One of the
greatest benefits of working at KaiNexus is our commitment to learning and
growth. I was thrilled when Kade Janssen and I were given the opportunity to
attend the first Symposium on Learning Organizations: Agile, Lean, Deming, and
More hosted by Mark Graban, Dion Stewart, and Joel Tosi.
The Symposium started off with a visit to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas
(TMMTX) in San Antonio, Texas. Although this was Kade’s and my second trip to
the Toyota manufacturing plant, there was still lots to learn.
First was the visitor’s center. It had been completely redesigned from our
previous trip. Aside from still having the ever-present Andon-cord, Toyota added
a number of hands-on activities, including a car door spray paint video game, an
example of the automated motorized cart tugs, and a demonstration of their
weight-assisted chair movers.
The hands-on experiences were great to see some of the process involved at
the plant first hand. The chair simulation demonstrated how simple improvements
(and a little physics) can take lots of strain away from frontline staff members
attaching parts, such as car seats.
Seeing the tour of the plant a second time, even though the tour was
extremely similar, was helpful as well. The first tour was so overwhelming with
so many things going on it was difficult to take it all in. The second time I
was able to pay attention to more than what the tour guides pointed out. During
the tour, the guides direct attendees attention to shop floor areas or
processes. Mark suggested before the tour that I look in the opposite direction
to make sure I was looking at completely new processes and areas of the
plant.
My eye kept wandering to the KPI Corrals and the Improvement Centers where
employees get to experiment and build their improvement ideas. Being a part of
the improvement world keeps my interests more specialized than the general
public; I know that the tours are designed for the general public, but I left
wanting to know more about how improvements are tracked and how employees got to
test their ideas.
Our next stop was the Garrison Brothers Bourbon Distillery located just
outside of Fredericksburg, Texas. Fredericksburg may be known for wines, but the
Garrison Brothers’ bourbon is some of the best in the business.
We took a tour of the Distillery and learned a little about their processes.
Garrison Brothers would not claim that they practice continuous improvement, but
they work to improve every batch of bourbon they produce each year. Dan proudly
stood before our group and said that every year, each batch was better than the
last as they learn how the Texas heat and location of where the barrels are
stored affects the bourbon. They do their own version of PDCA with each batch,
and even smaller experimental batches. It was great to see improvement being
applied to each part of the distilling process.
Our last day of the symposium consisted of Open Space discussions. An Open
Space discussion consists of groups of topics picked by the attendees of the
symposium. Anything improvement related, from adoption and participation to
technology and tools, were fair game. Multiple groups met at the same time and
individuals were welcome, if not encouraged, to leave and join other discussions
that interested them at any time.
I had never participated in an Open Space discussion but found the resulting
chats fascinating. Our symposium had a variety of people from different
industries, including healthcare, finance, professional services, manufacturing,
technology, and consultants. Everyone attending had different experiences,
problems, and solutions to bring to the table.
The discussions themselves were amplified by the venue. The discussions took
place at the Garrison Brothers barrel barn, with a beautiful view of the Texas
Hill Country out the back and plenty of fresh air to keep the discussions
lively.
We closed with Mark’s red bead experiment, showing that emphasis on
improvement, baselines, and even rewarding employees doesn’t work if the
processes are poor (for the record, I *did* have the least amount of defects in
my batches!).
I know that everyone attending learned something new - and made new friends
to bounce improvement ideas off of in the process. A big thanks to Mark, Dion,
Joel and the Garrison Brothers for hosting and putting on a great conference.
Keep an eye out for the next Symposium that Mark, Dion and Joel host! I know I
want to be there for it!
0 Comments