Lean For Everyone

VOC: Why are my Wendy's French Fries Sea Salt-less?

I listened to the hype and got some fries from Wendy's.  Problem...they forgot to salt them.

 

I'm not their typical customer

I admit it...I rarely eat fast food anymore.  The movie Super Size Me really opened my eyes.

 

However I was in a mood for some good fries today and I keep seeing commercials about Wendy's.

Their new natural cut fries with sea salt are supposed to be better then McDonald's so  I decided to see if the product lived up to the hype.

 

 

 

They didn't taste bad, they just didn't taste

With my $2.32 in hand I purchased a large size at the drive-thru and while on my way home I reached into the bag and ate one.

To Wendy's credit the fries didn't taste bad...they just had no flavor  They forgot to salt them.

 

Here's the issue.

If marketing is going to hype it...if all the bags and containers (see pic above) are going to promote it...and they spend all this money and convince someone like me to come in and try them.  They should at least have a system in place to make sure they salted them.

 

Yes...I'm a little disgruntled...it's cold and rainy outside here in Michigan, I reached out for an old favorite comfort food and I was left wanting. 

Shame on you Wendy...I'm breaking up with you again.

 

Lean Biotech - Scope Creep, VOC and How caBIG got ca-tooBIG

What happens when you spend $350 million and forget to listen to your customers?

What is caBIG-

caBIG stands for the Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid and was originally started in 2004 to create a framework and standard by which everyone who is doing research can easily share information and collaborate with others.

Between 2004 - 2010 the total cost was $350 million.

 

What did the customers/users have to say?

In 2010 the new NCI Director asked for an independent assessment to be done on caBIG.  They basically asked the customers of caBIG what they thought of the program.  Below is an excerpt from the reported findings.

There was complete agreement that caBIG®’s original goals were worthy and remain highly relevant to the future of cancer research in the United States (U.S.). However, there was also strong consensus among those interviewed that caBIG® has expanded far beyond those goals to implement an overly complex and ambitious software enterprise of NCI-branded tools

 

There was strong consensus from the interviews on the following points:

• The caBIG® program management structure is overly complex and expensive.
• The contractors did not really understand the cancer research space in which
  they were operating.
• The internal processes for soliciting and evaluating proposals for subcontracts
  are not transparent.
• Participation of the same contractors in both program management and software
  development has the potential for conflict of interest and unfair competitive advantage.
• There is a perception that caBIG® favors an “in group” of participants.

 

There were several fundamental problems in the approaches used to implement the caBIG® program, including:

1. A “cart-before-the-horse” overly broad grand vision for the program.
2. A “build it and they will come” mentality.
3. An unfocused attempt to address all problems in clinical and basic research.
4. A “one size fits all” approach to funding and management of scientific and
   software development projects.
5. A business model that is unsustainable and not cost-effective for the NCI or
   potential users.
6. Development and management of clinical informatics and basic science discovery
   tools under one umbrella organization.
7. Lack of independent scientific oversight of goals, priorities, projects and
   evaluation of progress.

 

Those of us in the commercial sector are not surprised.

We saw the behemoth that caBIG was becoming.  It was trying to be everything to everybody and lost focus on who its customers were.

There are several tools that caBIG developed that work well, the problem is that there are commercial entities like LabVantage that have comparable tools that are more polished, user friendly and easier to deploy.

 

The biggest difference is that caBIG is free to use while LabVantage is not.  But then again I think $350 million could have purchased a lot of LabVantage licenses!

You can read the entire report here.  Download BSA caBIG Final Report - 2-24-11

 

VOC - How to get customer feedback from 3-5 yr olds

Starfall has a great system for capturing the VOC

 

My 3 yr old D. loves learning on Starfall.

Starfall is a free online service that helps your child learn and read using phonics. 

 

I enjoy watching her play but what caught my eye was how they got customer feedback from her.

After every lesson a quick survey is taken (see video below) where she can voice if she liked the program or not.

 

Next time someone tells me "It's hard to get customer feedback", I'm going to point them to Starfall showing that even a 3 yr old can do it.

 

LFE Podcast #6 Andie Jump - The New Business of Education

Using lean to help your school embrace change and serve its customers - "Students and Parents"

 

I'm talking today with Andie Jump an expert in Educational Change and Leadership Coaching and the founder of Jump Start Consulting & Associates.

Andie has been in the Teaching Industry for more than 10 years and holds a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership.  She is here today to talk about how schools can use business techniques and methods to help improve their operations.

I'm not talking about creating charter schools but about using lean methods and cultural change to create and foster continuous improvement in our educational system.

