Using Lean Principles to organize your garden tools.

FastCap Team members take a messy garden corner and make it lean!

Andrey tells us about something that bugged him and how he fixed it.

Three years ago when I visited China I came across a powerful truth, wherever there is abundance there is waste. The thought occurred to me when I walked outside a factory and was standing there with the factory owner.  His dog was circling around our feet, rummaging and foraging in the bushes for any little morsel to eat.  I noticed the dog was very thin, not malnourished, but very thin; if you will, very lean.  This dog was very resourceful.  It spent no time lying around like most dogs, it was constantly on the hunt for food.

I realized that in the environment of China there isn’t much waste. Everyone has to make do with very little and indeed you see this very clearly when you go inside a Chinese restaurant. They eat everything, whether it be the beak or the feet of a duck or the fins on a fish, everything is consumed & nothing is wasted because there isn, abundance.

In America, however, there is waste everywhere you look.  Indeed, we’re a very rich country with abundance everywhere.  Abundance in and of itself is not the problem; it’s the way we treat the excess of the abundance.  When we have a resource and we don’t use it properly or to its fullest extent then we waste that resource.  That resource – that waste – could be allocated towards other valuable activities.  We have become lazy because of the excess so we don’t use our resources to the fullest extent.

At companies like Toyota and Fastcap, there is a finely honed culture that understands that waste is the enemy and the goal is to eliminate it at every turn.  At these companies it isn’t just about not wasting things; it’s really about allocating the waste towards other valuable activities.  This is the critical component. You don’t waste only because it’s not good to waste.  You don’t waste because there are other valuable activities that you can put that waste toward.  In a lean environment Lean Thinkers understand this.

When I told this story to a friend of mine and explained the idea that wherever there’s abundance there’s waste, he chuckled and laughed.  He said, “You’re absolutely right”. I was raised on a farm, and whenever our friends from the city came to visit they noticed that there were a lot of very skinny barn cats.  They would ask my dad why he didn’t feed those cats.  My dad would always retort back ‚”Are you kidding, those are self propelled, self cocking mouse traps!“.  My dad got a chuckle out of telling those stories because he understood that if he fed those cats they wouldn’t do their jobs.  They’d be lying around like most other farm animals would if they were fed at every turn.  Instead my father allocated just the right amount of resources to keep those cats on their toes and on edge and doing their job.

That‚’s the power of not wasting resources.  When you don’t waste resources then you get exactly what you put into it, no more and no less.  There aren’t available resources that are left on the side of the road, animals lying around the farm not doing their job.  The cycle the laws of nature, work perfectly when available resources are not wasted. That’s the power of understanding that wherever there is abundance there is waste.

For instance, in our company, FastCap, we make a concerted effort not to throw money at every problem. Our work bench was made and maintained by or people from particle board, not bought from some fancy catalog. Instead, we answer every problem by using our wits, not our wallets.  We understand that when you answer every question with the abundance, i.e. the wallet, you probably aren’t going to get a creative answer, and most definitely you’re not going to get an efficient answer.  When you limit the resources, when you use your head (your wit) and not your wallet, then amazing things can happen.  You can have a lean dog and a lean work bench and very little waste. This is a beautiful thing. Waste is not just bad because its waste – waste is bad because it does not give you the best answer.

On Saturday, August 28 I had the privilege of attending the “Restoring America Rally” that took place in Washington, D.C. I was amazed at the sheer volume and passion of the people present. This video shows the magnitude of those present.

Paul,

I want to extend a “thank-you” for taking the time to “go to gemba”.¬† To jog your memory, I was the “young guy” in the back and my wife Kaila is Georganna’s niece.¬† Kaila and I extend our thoughts and prayers to your success in your election.¬† I will be sure to pass the word on.

As I mentioned last night, the past few years I have had extensive exposure to implementation of Lean Culture.  I have seen the success first hand in product development, project management, and manufacturing.  It was very exciting to hear of your enthusiasm to extend the boundaries of a solid improvement methodology into the governmental arena.  Even more compelling is that you are clearly running with the right motivations and principles at the core.  I deeply wish you the best of luck.

I have had some good training in leading Kaizen workshops and trying to gather a group of people around the spirit of improvement.  If there is anything specific my experience in being immersed in lean can offer let me know.

Tim Treto

Mechanical Engineer

This commentary by Angie Vogt appeared on Red County:

During his concession speech, without a moments hesitation, Paul Akers heartily encouraged his followers in the state of Washington to support the fight against Patty Murray by supporting Dino Rossi. Then, in case nobody heard him and in contrast to what is getting to be a tiresome game with Didier’s refusal to do the same, Akers released this statement yesterday:

Dear Washington State Conservatives,
This letter is to confirm that Paul Akers For US Senate whole heartedly endorses Dino Rossi for US Senate. I encourage all concerned citizens to rally behind Dino Rossi in his bid to defeat Patty Murray in the US Senate. We have an unusual opportunity. The wind is at our back. We must unite and not allow our opponent to have even one more day to relish in any division that is amongst us.

In today’s political climate, words are cheap, so I think it’s far more interesting to see what the candidates are doing a week after their hard fought primaries. As of yesterday I know Clint Didier’s campaign manager, Kathy Serkes, was on David Boze¬†explaining how Clint¬†has been misunderstood, regarding his lack of support for Dino. It sounded an awful lot like back peddling to me. I felt myself cringing for her, doing¬†Clint’s dirty work, trying to restore some measure of dignity after this ugly, annoying chapter in post-primary election history.

What a contrast to my friend, Paul Akers. Not¬†wasting any time licking his wounds or feeling sorry for himself, (and wasting is the operative word here), Paul demonstrates that his passion for stopping government waste is not about him, but about our country. His immediate response to loss was not to navel gaze, not to analyze what went wrong nor to create a wave of press attention or post election drama. Paul doesn’t waste time on ego restoration. The people have spoken and he respects their voice. Instead he has immediately invested his energy into a new initiative called Lean America.

Paul is pressing forward with what he is passionate about:¬† finding a way to introduce and advocate a proven process (Lean) into the hearts and minds of American citizens. As a businessman he knows that identifying and cutting out waste is necessary for fiscal survival. He believes the same about our government and once again, he’s putting his own heart and soul behind it.

Get ready for the ride. Paul is taking his message to the Glenn Beck 8-28 Restoring Honor Rally in Washington D.C. this Saturday, with a live broadcast of his radio show “American Innovator.” You can count on hearing more about Lean America as he continues to join the fight against the culture of waste that has infected our government.