Consensus is that the 2018 edition of the KZN Lean Conference conference which took place from the 9 – 11 October 2018 was an unqualified success. The event concluded at the Protea Hilton with insightful presentations on how companies are adopting the principles, including case studies by Pressure Die Castings and Voith Turbo. Presentations by the South African Quality Institute, Rieger Industrial Consultants and TLC MD Tanya Hulse added depth to the proceedings. Eleni Kwinana, Vodacom’s executive head for enterprise in KZN, flew the flag for the sponsors throughout the two-day event, including a presentation on how digital technology can Lean one’s business. She also opened proceedings on day two of the KZN Lean Conference.
James Mpele – Diversity Management
Voith Turbo SAQI Visual Management
TLC – Building the Capability to Succeed in your Lean Journey
Background to Lean Manufacturing – Peter Temba
ABOUT TLC:
Training Leadership Consulting (TLC) is an International Training and Consulting company, focused on Operational Excellence, Leadership Development and Business Improvement. A recipient of the PMCB Nedbank small business of the year award 2017, TLC support their local business community and enterprises around South Africa to improve productivity and reduce the cost of doing business in this country. They assist their clients to define their company purpose, improve their performance, and increase their enterprise value.
PREVIOUS LEAN FORUM TOPICS HOSTED AT THE CHAMBER OF BUSINESS INCLUDE:
Speaker: Rex Van Schalkwyk
Date: 10 March 2020
Topic: Lean Agile
The Lean Forum on the 10 March 2020 went innovative, in more ways than one. For the first time, the Forum was run as a webinar, with guest speaker Rex van Schalkwyk presenting live to the Forum attendees from his home office in Gauteng. The topic was also one relatively new in South Africa – the concept of Lean-Agile. Having emerged from a revolutionary method to tackle software development, the concept is growing in popularity and is now equally common in non-IT industries. The approach, which shares many tenets with Lean as a philosophy and a methodology, challenges conventional approaches to implementing innovation and driving new product development in particular. It inspires teams to achieve unprecedented improvements in product development time and end-user satisfaction levels. Rex, a certified practitioner in the SAFe Agile methodology, is passionate about the topic. “You can’t just DO Agile”, says Rex, “you need to BE Agile!” Despite load shedding and another of PMB’s famous electrical storms, Rex was able to present and field questions from the group. Companies interested to know more and to attend a 2-day Agile workshop should contact info@tlcglobal.co.za.
Speaker: Sarah Giles
Date: 20 August 2019
Topic: Customer Experience Management
Today’s customer is changing. Is your business adapting in our highly competitive business world? Sarah Giles, TLC’s Business Development and Client Relationship Manager shared key insights at the recent Lean Forum on how Customer Experience Management will improve business results. Every business improvement journey starts with a deep understanding of your customer requirements. She shared a valuable tool to track every interaction with a customer called Customer Journey Mapping. “It’s about putting your customer shoes on and walking the journey they experience. This process will help you identify your customers’ emotions and discover moments of magic and moments of pain in your current business processes,” she said. Design a frictionless experience for your customers by looking at your business from their perspective. Today, profit=Customer Experience.
Speaker: Tanya Hulse, TLC
Date: 14 May 2019
Topic: Do you apply Visual Management in your workplace?
Does it help your teams to solve problems and improve performance? Or are you battling to get traction? In yesterday’s packed Lean Forum at the PMCB, TLC’s MD Tanya Hulse facilitated an interactive discussion on Visual Management, including the purpose, principles and key hurdles to success. People shared their experiences, and left with new insights to take back to their teams.
Speaker: Grant Davis, Business Improvement Manager TLC
Date: 19 February 2019
Topic: Process management in the future: redundant or essential?
Process management in the future: redundant or essential? This was the topic of the Pietermaritzburg & Midlands Chamber of Business Lean Forum on 19th February. Grant from TLC left the Lean forum attendees thinking about the future and how important it is to get business processes in order before the disruption of new technology takes over. Through a series of questions and discussions Grant facilitated a debate between improving and documenting existing processes and the disruption of new technology. Grant concluded that process management will still be essential in the exponential age of technology as a process should only be automated once documented and standardized. Automating a process that is not streamlined or documented could create costly complications and inefficiencies for a business.
