? A change in procurement practices? What simple steps can be implemented to reduce the emotional and actual cost of high employee turnover?

Simple, Effective Solutions

Often, when I visit companies looking to improve results that aren’t meeting their expectations, I find a very simple fix. Sometimes this means throwing out cold inventory, changing how a process is done to improve efficiency, or simply purchasing the one thing employees need to be successful.

As an objective outsider, equipped with Lean Management tools, I walk through facilities and processes with a keen eye focused on the areas that can be made more efficient. Some of these changes are immediate, and others take time to get into place.

PBEX, LLC provides a complete review and analysis of the business processes that create efficiency and profitability, and the barriers to them. Contact us today to learn more about lean business management and to schedule your review with a process improvement expert.

Business Process Management

Why You Should be Using a Process Flow Diagram

September 19, 2018 By Peter Holtgreive 1 Comment

A process flow diagram is used to visually capture processes and create a standard of operations for anything from manufacturing to marketing campaigns to workflows. Typically used in industrial settings, the concept has grown to be used in a variety of applications in order to document business processes, and therefore make them more efficient.

When it comes to processes, we tend to take them for granted. If you have ever had to put together a training module or operation guide, you understand. Here is a simple example to show how a process can work with and without a schematic such as a process flow diagram.

Doing Dishes as a Process

There is a sink of dishes. Your teenage son acts as though he has never hand washed dishes. Therefore, you create a process for him to follow to get them done. This is not too far off from managing staff to follow specific protocol, agreed? We must simplify things, not because our staff are unintelligent, but because when it is easy to understand and we do our best to communicate well, we have a greater chance of success.

Sadly, most processes are assumed and/or inefficient. By creating a process flow diagram and really digging into the steps, that’s when we discover why we have output errors, productivity stalls, and redundancies. In lean management, these are considered waste and only by discovering the root cause of them can they be corrected with long lasting results (as opposed to a quick bandage type fix).

Back to the teenager with dishes…
Situation: A sink full of dishes.
Desired outcome: Dishes are clean, dry, and put away in their correct places by 5pm daily.
Known gaps between situation and desired outcome: In the past, dishes feel greasy at times; dishes haven’t been put away in the correct areas; it takes too long to remedy full sink of dishes.

In our example, we are going to list the current steps, plus, in parenthesis, expand each with a question to get to better communication.

When sink is full (What does full mean?), or by 4pm Sunday through Thursday:

Stack dirty dishes on the counter beside the sink basins. (Is there a way to stack to prevent breakage? Is there a specific area of the counter to use or not use?)
Fill one sink basin with hot, soapy water (How hot to get them clean and also keep teenager from burning himself? How much soap should be used?)
Fill the other sink with cool, clean water (How cool? When is the water not clean and need to be replaced?)
Using a scrubber sponge, take each dirty item and clean every surface. (What tools should be used to clean hard to reach areas? Is there scrubbing involved? How long should he spend on each item?)
Place the cleaned item into the cool water basin. Feel the item to check for remaining, stuck on debris and grease. If present, clean again with hot, soapy water. If not, place item in the drying rack.
Continue to wash each item, do quality check, rinse and set on drying rack until sink is empty.
Drain water from basins. Rinse the sinks so there is no remaining debris.
Dry countertop of any water.
Using a fresh towel, take each item and dry it and return it to its proper area. (Where are towels located? Where do they go when done? Is there a schematic for where dishes go that is easy to understand so items can be put away correctly?)

In this example, you may think that the questions in parenthesis are like playing devil’s advocate, and in some ways they are. Consider how differing results there could be (inconsistency), when these items aren’t clearly defined with a process flow diagram? This is particularly true when more than one employee is responsible for a task or set of tasks.

Additional Benefits to a Process Flow Diagram

Do you see also how the questions bring up the need for equipment? How about time spent? Quality and inventory control? Safety management? Do you see how it establishes expectations and uniformity? Can you see that some steps will create a sub-process that further communicates expectations and protocol? When it comes creating a consistent outcome, a process flow diagram process (and business process management) are the key.