 

 In this podcast we talk about:

• How schools have some of the same problems as business
• How lean thinking can help schools
• Recognizing the VOC as the students and the parents
• The top 3 things schools should change in their operations
• What superintendents and principals can do immediately to help their schools

 

If you're a school looking for help I suggest contacting Andie Jump at Jump Start Consulting by emailing her at andie@jumpstart-consulting.com.

Lean Biotech - Using Lean Methods in the Biobanking Industry

The use of Lean in Biobanking and Prospective Procurement

I was recently interviewed by Andrea Charles at Pharma IQ about the current trends in biobanking and the future of biorepositories.

For those unfamiliar with my background I've had over 10 years as a supplier in the biobanking industry with an additional 6 years as a customer/user of biomaterials.

 

If you're interested in lean and the future of the biobanking industry then please give a listen.  We talk about:

• Current trends by biotech and pharmaceutical companies
• Why it's critical to use lean in biobanking
• What are the typical bottlenecks of implementation
• What's a minimum clinical data set
• 10 yr - 20 yr vision on biobanking

 

FoundationBio is a new supplier that listens to its customers

There is a new startup company called FoundationBio whose CEO (Leif Honda) is currently adopting Lean principles to propel his company to becoming the preferred supplier of biomaterials for biotech and phama companies.

His vision is a move towards prospective procurement which allows the VOC (Voice of the Customer) to pull the order thus allowing value to flow and eliminating the wasteful practice of banking excessive inventory.

 

My favorite quote:  "A biobanks only value is given to it by its customers"

 

Keeping Things Simple Will Increase Conversion Rates - OfficeMax Knows.

The path of least resistance is paved with customers

When I opened my new color ink cartridge I was pleasantly surprised.

Inside the box was a self sealing, prepaid envelope for me to send my old cartridge in for recycling.

Within 3 minutes of installing my new cartridge the old one was in the mailbox to be picked up.

 

 

A prepaid pre-addressed envelope will:

• Eliminate mistakes in shipping addresses
• Eliminate the knowledge needed as to "How to package for return?"
• Eliminate my need for having to store supplies needed to return the cartridge
• Eliminate me having to guess or calculate exact postage
• Make me recycle something I would normally toss in the trash

 

How do I know all this.

When I replaced the other ink cartridge (black) , the only thing in the box was a small card saying if I wanted to recycle at my expense to send it to the address on the card. 

I threw the old cartridge in the trash because I didn't want to expend the effort involved in sending it back.

NOTE: I do recycle on a weekly basis...but not this time.  The cost didn't seem to warrant it.  

 

Hassle free is what customers want.

• Map your process and minimize the workload you ask your customers to do
• Use KISS principles (keep it short and simple) to streamline the flow
• Watch your customer base grow

 

On a final note -  I did recycle the box and the little instruction card for both cartridges.  I'm not a complete ogre.

 

VOC - It's not Congress's fault.....it's Congress's fault

Remember to keep your focus on your customer

 

I’m not a big fan of politics in my blog but I do want to put my 2 cents in about the government budget.

 

Whose at fault?

It’s not the Democrats fault or the Republicans fault…it’s Congress’s fault.

 

My Reasoning-

I went to Chase bank the other day with an issue and the person helping me was very polite however she also made sure to let me know that her branch didn’t make a mistake…it was corporate that made the error.

What she failed to realize is that from a customer perspective (mine) they are both part of the same company. So what I heard her say was…."It’s not Chase’s fault…it’s Chase’s fault."

When the political parties argue about who’s to blame for the budget…all I hear is “It’s not Congress’s fault…it’s Congress’s fault.”

 

For me…I just want them to do their job…after all…I’m the customer.

LFE Podcast #5 Matt Aguilar - Continuous Improvement in Telecoms and Utilities

An Overview of Continuous Improvement at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in Southern California.

This podcast was done in conjunction with the PEX (Process Excellence Network), a division of IQPC and the Business Process Excellence for Telecoms & Utilities which will be taking place June 27- 29, 2011.

 
I'm talking today with Matt Aguilar, a process and efficiency expert who works in the telecoms and utilities sector here in the US.

Matt is the Senior Business Process Improvement Manager at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station AKA (SONGS) here in Southern California where he works to help them achieve Regulatory, Industry and Financial Excellence.

 

Matt's CV and experience is very impressive!

With 18 years in the business, his experience ranges from Telecommunications and Nuclear Power all the way to Biotech and  Health Care.(Genentech, Motorola, Petco just to name a few)

Matt is also a member of the Project Management Institute, the American Society for Quality and the Association of Manufacturing Excellence, in addition he’s a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and holds a BA in Organizational Leadership.

