On this week’s show, Paul Akers shares another presentation from Global Lean Leadership Summit 2015 that took place in August in NW Washington State. This week's presentation is by Ken Allender of Wildwood Cabinetry. For more information on Wildwood Cabinetry, visit their website.

A big thanks to George Trachilis, of Lean Leadership Institute, for filming/editing/publishing these videos!!! For more information on the Lean Leadership Institute, visit their website.

Pat Gilbert, of tustinwoodworks.com, sent us this story.

You don’t have to be an engineer to appreciate this true story.

A toothpaste factory had a problem. They sometimes shipped empty boxes without the tube inside. This challenged their perceived quality with the buyers and distributors. Understanding how important the relationship with them was, the CEO of the company assembled his top people. They decided to hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP(Request For Proposal), and third-parties selected. Six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution – on time, on budget, and high quality. Everyone in the project was pleased.

They solved the problem by using a high-tech precision scale that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box weighed less than it should. The line would stop, someone would walk over, remove the defective box, and then press another button to re-start the line. As a result of the new package monitoring process, no empty boxes were being shipped out of the factory.

With no more customer complaints, the CEO felt the $8 million was well spent. He then reviewed the line statistics report and discovered the number of empty boxes picked up by the scale in the first week was consistent with projections, however, the next three weeks were zero! The estimated rate should have been at least a dozen boxes a day. He had the engineers check the equipment, they verified the report as accurate.

Puzzled, the CEO travelled down to the factory, viewed the part of the line where the precision scale was installed, and observed just ahead of the new $8 million dollar solution sat a $20 desk fan blowing the empty boxes off the belt and into a bin. He asked the line supervisor what that was about.

“Oh, that,” the supervisor replied, “Bert, the kid from maintenance, put it there because he was tired of walking over, removing the box and re-starting the line every time the bell rang.”

On this week’s show, Paul Akers shares another presentation from Global Lean Leadership Summit 2015 that took place in August in NW Washington State. This week's presentation is by Dave Adams of Emergency Reporting. For more information on Emergency Reporting, visit their website.

A big thanks to George Trachilis, of Lean Leadership Institute, for filming/editing/publishing these videos!!! For more information on the Lean Leadership Institute, visit their website.

Paul Akers, of The American Innovator show, shares another presentation from Global Lean Leadership Summit 2015 that took place in August in NW Washington State. This week's presentation is by Dave Adams of Emergency Reporting. For more information on Emergency Reporting, visit their website.

A big thanks to George Trachilis, of Lean Leadership Institute, for filming/editing/publishing these videos!!! For more information on the Lean Leadership Institute, visit their website.

For more information on The American Innovator, visit our website or Facebook.

For more information on lean, go to 2 Second Lean or Facebook.

For more information on FastCap, visit our website or Facebook.

To sign up to receive news regarding The American Innovator show, go to this link.

We watched this 1945 movie from the US Office of War Information World War II during our morning meeting. “How war plant workers made suggestions that resulted in efficiency and economy.”

Paul Akers, of The American Innovator show, shares another presentation from Global Lean Leadership Summit 2015 that took place in August in NW Washington State. This week's presentation is by Sherri Hotzler of Vantec. For more information on Vantec, visit their website.

A big thanks to George Trachilis, of Lean Leadership Institute, for filming/editing/publishing these videos!!! For more information on the Lean Leadership Institute, visit their website.

For more information on The American Innovator, visit our website or Facebook.

For more information on lean, go to 2 Second Lean or Facebook.

For more information on FastCap, visit our website or Facebook.

To sign up to receive news regarding The American Innovator show, go to this link.

On this week’s show, Paul Akers shares another presentation from Global Lean Leadership Summit 2015 that took place in August in NW Washington State. This week’s presentation is by Sherri Hotzler of Vantec. For more information on Vantec, visit their website.

A big thanks to George Trachilis, of Lean Leadership Institute, for filming/editing/publishing these videos!!! For more information on the Lean Leadership Institute, visit their website.

5 Hacks, tips, tricks you can do with your tape measure that will impress your friends and help you get the job done a little quicker. Can you count the FastCap products?

Adam Tartt, Chief Operations Officer of MyEmployees sent this video of their employee TOTALLY engaged in Lean! “Watch Me Lean, Watch me 3S”. Gotta love this!!! Music – Silentó “Watch Me”.

Paul Akers, of The American Innovator show, shares another presentation from Global Lean Leadership Summit 2015 that took place in August in NW Washington State. This week’s presentation is by Shawn Gross of Viking Plastics. For more information on Viking Plastics, visit their website.

A big thanks to George Trachilis, of Lean Leadership Institute, for filming/editing/publishing these videos!!! For more information on the Lean Leadership Institute, visit their website.

For more information on The American Innovator, visit our website or Facebook.

For more information on lean, go to 2 Second Lean or Facebook.

For more information on FastCap, visit our website or Facebook.

To sign up to receive news regarding The American Innovator show, go to this link.