Business Process Management

The 5 Concepts of Lean Thinking Summarized

July 10, 2018 By Peter Holtgreive No Comments

Lean thinking is really conceptualizing lean principles and how they apply to a specific enterprise. Because Lean principles started in Japan with the Toyota Production System, its primary application has been in manufacturing. Today, Lean manufacturing has been growing in interest and popularity as more and more companies look for increased agility, faster to-market production, and stream-lined processes that reduce wasteful practices. Its implementation has even spread outside of fabrication into a broader business use.

Whether in lean manufacturing or lean management in other industries, five primary principles have been established to capture the goals of lean. These concepts were captured by, and summarized here based on the book “Lean Thinking” by Womack and Jones. And while the concepts themselves are simple, the implementation takes time as perfection is the final goal.

Lean Thinking Concept 1: Value

Value is what is delivered, and set primarily by the customer. What the consumer is willing to pay should be the goal of production to meet that value and also provide profit to the producing company. For example, if a consumer is willing to pay $10 for a widget, the company should use that value as their benchmark for production, eliminating waste and improving processes to meet customer expectations.

When customers are having their expectations met and companies are making profits, this is considered perfection.

Lean Thinking Concept 2: The Value Stream

Understanding the flow of the life-cycle of a product is the only way to truly eliminate waste. The Value Stream concept examines the flow from production to disposal of any given product to find areas where value is lacking and can be improved, or where processes are wasteful. Some wasteful processes may be unavoidable due to certain circumstances such as lack of technological advances or access to resources.

The awareness that is created in regards to the wasteful processes allow them to be corrected or improved for better outcomes.

Lean Thinking Concept 3: Flow

Flow refers to the state by which all processes are in alignment making production move forward without interruption. As wasteful practices are eliminated, production increases. This includes processes that previously halted product launches and to-market deliverables, something critical in today’s market where agility, speed and quality are of tremendous value.

Flow is the state where wasteful down-time no longer exists.

Lean Thinking Concept 4: Pull

Lean concepts tend to reduce cold inventory because rather than relying on forecasting demand, they put in place communication and manufacturing methods that allow for production on the fly – as customers order.

What if “busy work” was eliminated and production only happened when a sale closed? It’s a revolutionary mindset and manufacturing concept that both increases efficiency and output.

Lean Thinking Concept 5: Perfection

While we have all been taught that nothing is perfect, lean concepts are rooted in achieving perfection through continuous improvement. When an organization truly implements lean tools and concepts, they strive to get to the root of problems, never using a “band-aid” approach for fixes, but rather really dig into data and processes, and be willing to change based on feedback. They in essence create agility in business by being perfectionists focusing on lean.

Contact me today to learn more about lean thinking and how to apply it to your business to create more efficiency and profitability. Together, we will create a continuous improvement culture and healthier bottom line.

Business Process Management

Great Business Management Starts with Efficient Systems

June 11, 2018 By Peter Holtgreive No Comments

When it comes to managing our businesses, we discover it always comes down to systems. Whether systems for sales, production, administration, inventory, human resources – the more effective and efficient our processes, the better we maintain the consistency needed to produce our desired results.

Automating these processes becomes the next step in creating, and improving the bottom line goals and outcomes. Often management knows this, but yet somewhere along the line, the linear path from input to output seems to get skewed. It’s bound to happen when machines break, new human error is introduced, consumer demands change, new technology becomes available…and plans aren’t in place to address these constant, yet often unpredictable changes.

Business Management Consulting

Business Management consulting allows an expert outside perspective come in and take a look at these changes in an objective way. It helps organizations to slow down in order to course correct for better effectiveness. Lean business management consulting adds the additional benefit of also cleaning up processes, organizing tasks to reduce waste, and systematizing processes that have been pieced together over time, or that have failed to exist.

What is Lean Business Management Consulting?

Lean management is a set of tools, tried and true business management techniques that create a culture of continuous improvement. By asking “why” and getting to the bottom of processes with a robust and complete understanding of it, allows for consistency, systematization and, when applicable, automation.

This in turns creates proven results such as an increase in productivity, increase in work area space, decrease in dead inventory, improved safety, improved customer satisfaction, reduced defects and more.

An Analogy to Understand Lean Management

To truly understand how lean management works, it may be helpful to consider an analogy:

Mannie Facture is experiencing pain in his wrist while working. He goes and sees Dr. Getterdone who recommends he wraps the wrist with duct tape, as it is strong and will reduce the appearance of swelling. He gives Mr. Facture a few pain killers and sends him on his way.