 

We talk about:

• How continuous improvement (CI) fits into the SONGS facility.
• The common lean six sigma tools that they use.
• How they go about problem solving in such a procedure driven environment.
• The vision for the future of CI at SONGS.

Prior to this podcast Matt and I had a very nice conversation about biotech, health care and several non-OPEX topics.  He's very pleasant, easy to speak with and extremely knowledgeable.

 

If you want to contact Matt I highly recommend going to his Linkedin profile and connecting with him immediately before you leave this page.

You can hear more from Matt Aguilar and other experts at the Business Process Excellence for Telecoms & Utilities which will be taking place June 27- 29, 2011 at the InterContinental in Miami, Florida. For additional details about the event please visit www.bpetelcoandutilities.com or call the IQPC enquiries team at 1-800-882-8684 you can also email them directly at info@iqpc.com. 

Continuous Improvement needs fuel so go out and find a group and share

When you want to be better at something the fastest way is to learn from others.

Join a group and share your experiences -

I share my lean experiences with other CI experts at the Michigan Lean Consortium but am also a member of the Michigan Twisters Group. 

 

I just got back from the Michigan Twisters Group meeting where I go to meet others that share my love of balloon twisting.

While I was there I met Scott Bevis who was new to the group...he's been twisting balloons in Clarkston, MI for a couple of years but didn't know anyone else in the business.

He practices, learns from the internet, reads about balloon animals and has some impressive skills but didn't have anyone to share with.

He had a question about busking at restaurants.  Sitting at my table was Steve Ferguson (he did the small flowers in the pic)  who has done a lot of restaurant work and gave Scott all the information he was looking for.

We also shared best practices on how we set up our bags of balloons, work a line of kids and what does and doesn't work at parties.  We even chatted about pricing and contracts.

 

I also learned something new about twisting.

I was talking with fellow twister Carolynn Hayman at POP! Designs and Creations who showed me something called X-weave which she used to create the big flower above.  This new weave technique is going to take my ballooning in a whole new direction.

 

We come from different backgrounds which is what makes our experiences more valuable to each other.   Together we make a Smart Swarm with a fantastic Cognitive Surplus to share.

 

 

Conducting a Lean Assessment with Debra Levantrosser Setman and the Michigan Lean Consortium

The MLC is a great resource for learning with a fun mix of attendees and information sharing.

We had old members and first timers from a variety of industries.

It was about 30% consultants this time (which is understandable considering the topic) and the rest were a mix of Banking, Manufacturing, Healthcare, IT, Financial planning and even an ex NUMMI person.

I personally was delighted to see Bonnie R. Fahoome from The More Program who came out to see how the MLC can help Michigan's entrepreneurs.

 

Debra gave an nice overview of how to conduct an assessment and shared documents on how to perform them.

The documents were very helpful to anyone who has never done a lean assessment.  It broke down the grading system to 4 levels.  I've listed them below however the documents are comprehensive and proprietary so I can't post them :(

• 0  -I think you can guess what Zero means-
• 1  Stability
• 2  Flow
• 3  Pull
• 4  Integration

Probably one of the best reasons to join the MLC is to get access to this type info.

Most interesting to me is that during a lean assessment the use of tools rarely even comes up.  This makes perfect sense since lean culture or the desire for change is the real indicator for long term success.

Several of the consultants also shared documents and examples that they have used in the past.  Murray Sittsamer from The Luminous Group brought some nice examples from his workshops and assessments that allowed us to compare and contrast to Debra's.

We had some lively discussion (no yelling just lively) but the best part was that there were people from so many different backgrounds everyone had something to bring to the table.  We didn't all agree on some items...but you still had some great takeaways.

 

Jon Wetzel (That's me) presented how to use lean outside of the work to improve the rest of your life as well.

• Using lean all day devotes more time to learning its concepts.
• An hour gained in your home life….is yours to keep!
• Lean can be implemented faster at home because you have 100% leadership “buy in”.
• As people feel these successes at home they will become lean champions for the work place.

What better way to learn lean than by teaching people how to use its tools and methods to save time doing the laundry, simplify cutting the lawn or even losing excess weight.

This gets people excited about lean and gives them the opportunity to practice it all day long.  That's 8 hours at work and 8 hours at home ( and hopefully 8 hours sleep).

 

At the end of every MLC training event we do a "What worked?  What didn't?  and What do you want?

Everyone participates, there's immediate feedback and notes taken for changes to make.  The MLC  learns how to have a better event for next time...they practice what they preach!