Author: ben

How many businesses are facing labour shortages? Far too many❗

Green Belt training offers you a strategy to address this significant labour shortage.????

Aimed primarily at supervisors and continuous improvement coordinators, the Green Belt online training offers rich content:

• Communication structure
• Customer order
• ERP
• Kanban
• Product mix
• SMED

And even more!

Listen to this presentation hosted by Hugo Poulin, the President of Lean Expert, get an overview of this training content and universe. ✅

Have a great time listening!

“Great leaders find ways to connect with their employees and help them reach their potential”

Behind every successful company is a competent team trained by a leader. 

Do you know who they are at Lean Expert?

Find out more about President Hugo Poulin and the company he founded in 2007.

You’ll see that Lean Expert is not a consulting firm like the others. When you do business with Lean Expert, the company is always committed to going one step further for its customer.

Discover all about Lean Management and become fans like Hugo and his team of experts.

Have a great time listening!

M: Manufacturing

R: Ressources

P: Planning

Do you regularly ask yourself these questions?

• How much raw material do I need?
• How many units do I need to produce?
• When do I need my parts?

These are only few of the questions that the MRP system answers!

This audio sample will allow you to learn more about the objectives of MRP training, its important implications and the major role it can play in your company.

Listening to this chronicle and implementing its content means taking concrete steps to bring your business to new heights.

You can find the MRP training in the Training section of the website!

Have a great time listening!

Have you ever wondered how you could improve your business? With Lean Management, you make sure you have everything you need to succeed! But beginning your journey with Lean isn’t so easy. That’s why we offer you this eBook for free !

Here is a brief overview of what you will learn in this eBook.

Where to start?

It’s important to ask yourself a series of questions:

• What are the problems?
• What are the objectives of your Lean approach?
• What resources are available?
• Do you have time?

Voici un petit aperçu de ce que vous apprendrez dans ce eBook.

The 14 Principles of Operational Excellence

Here at Lean Expert, we guide our customers on the path to continuous improvement through 4 fundamental axes that include 14 principles in order to achieve operational excellence. Learn more in the eBook!

Principles :

1. Strategic planning for a long-term philosophy.
2. Create continuous process flows to highlight issues.
3. Use pull flow systems to avoid overproduction
4. Distribute workloads and level production
5. Build a culture of stops in the production chain to solve problems and get quality right away
6. Standardize working methods
7. Use visual controls
8. Rely on reliable and proven technologies
9. Train and develop leaders who understand work, bring the company’s philosophy to life and pass it on to others.
10. Develop and develop exceptional teams and employees
11. Maintain trusting relationships with customers, suppliers and partners to ensure the reliability of the entire company’s network.
12. Observe to understand
13. Slow decision-making by consensus and rapid implementation
14. Becoming an organization that learns.

The Lean Expert Academy

This eBook will answer the folling questions :

• What is the Lean Expert Academy?
• What is the right level for you?

What are you waiting for ? This eBook is available for free : here

Découvrez comment transformer votre entreprise grâce à une démo gratuite de nos formations Lean certifiantes – 100 % en ligne!

Vous souhaitez améliorer la performance de votre entreprise, mais vous ne savez pas par où commencer?

Cette démonstration gratuite est faite pour vous!

Vous y découvrirez :

• Les fondements d’une culture Lean durable
• Des outils concrets que vous pouvez appliquer dès maintenant
• Nos formations certifiantes, flexibles et adaptées à votre réalité

C’est le premier pas vers une entreprise plus efficace, plus agile, plus performante.

SOUSCRIRE

Have you ever heard of the Obeya? It’s a Japanese term that means “big room”. This Lean practice brings a team together in a room to visually track the indicators of a project and speed up problem solving. This is a logical step forward in strategic planning for your team to work together and head in the same direction.

The Obeya Panels

The Obeya is a 7-panel practice. Each has a specific role and contributes to the success of the company. Here are a few:

• Vision – To get off to a good start, you must ask yourself questions about the problems to solve over the next 3 to 5 years. Having a common vision for the future is crucial.
• V.O.C. (voice of the client) – Since the client is at the center of all decisions, it’s necessary to list on this panel the customers who are affected by the project and regularly question yourself about their requirements so that the team’s actions are aligned with their needs.
• Product: On this panel, the product evolves as the project progresses.
• Macroplan – This panel allows you to put the entire team on the same page for all major stages of the project, in addition to providing a visual tool for meeting deadlines.
• P.D.C.A (Plan, Deploy, Control, Act) – On this panel, you’ll find the PDCA charts on the evolution of the project. The Plan phase aims at defining performance indicators. The Deploy phase consists of experimenting in order to learn from it and adjust your approach. The Check phase assesses the results obtained in the previous phase in order to identify areas for improvement. The Act phase is used to implement changes in the process so that constant improvements become the new standard.

Why ?

Bringing the entire team together in the same room to talk about a project in concrete terms allows the team to be more efficient, share information quickly and make quick decisions. It also ensures that all team members have transparent access to the same information. According to Shigeo Shingo, “people are not interested in the whats until they understand the whys.”