This is like most business operations who see a problem and do what they can to make a quick fix, which works, but it may only be a short term fix. It is far from holistic, unlike the second approach, which is more like lean management:

Mannie Facture goes to visit Dr. Excellence who takes time to ask Mannie about the severity of the pain, what his daily workload is and his previous health history. Dr. Excellence listens to his heart, as it effects every part of his body, and looks at not only what is causing the wrist pain, but what other conditions may be present. He offers physical therapy to help strengthen the wrist, elbow, and shoulder, which provides a more robust, long-lasting and supportive solution.

Business management that is done as “spot treatments” rather than holistic approaches results in inefficiency and even failure. A business consultant, particularly one who specializes in Lean Management, can help get your business back into shape before a collapse.

Blog Business Process Management

What is a Kaizen Business System and Why Does it Matter?

May 8, 2018 By Peter Holtgreive No Comments

A Kaizen Business System is a productivity philosophy in business, related to Continuous Improvement, and often demonstrated through Lean Management. It focuses on business processes and searches for inefficiencies, seeking to explore them in ways that get to the root of the problem to implement long-lasting change, profitability, high service levels and less waste. It creates a standard and culture for excellence and innovation.

Kaizen is a Japanese term that generally translates to “change for the better” and business owners who employ its strategies can see better relationships with vendors, employees and customers. These relationships create real results in quality, efficiency, productivity and more.

The Tools in a Kaizen Business System

A Kaizen Business System is more of a philosophy and set of tools implemented to create an outcome, than a tangible, or even software-based program, but tangible equipment and software can be used within it.

Overall, continuous improvement is robust and thorough, which also means time consuming in some cases, however, it does create complete, holistic and lasting results. This type of process creates more “buy in”, and produces a tangible outcome, not just theory. To get to its objectives, several tools are typically implemented, usually at the hands of an experienced Kaizen Business System Consultant. These steps can include:

Sort. Determine what you have and what you need. This can be skills, employees, materials, equipment, vendors, etc. Sorting is taking an inventory to determine the real gap and how to correct it.

Standardization. Examining processes and looking for redundancies and inefficiencies, then creating an organized and repeatable business process. This is huge in many businesses as department cross-over may have different people doing the same task, and/or doing it differently. It can make employee training problematic, data collection incomplete, and can even halt production.

Measuring. Measuring data helps determine if a business process is efficient and if it can be duplicated, predictable, consistent and used for decision-making. Without quantifiable data, decision-making is really just a guess and can lead to loss in productivity, profitability, and quality.

Compare. When you have data, you can compare it against your goals, objectives, and standards of operation. From the comparisons, you can address the performance gaps and improve your desired results. Again, without data, you are making a guess as to what the gap is, and therefore ineffectively addressing it.

Innovation. Work smarter, not harder and continually look for what isn’t working or what may work better. Innovation culture starts with the desire to grow, and growth doesn’t happen without addressing failures and inefficiencies. Getting to the true cause of a problem creates real solutions.

Sustainability. Really getting clear on processes helps create business processes and a continuous improvement culture that is sustainable and reliable, even in the face of change. When questions are asked and processes are viewed objectively, it cuts through “band-aid” fixes sure to fail.

Overall, continuous improvement, Kaizen business system, and business process improvement are one in the same, implementing a full breadth of tools, techniques and philosophies resulting in better outcomes. As a Kaizen business system consultant, PBEX, LLC is ready to dig in and really understand your processes to create standardized, sustainable, profitable and agile business processes for your growth. Contact Peter Holtgreive today to learn more or to get started.

Blog Business Process Management

How Lean Management Consulting Works

April 10, 2018 By Peter Holtgreive No Comments

Lean management consulting and change management sit on the forefront of the most innovative leaders. Why? Because true innovation requires agility – a cornerstone in lean management, but without the cultural attribute of continuous improvement and the ability to get to the root of a problem or process and effectively manage the change for long term results, it is useless.

The best lean management consultants understand how lean tools work and are implemented effectively while also understanding the culture that is required to sustain it. And while the lean tools are simple and also revolutionary, the lean coach must be skilled in communication, training and strategy.

How do lean management consulting firms work?

