Photo Album
April, 2006 Common Ground Youth Program, Hartford, CT, USA. Annette and I led the afternoon session of 40 inner city high schoolers. Objective: teach them the principles of Kaizen, team work and produce 300 "give-away bags" stuffed with 12 items each for a conference the next day. Yikes!
The great PingPong Factory teaches change process basics.
September, 2005 Singapore. Dr. Paul and I conducted 4 great sessions of The Model Airplane Factory. The objective was to create a safe learning environment where people would feel comfortable stepping up and making decisions based on world class principles without a boss giving direction.
A waterspider team naturally formed to stock the workstations of the three assembly lines. This was a critical function to the success of the work.
The students were formed into 3 teams to discuss what a "quality" job was and various approaches to assemblying the bag. Group 1 progressively stacked the materials and then inserted into the bag. Group2 moved the bag through the work stations and inserted items one at a time. Group 3 flowed people through the workstations, each loading a full bag. Massive learning potential created!
clockwise: Singapore, a multi-cultural and vibrant economy. U-shaped flow lines and social system designed on world-class principles. Cross-training is key to flow improvements. Production team is accountable for all "office" tasks required by daily material flow. Fully cross-trained, building planes and managing daily metrics to success!