Obeya is a proven tool that can be applied to all areas. You need to start now to get the results you want as quickly as possible. Our experts are available to assist you in your process. Would you like to deepen your knowledge at your own pace? We also have the solution for you! The Obeya is presented in the Black Belt level through our 100% online certification courses at the Lean Expert Academy.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST

Thetford Mines (Quebec), February 15 2022 – Lean Expert, in collaboration with 7-Shapes, is proud to announce the official launch of its new offer for 100% online Lean Management certification courses based on an interactive simulation: the Lean Expert Academy! We want to offer innovative solutions to coach and train managers on best business practices and help with labour shortages. This is the first training of its kind in Lean Management in Canada, and nearly 6,000 people have already tested and approved the training platform!

The White Belt, Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt and MRP continuous improvement certification courses are already available for companies wishing to develop the skills of their teams and thus increase their efficiency. Whether your business operates in “services” or “manufacturing”, you’ll find the training you need.

The objective of this innovative solution? Make the Lean Six Sigma accessible to everyone and help companies become more efficient!

Thanks to the Lean Expert Academy, learn the basic concepts of operational excellence through engaging learning paths: videos, interactive lessons, mini-games, quizzes, simulations and more to discover. Our project managers also offer personalized support to meet everyone’s needs. Our training courses are eligible for certain subsides.

Digital transformation 4.0 is expanding rapidly and adapting to this ever-changing industry is becoming essential for the sustainability of Canadian businesses. This new educational game formula allows us to ensure a quality standard of the training level in addition to increasing memorization though practice.  

A demo of the first White Belt level activities is available

Don’t forget to subscribe to our Facebook page as we will be having a contest with a White Belt license as a prize this week!

About Lean Expert 

The consulting and coaching firm Lean Expert specializes in Lean Management. Our team of experienced consultants distinguishes itself by the qualité of our field support and the development of tailor-made response plans. We have been dedicated to your performance for almost 15 years.

About 7-Shapes 

7-Shapes, a Lean Management training organization, stands out for its innovative pedagogy: a 100% online platform, the 7-Shapes School. Interactive business simulation, mini-games, videos, quizzes and coaching are on the program of all the trainings!

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Information and interviews :

Stéphanie Fournier, marketing counselor

418 998-2145 | marketing@lean-expert.com

Subscribe!

All companies looking to undertake a digital transformation first want to know how technology and better data can be used to improve their performance. 

Investissement Québec’s program “Audit industrie 4.0” provides help and support for a diagnosis and digital plan, followed by a structured approach to selecting solutions and planning for management change.  This is where the digital action plan comes in.

The Digital Action Plan outlines the steps required to achieve a digital transformation (activities, tasks, responsibilities, budget and timeline). The deliverables of an action plan can vary considerably from company to company. For example, selecting a CRM to better manage sales, or selecting an ERP to optimize productivity.

But what reasons the efforts of creating a digital action plan? This is what we will explain in this article.

10 Reasons to have a Digital Action Plan

We’ve identified 10 reasons that will convince you to invest in a digital action plan. 

1. Benefits to customers: Digital transformation meets the needs of customers who are already actively engaged in digital relationships with businesses. This will automatically improve customer service.
2. The management of relations with suppliers is optimized: reduction of costs and delays, innovation and quality improvement.
3. Positive impacts on the company’s work organization: the optimisation of work processes, the alleviation of employees’ tasks, the creation of a stimulating work environment are only a few positive effects of digital technology.
4. Reducing the impact on mission IT systems: the digital action plan is designed to prioritize projects according to the needs and requirements of the company. Thus, mission systems (payroll, accounting, etc.) are preserved in order to avoid interfering with operations.
5. Return on investment: savings in productivity, efficiency, staff requirements, operating costs, etc.
6. The scope of the project (selection of processes to be optimised, identification of priority digital transformation projects) depends on the strategic and operational orientations of the company.
7. The pace of the transformation project is adapted to the company’s digital maturity (use or not of digital tools to interact with customers or suppliers, data collection and use to make decisions, digitization and integration of business processes).
8. Risks related to the digital shift are identified and managed: risks related to information security, impacts on corporate governance, resistance to change, impacts on skills, etc.
9. The use of internal resources is limited and optimized: the number of people involved in the digital transformation project is minimal. The required expertise is put to good use.
10. Interdependence with other projects: The Digital Transformation project is dependant on or interdependent with another priority project for the company.

A few tips for a successful digital action plan

• Communicate the Action Plan. Employees can provide sound advice on the steps that are necessary in order to achieve the plan’s objectives. Also, they will be more likely to consecrate serious efforts towards its implementation if they are invited to participate in the process from the start.
• Establish a monitoring and evaluation process.  Monitoring may include internal reporting and regular meetings about the progress of the digital action plan.

Lean management is defined as the implementation of supervisory tools on the ground to reduce waste in the various production processes.  Where are you at? 