Through Collaboration

Remember back to high school if you can and think about a time when you were assigned to work on a group project. What were your feelings about it? Where you excited to collaborate? Or did you find yourself loathing it, offering to do all the work so you could control the outcome, or accepting someone else’s leadership so you could sit back?

In business, the same games exist, and we understand why. Collaboration feels hard; some feel heard while others feel left out; some excel while others just accept the outcome without involved resigned to the belief that what they contribute doesn’t matter.

However, with collaboration we discover a greater buy-in by all involved. This creates true employee engagement leading to faster results and increased understanding.

Through Understanding

By getting to the root cause of concerns and asking questions to get to the real waste in processes, lean management consultants are able to make lasting shifts. For example, if wasteful spending on oversized envelopes (a real situation we’ve encountered) is due to the fact that the original supplier went out of business and no one knows or questions that, no resolution will result.

A third party, or “fresh eyes”, or in our case, a trained and professional eye, can more easily spot redundancies and inefficiencies in business processes and, using Lean tools will implement solutions for change.

With Real Results

Working with PBEX lean management consulting specialist Peter Holtgreive, clients have seen:

Improvement in Safety Performance (average 30-60%)

Set-up Time Reduction (average 60-80%)

Increased Productivity (average 20-50%)

Reduction in Quality Defects (average 50-100%)

More Floor Space (average 70-50%)

Less Dead Inventory (average 40-75%)

Overall, lean management consultants provide a complete review and analysis of the business processes that create efficiency and profitability, and the barriers to them.

Contact me today to learn more about lean management consulting services and how I help businesses simplify and improve the way they do business to better grow and manage. Together, we will create a continuous improvement culture and healthier bottom line.

Blog Business Process Management

What Makes a Lean Management Leader?

March 7, 2018 By Peter Holtgreive No Comments

The topic of Lean Management may have started in manufacturing, but today’s businesses are looking to the tools to improve other industries as well.

Created by Japanese industrial engineers, the concepts of Lean manufacturing were designed to reduce waste, in a variety of forms. And while developed mid-century, the tools are still being used as a standard in efficient management.

Lean managers look to focus on providing high value to customers while eliminating wastefulness through improved workflows. The concept works to engage customers, vendors and employees in ways that create a feedback system for continuous improvement.

What Makes a Lean Management Leader?

Lean management involves everyone, yet the lean leader needs to be completely on board or “bought in” on the idea of lean practices and continual process improvement. Management must be willing and able to ask probing questions to get to the root of both problems and customer motivations. They must be willing to discover answers they may not like in order to challenge the status quo.

Regarding Customers:

Do you know why your customer buys from you?

Do you know what they value about your business over your competitors?

Are you able to anticipate their changing needs based on what you know about their values, wants, and needs?

Do you know what improvements you could implement that would serve your customers even better?

Regarding Your Team:

Do you have a culture of blame and mistakes or one of “lessons learned”, which fosters a learning environment?

Is problem solving guided with the objective of finding the right problem, root cause and establishing the right resources?

Do you use open-ended questions?

Is there a focus on processes and their actual, tracked results?

Is there a plan in place to discover inefficiencies?

Do you deeply understand the value stream, including sub-processes and their effects?

Does the management team demonstrate Lean values and behaviors?

Does management challenge the status quo?

Does your Lean management team go to the action and use 3Gen?

Gather the information to determine where you are as an organization and where you want to be in regards to lean management. If you discover you need support, a refresher, or even full implementation of lean management practices, consider PBEX, LLC, a leader in Business Process Management, Lean Process Management, Lean Manufacturing, and Organizational Lean Process Improvement.

Business Process Management

The Value of Lean Training

June 20, 2017 By Peter Holtgreive No Comments

One of the resources I offer is Lean Training. Using several Lean tools, we run through simulations several times in order to incorporate new processes to generate huge results. The practices (or tools) can be used in everything from inventory management to streamlining the process of on boarding a new customer. That’s what makes it so powerful to learn- it encompasses continuous learning and allows you to use it in every faucet of business.

What is Lean?

The term “lean production” was invented by James Womack in his book, “The Machine That Changed the World” in order to describe the revolutionary process created by the Toyota Production System. Used primarily in mass production concepts, it is a system designed to eliminate wasteful practices. Lean Management then is the journey, as you never ‘arrive’ or complete continuous improvement, of managing with the Lean tools in mind.

