The Continuous Improvement Conference is approaching (April 10-13) and we thought we’d check-in with a past attendee to see how they’ve leveraged the valuable information and techniques presented at the conference. Mike Fehr, Systems & Quality Manager at Friesens Corporation, talks about his takeaway from the Continuous Improvement Conference as well as Lean in general. 

What has your experience with the Continuous Improvement conference been like? What have you garnered from it?

My experience has been very positive. In fact, this conference has consistently given me more value and ideas than any other conference I have attended. Generally I come home with more ideas than what I have time to implement. We have all experienced that challenge. The difference here is that I hear great low cost ideas that are clear, easy to implement, with good value. In addition, I have been able to pick up the phone and talk to the companies where the ideas have come from and ask additional questions.

Do you feel that operational excellence is something all printers should employ?

Yes. Although this looks very different to each one of our organizations. The more challenging part is defining and helping people understand what operational excellence is to us.

Have you always tried to be as Lean and efficient as possible? What have you learned on your Lean journey?

Lean has always been a part of our culture. We formalized this process within our organization by training a few people for their Green Belt. This was done through a Lean Sensei in Vancouver. Although we have tried to practice being Lean, we did not have the tools to do so. After training we were able to formalize ways of acting Lean more efficiently. After attending my first CI Conference a few years ago, I changed much of my language from Lean to Continuous Improvement internally. Essentially all of the blitzes, projects, etc, are all CI initiatives to become better.

 There are many things that we have learned during our Lean journey. Here is a snapshot of a couple:

  • Be sure to involve the right people in blitzes. The most successful ones include facilitators (Green Belts), experts (operators/staff members) and decision makers (managers of the area affected). Also, include experts from multiple shifts.
  •  We have a Lean Team responsible for CI type initiatives. They include a cross section of staff and managers.

 Any advice for other printers looking to embrace the Lean lifestyle? 

Be less concerned about trying to quantify ROI than about achieving desired results. The return is there. Be sure to involve some senior management with Lean reports.

How do you go about learning new Lean techniques?

I learn new Lean techniques through conferences and reading material. This information is then shared in our Lean Team so we can all make use of it and try to disseminate it through things like blitzes.

 

For more information, a glossary of definitons, helpful videos and articles, visit www.printing.org/ciconference.