Paul Critchley is the President at New England Lean Consulting which offers services that include Business Consulting, Management Consulting, Strategic Planning and Change Management. He received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University, his Master of Science in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic University and his Master of Science in Organizational Leadership from Quinnipiac University. Paul is an accomplished Keynote Speaker, Host of the New England Lean Podcast and Co-Author of “The Whole Professional”, a book which focuses on a success in life in 4 key areas; physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Paul is an experienced senior leader and also an expert in the Lean Methodology. He is passionate about continuous improvement at every level.
How busy is your shop floor? How occupied is your team? Are your machines always running? Are you happy with your growth and operational efficiency? While you might be content with what you have right now, the question is, why would you not make more money if you could without increased efforts or resources.
In this episode, Paul Critchley, President of New England Lean Consulting, shares why culture is more important to him than tools. Paul shares why it’s important to engage with all staff when they have ideas or solutions to major problems. He also shared an $800 kaizen event that resulted in huge savings, reduction in stress level, and overtime of employees
Today’s guest is Paul Critchley, Paul Critchley is a recognized thought leader on employee engagement and continuous improvement and has helped businesses around the world achieve greater levels of success through the application of Lean techniques….
How busy is your shop floor? How occupied is your team? Are your machines always running? Are you happy with your growth and operational efficiency? While you might be content with what you have right now, the question is, why would you not make more money if you could without increased efforts or resources.
In today’s episode, our guest is Paul Critchley from New England Lean Consulting. Paul discusses practical examples of how to apply 5S of Lean to your organization, and also shares his insights into how the application of Lean differs from High-Volume, Low-Mix organizations (such as Automotive) to that of Job Shops, which are High-Mix, Low- Volume. Finally, he clears some of the misconceptions around Lean and how applying Lean principles can fuel your organization’s faster growth.
Joining me today is a guest host, my friend Paul Critchley. Paul has been a guest blogger here on LeanBlog.org. A few months back, we also collaborated to host a “Measures of Success” workshop in Massachusetts. We had some whiskey together after the workshop so we’re doing the same here in the podcast.
Sometimes, resistance isn’t to lean, or to change; it’s really about the perceived loss of something that someone values.
If you have ever read a Lean book, blog or article, you’ll know that “value” is defined by the customer. While often referenced, we don’t spend enough time thinking about what this really means.
Paul and Ron discussed some of the roadblocks organizations typically experience on their lean journeys, as well as what it means to be “winning” at lean.
This lean tool can create a better workplace.
Get better every day. Sometimes adopting lean manufacturing means adding more people to a process.
Lean manufacturing can change a business, but the focus should be on the people—not the tools.
Lean can be many things to many people; a way to earn more profits, a way to improve quality, or even a way to change a company’s culture for the better. For as many different reasons there are for people to start practicing Lean, there are ten times as many ways people misuse it, and wind up doing more harm than good.
Important questions that have seen in both factories and hospitals.
How big sustainable changes come from the little things along the way.
Important points about not reducing inventory too low before improving the capabilities of your system.
How big sustainable changes come from the little things along the way.
Ford believed that products should be sold for a reasonable price, not one that the maket would bear. He also paid his workers much more than the going rates at the time, under the belief that those workers would in turn spend that money on his product. His intuition was right.
Lean, takes commitment. You have to train. You have to understand what you’re getting into and prepare for it. You aren’t going to walk into the office one day and simply “become Lean” just like you can’t get off your couch and run an obstacle course race OCR. You also have to be willing to deal with failure, because you absolutely will fail at some point.
As a long time Lean practitioner (and now Lean consultant), I have been asked lots of questions about Lean over the years. There’s one I have gotten more often than the others, though, especially from business owners and managers: “What’s the biggest bang for my Lean buck?
Instead of using overly formal MFAs, I advocate going to the gemba.
Nothing is beyond our control, given the proper corporate culture and mentality. It’s a matter of how organizations operate and how they challenge their employees to think.
As we practice lean, we put things like 5S and visual management tools into place.
Although it’s not exactly a new problem within industry in the United States, there has been a definite uptick in the overall attention being given to the “lack of qualified personnel” issue we are experiencing.