Articles

The Shingo Institute Welcomes Impact Performance Solutions as a New Provider of Shingo Workshops

Logan, Utah — The Shingo Institute, a program of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, has partnered with Impact Performance Solutions to become the Institute’s newest Shingo Licensed Affiliate. This partnership means that Impact Performance Solutions will teach the Shingo workshops to groups and individuals int...

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COVID-19 – Jaguar Land Rover Lends Community Support

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is one of the largest private-sector employers in the UK, and as such, JLR has a huge impact on the UK economy. We are also pleased with the partnership between JLR and the Shingo Institute and our affiliates. JLR has hosted site visits and sent hundreds of employees to Shingo training workshops. Nigel Blenkinsop, ...

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COVID-19 – Mobilizing an Army of Discover Financial Call Center Workers

Last year, I had the opportunity to attend a Shingo workshop in Ogden, Utah, with a group of management team members from the Utah-based operations center of Discover Financial. These leaders shared with me some of the progress they were making using the principles of the Shingo Model in their organization. They didn’t suspect at the time...

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COVID-19 – Rapid Deployment in Healthcare

I have the privilege of serving on the board of directors of Catalysis, the Lean Healthcare Network. There are several Lean healthcare executives who serve on the board with me, including Dr. Lisa Yerian, who is the chief medical improvement officer at Cleveland Clinic.  In our recent board conference call, Dr. Yerian shared how t...

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COVID-19 – Ipsen Signes Fixes a Bad Situation

Ipsen is a global specialty-driven biopharmaceutical company committed to providing medical solutions for targeted debilitating diseases. It produces medicines for patients with very specific, life-threatening illnesses. Because running out of medicine can be deadly to patients, a motto of Ipsen is to “never stock out.” Last year, the Ips...

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COVID-19 – O.C. Tanner Develops Parts for PAPRs and Face Shields

O.C. Tanner is the global leader in employee recognition. The organization received a Shingo Prize in the late 1990s and has continued improving since then. O.C. Tanner is one of the organizations we study to better teach how to improve the process of improvement.It is not surprising that O.C. Tanner was one of the first companies to conv...

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COVID-19 – The Massachusetts Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC) – Responding to the Need for Safety Equipment for Healthcare Workers

I mentioned in my last blog the great work being done by AccuRounds in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In preparing that blog, I had the opportunity to speak with the owner and CEO of AccuRounds, Michael Tamasi. Michael wears multiple hats. He shared a remarkable story with me that deserves inclusion in my on-going blog stories about g...

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COVID-19 – AccuRounds – Ramp Up Production of Difficult Parts to Meet Surging Demand

AccuRounds is a manufacturer of precision-machined parts located in Avon, Massachusetts USA. It is a second-generation, family-owned company. Having adopted Lean principles about 25 years ago, AccuRounds is a long way down the Lean road. The organization received a Shingo Prize Northeast Region Silver Medallion in 2006, and it just keeps ...

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What to Expect from a Corporate Lean Program Awarded the Shingo Research Award

“What to Expect from a Corporate Lean Program: The S-Curve Theory” by Torbjørn Netland and Kasra Ferdows Receives Shingo Research Award Summary: After trained examiners and accomplished business professionals performed a thorough assessment of their work, Torbjørn Netland and Kasra Ferdows have been selected as recipients of an internatio...

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COVID-19 – Regeneron and Rapid Development of Treatments

Regeneron is a leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical company that invents life-transforming medicines for people with serious diseases. The Regeneron Industrial Operations & Product Supply Group received a Shingo Prize in 2019. It has been difficult to keep up with all the news coming out about Regeneron. It’s an impressive list...

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Leadership, Lean, and COVID-19

I was happy to read an open letter from Karl Wadensten, the CEO of VIBCO, that was posted to LinkedIn a few days ago. VIBCO is a long-time practitioner of Lean and has hosted many Shingo workshops over the years. In fact, VIBCO is hosting a Shingo DISCOVER EXCELLENCE virtual workshop on April 21-22. VIBCO manufactures many types of ind...

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COVID-19 – Rapid Conversion to Meet Surging Healthcare Demands

Last year, I had the opportunity to share the stage with a senior executive at Dyson. We were attending a Lean conference organized by one of our affiliate partner organizations and co-sponsored by the Shingo Institute. I was excited to hear how Dyson is using the Shingo Guiding Principles in its improvement efforts. Recently, though, I w...

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COVID-19 – Rapid Development of a Rapid Test

It is not surprising that Abbott, the worldwide leader in rapid-testing platforms, came up with a rapid test of the coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19. What is surprising is how rapidly the test was developed. Various Abbott Diagnostics operations worldwide have adopted the Shingo Model as their model to drive excellence. T...

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COVID-19 – Keeping Employees Safe

Jabil Healthcare in Shanghai, China, is reportedly the world’s largest manufacturing plant of medical devices. Jabil produces medical devices as a contract manufacturer for almost all of the medical device companies in the world. The plant in Shanghai has more than 4,000 employees. The Jabil Healthcare plant started adopting Lean tools...

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Shingo Principles in the Time of COVID-19

A few days ago, I reached out to the Shingo community seeking stories of the great work that is being done by organizations around the world during the COVID-19 crisis. We have already collected several amazing stories. Starting today, we will begin sharing them with you. It is our hope that they will motivate you as you deal with your ow...

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