Speaker: Grant Davis, Business Improvement Manager TLC
Date: 13 November 2018
Topic: The Squares game – systems thinking
Training Leadership Consulting Lean expert, Grant Davis facilitated a fun simulation called The Squares Game at the November Lean forum. This game simulates an experience of being in a system and is designed to teach business challenges and highlights the impact of a broken system on productivity and the inability to meet customer requirements. A simple definition of a system is a grouping or integration of different functions or parts working together to achieve a common purpose. Each person is given odd shapes to make a square. There is no talking allowed and strict rules to follow which teaches themes of co-operation and the need for effective communication. Grant said this game asks the following questions “ Do we know what our customers really want? Are we all aligned to the same purpose? Do we have the right people with the right skills and how are we measuring performance? Are our processes simple and aligned to our customer needs and do we take accountability?”
Speaker: Brian Moores-Pitt (Owner of MegaMasters training and development) and Matthew Guilhermino (Lean Start-up mentor and facilitator at SocioNext)
Date: 12 June 2018
Topic: Introduction to the Lean start-up business model – Moving Entrepreneur Development from Analog to Digital
There is great uncertainty and risk when starting up a business and in the South African context, there is a severe shortage of skills needed to mitigate these risks. Many start-ups fall into a false sense of security through traditional business planning methodologies, which are suitable for businesses that have already found their product and market fit. This approach to fund and execute a plan, which is based on assumptions and has not been validated, leads to an incredibly high failure rate of early stage businesses.
Brian Pitt-Moore of MegaMasters Training and Development shared his insights with the business model canvas and Lean start-up approach. He and Matthew Guilhermino shared relevant examples to provide insight into this valuable approach for entrepreneurs and new business ventures.
Speaker: Tanya Hulse (Managing Director, TLC)
Date: 13 March 2018
Topic: Recognise how Lean Thinking can make your Business more resilient in volatile and uncertain times
Managing a business can be a roller-coaster ride in these uncertain times. You are dealing with the impact of political changes, economic uncertainties, exchange rate fluctuations and changes in legal requirements. It’s hard for you as a business leader to keep track and focus on delivering value to your customers. Not only can Lean thinking help you in more stable times, it is particularly valuable in times like these. It keeps you closely connected to your customers, empowers your people which builds individual and team resilience, and helps your business have higher margins as a buffer in these tough times. Ultimately this ensures your entire business is more responsive to the changes all around you.
Speaker: Jayshree Naicker (Qualified Pharmacist and Lean Six Sigma Master Consultant)
Date: 7 November 2017
Topic: Understand how Lean Thinking can transform our Healthcare industry – Learning from Success Stories
Lean principles can successfully be applied in the Healthcare environment to improve both hospital management and the patient experience. A culture of problem solving needs to be embedded into our healthcare delivery approach.
Jayshree Naicker shared key learnings from success stories of how Lean thinking can transform our healthcare industry.
Speaker: Martin Ost (Lean Consultant and trainer at TLC)
Date: 22 August 2017
Topic: An introduction to Lean thinking
Lean is an operational excellence strategy, a way of thinking and a toolset. Many see Lean as applying only to the manufacturing industry, but this is certainly not the case as Lean is about the removal of waste from processes and every business is process-oriented. This way of thinking and toolset will help you lower the cost of doing business by reducing waste and defects in your processes. Learn how to transform your business, empower your team and create a culture of respect.
• Why Lean?
• History of Lean
• The evolution of Lean – Lean in different industries
• Lean Leadership – Balance of purpose and people
• Methodology decision tree
Speaker: Grant Davis (Business Improvement Manager at TLC)
Date: 16 May 2017
Topic: 5S a gateway to Lean
This forum incorporated an interactive activity followed by a practical example that includes tips on how to accelerate your Lean transformation using 5S.
View this video to learn more about 5S click here.
Allan Conolly shares his experience with 5S at Somta tools.
Speaker: Martin Ost (Lean consultant at TLC)
Date: 7 March 2017
Topic: Learn how to create a process map
Process mapping is a workflow diagram that enables you to analyse ‘as-is’ business processes and procedures. It helps you to identify and document processes, recognise inefficiencies and performance gaps so you can create the ‘to-be’ streamlined future state. This is a Lean tool used to standardise and stabilise business processes which can be measured and managed for productivity improvement.
1. Identify process steps, decisions and documents required in your process
2. Determine process users and assign process steps in swim lanes
3. Conduct a value/non-value add analysis (what is your customer willing to pay for?)
Information on books provided by Conroy Quick.