Lean management: the best investment

Many Quebec companies have integrated the main concepts of Lean and are working to intensify their improvement efforts in order to maintain or improve their performance against the competition. However we note that most businesses see the costs associated with implementing best business practices as a major issue for some reason.  Other factors come into play: the active involvement of employees, the support of senior management, the best return on investment (ROI), etc. Training managers on the ground is a simple, inexpensive and effective solution!  Training and coaching managers on the ground are the best investments for an organization.  

By acquiring key skills, your company will be even more competitive:

• Increase your productivity!
• Improvement of the quality!
• Elimination of operational problems!
• Standardization of working methods!
• Motivation and retention of your employees!

Do your supervisors and team leaders have continuously improving skills?  Are they able to identify bottlenecks and audit their workstations? Do they have a successful Daily Management System (DMS)?

The benefits of training and coaching your managers on the ground  

Training and coaching your managers on the ground allows you to:

• develop your own management tools
• implement and train your production managers in the principles of Lean management
• increase the accountability and productivity of your work teams

A big part of the operational performance relies on the skills of your production and method managers. 

Have you made the shift to training – coaching?  

Training and coaching on the ground must be an important part of your business. However, you need to have the right tools and know how to use them in order to get the full benefits. Whether you are looking for a tailor-made solution or just thinking about it, don’t hesitate to ask for advice.  Often, a second opinion will help you to take the necessary step forward!

Lean Management is more often than not associated with the manufacturing sector. It’s true that the Toyota production system’s principles immediately bring to mind the industrial production.

The application of Lean methods in the service sector has the same objectives: improve customer service, productivity, reduce risks, increase employee satisfaction and improve profitability.

In practical terms, Lean methods provide access to a multitude of advisory services to the management team (strategic and annual planning, management training and coaching, training of managers on employee management, etc.).

In a factory, the workstations are improved.  In services, it’s meetings, paperwork, managing agendas, customer service, etc.

As an entrepreneur, you are both a conductor and a musician. You are constantly in action and have little time to devote to improving your business processes.

The Toyota method

Here is how Lean management can help you in your service business, based on Toyota management principles:

• Base your decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals.
• Organize unit flow processes to update issues.
• Create a culture of immediate solving problems as they appear.
• Standardize tasks; this is the foundation for continuous improvement and employee accountability.
• Use visual checks to avoid problems remaining hidden.
• Use only reliable, long-proven technologies that serve your people and processes.
• Train leaders who know the work, live the philosophy and teach it to others.
• Train exceptional individuals and teams who apply your company’s philosophy.
• Respect your network of partners and suppliers by encouraging and helping them grow.
• Go out and understand the situation.

External resources can help you find ways to be more effective and efficient.

“Effectiveness is doing the right thing, and efficiency is doing the right thing.”

An external diagnosis addresses both aspects at once. It makes it possible to identify the right actions and to optimize the actions already taken so that they achieve better results or demand less resources.

Feel free to ask for help!

Moving from traditional sales to customer service

First, allow me address the image that is too often conveyed about what a good salesperson should be. We often hear that a good salesperson can convince anyone of anything. Nothing could be further from the truth! A good salesman knows his customers and listens to them. He knows his products and/or services, is passionate and has a sincere belief that what he has to offer can make a difference for his customer.

He takes the initiative to get in touch with his customers and propose new features. He knows how to adapt to his customers’ reality and speak the same language as them. He has a long-term vision, that focuses on maintaining good business relationships. Although the proverb says that you wont get a second opportunity to make a good first impression, the last impression is the most important.

Know your customers and what you have to offer, listen to their needs and maintain good business relationships…

When it comes to improving your sales process, how do you do it?   Here’s a solution that can help you better manage your relationships with your customers, as well as save you time and money: CRM.

CRM is the acronym for “Customer Relationship Management”. It is a database that centralizes all the information about your customers, your activities (contacts, phone calls, emails, etc.), your scheduled tasks, etc. Also, a good CRM makes it possible to share information between everyone involved in sales.

What can a CRM do for your business ? 

Here are the basics of a good CRM. You are welcome to complete this list according to your company’s specific needs. 

• Prospecting: A good CRM makes it possible to organize your prospecting efficiently, separating what is about to end from what requires more time. 
• Planning: With a CRM, each activity in progress is linked to one or more subsequent actions planned on your agenda. 
• Measuring your performance: Thanks to the flow of your activities, e-mails sent and statistics that a CRM can generate, you can track your business activities in real time. 

Which CRM to choose? 

Several IT solutions exist on the market. Let’s begin by describing and optimizing your sales process; this is the first step towards a well-informed choice. This process should include defined steps and performance indicators. Also consider defining the type of reports you will need.  For example, the number of new sales or the number and types of communications made. 

In Short, CRM must play an important role in your business. However, you have to have the right tool and know how to use it to benefit fully from it. Whether you are looking for a CRM or just thinking about it, don’t hesitate to ask for advice.  Often, an a second opinion can help you to take the necessary step forward!