What does Lean Training include?

In Lean Training sessions we teach several of the tools to help organize and streamline business processes to be more efficient. After classroom training, facilitated hands on implementation is conducted to ensure that the skill has been learned and can be used. Some of the tools you will learn about include, but are not limited to:

5S: this tool allows us to organize through 5 steps, namely: Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain, and in some cases we also add a 6^th S for Safety.

Cellular Flow: A system structure that increases accountability, efficiency and quality by having teams work together rather than be departmentalized.

Standardized Work Flow: Systemizing and standardizing work processes is critical in reducing waste. We discover where someone is duplicating a process or doing it differently than others, or where no business process exists and create or modify it.

Continuous Flow: This process helps us find areas of non-value added time and reduce it.

5 Whys: This Lean tool helps you to get to the root cause of problems so they can be addressed with true, long-lasting fixes rather than “band-aid” ones.

A3 Problem Solving Method: Your Lean Training will teach you how to solve any problem that arises with more ease. Systematic problem-solving done on a single piece of paper allows you to cut to the solution faster than ever.

As a practitioner and educator of Lean for many years and a TWI Certified Trainer, we will not only work through the specific challenges in the business, I will teach you how to continue to improve with the Lean tools. As your “Lean Sensei”, I use these non-software based solutions that can be implemented quickly and easily to reach the goals you are desiring.

Contact me today to learn more about how lean manufacturing can simplify and improve your business processes making them easier to understand, perform and manage. Together, we will create a continuous improvement culture and healthier bottom line.

Business Process Management

What is Lean Manufacturing?

February 10, 2017 By Peter Holtgreive No Comments

Credit: Chris Ryan OJO Images Getty Images

Lean Manufacturing is a business method focused on eliminating wasteful practices in manufacturing. It is also referred to as Lean Production, Lean, or Toyota Production System (TPS). Lean focuses on value and reduces everything that doesn’t create it by using a set of practices to identify both value added and non-value added (waste) steps within manufacturing business processes. Auditing current systems and processes and implementing changes to improve workflow, including adding automation when needed, is the broadest overview of Lean.

What is the Goal of Lean Manufacturing?

The bottom line goal of Lean Manufacturing is to create efficiency, and therefore the most profitable manufacturing process. The objective of reducing all areas of waste, including that created from both unevenness in work load and overburden, is also a part of Lean.

TPS looks at 8 areas when discovering true wastefulness- things done that don’t add value and are unneeded for the final product outcome. These 8 areas are summed up in the acronym “DOWNTIME”:

Defects: Anything done incorrectly, not meeting customer requirements, requiring rework or scrap
Over-production: Building more than what is required- leads to excess inventory
Waiting: Areas of down time in production
Non-Utilized Talent: Not engaging employees in continuous improvement
Transportation: Additional movement of product within the facility
Inventory: Carrying more than what is required, especially “frozen” inventory
Motion: This refers to damage and wear and tear (both to people and equipment)
Extra-processing: Doing more or using more than what is required for the desired outcome

Implementing Lean Methodology

Implementing Lean practices is more than simply using tools. While Lean practices focuses on having an efficient and effective work flow, a cultural shift must happen as well. The organizational value of continued improvement must be adopted. Business agility is required, which means all employees and management must be flexible and willing to change.

True transformation is open-ended and not all business cultures allow for that. Therefore, Lean Manufacturing, in order to offer the long term benefits, must be embraced at all levels and incorporated into onboarding, training, management practices, production, research, and more. This change will not happen overnight and does require a long term commitment to the continuous improvement effort and cultural change.

How PBEX LLC Supports Lean Manufacturing

Trained in Lean Manufacturing Methods, PBEX LLC helps by providing:
• Lean Process Management
• Kaizen
• Gemba Walk
• 5S
• Visual Management
• Kanban
• Value Stream Mapping
• Facility Layout
• Cellular Flow
• Problem Solving

As your “Lean Sensei”, I use these non-software based solutions that can be implemented quickly and easily to reach the goals you are desiring. Contact me today to learn more about how Lean Manufacturing can simplify and improve your business processes making them easier to understand, perform and manage. Together, we will create a continuous improvement culture and healthier bottom line.