Welcome to the MLC Blog! A blog fueled by the Lean and Continuous Improvement Community!
Hello Michigan Lean Consortium Practitioners,
I hope this note finds everyone loving our beautiful colors and weather this fall.
To start off I want to welcome our new corporate members from Tube Fab/Roman Engineering located in Afton, Michigan to the team! Also, Last month I am excited to share we were able to fill the last seat on the MLC Board of Directors by appointing Melissa Sherman of Consumers Energy to the board. Many of you may know Melissa through her extensive work with the Annual Conference. Her Lean systems and virtual tools knowledge will benefit the MLC as we move into 2023.
Welcome Melissa!
Thank you again to everyone who showed interest in running for a board seat! The last day of September the board held its Quarterly Strategy meeting where, with the help of two cycles of 90-day Strategic A3’s, we began to develop What the MLC is, Why we are here and Where we want to go. This session was super exciting as we now have our legs under us and can move forward with more stability and confidence. I will share more next month once we solidify our plan.
Lastly, through your feedback we are closing out 2022 with several events. We continue with Coffee Chats and Book Club which have been strong and well attended. I also wanted to remind everyone of the Grand Rapids Summit quickly approaching in Mid-November on the campus of Grand Valley State University and hope everyone registers and plans to attend.
Your feedback is always appreciated and thank you for your patronage and love for the MLC!
For the Love of Lean,
Holly Plaga,
Michigan Lean Consortium Chair
Networking is just one of the benefits of the MLC membership. The MLC Book Club and the Annual Conference created opportunities to meet and build new friendships. Jayne Overbeck recently took a vacation to the Upper Peninsula and had the pleasure of spending time with Ruth Archer in Houghton, Michigan, and their alma mater Michigan Tech University (also Ruth’s workplace).
Please share your stories and pictures!
Our Coffee Chat Subject Matter Expert of the Month was Brian Braman.
He presented on Problem Solving A3s. He discussed how he got people involved, what format they used (they get to choose!), and how to inspire and coach. There were numerous questions and wonderful insights in this interactive Coffee Chat.
Thank you again Brian! Brian’s background:
The next Coffee Chat is on October 21 st at 8:30 a.m. Please join us.
The 2022 Annual Conference held this August in Traverse City was memorable for a number of reasons, not least of which the end of Day 2 Ideation sessions.
Attendees broke into groups, and for about an hour at various stations- Communities of Practice (CoPs), Membership, and Events, we heard from our members, and non-members who attended. We asked how the MLC, and our various functions were serving, and not serving , our members. We listened, and took notes.
And from those notes and conversations we are fashioning the improvements members are needing from the MLC.
Communities of Practice will see a major update, designed to expand access to more members, create more diverse networks and discussions, and unlock the resources that are the members of the Michigan Lean Consortium.
Please bear with us as we work out the details. We plan to have it ready by year’s end, ushering in a new era of interaction for MLC members.
I hope this note finds everyone winding down their summer with great memories of the past few months.
The MLC also has enjoyed delivering value to you! Our Annual Conference had an amazing turnout and felt more like a reunion than a conference. I am so thankful to those volunteers who helped pull the AC together and you, the membership, for attending!
Traditionally during the annual conference we thank the former board members and introduce the new board members to the membership. This year we thanked and said goodbye to Vanita De Jesus, Josh Foster, and Kevin Olds. We introduced Jayne Overbeck and Alen Ganic. Pam Burgess was also reelected to the board for another three year term. Most recently, Debra Levantrosser, founder of the MLC, rejoined the board to support the membership office. Also during the annual conference the State of the Business was presented to the membership. Each director shared their portion of the Strategic A3 and their vision for the future.
At the end of September the board will hold the Q3 strategy meeting where we will be evaluating our 2022 work and begin designing 2023!
I hope everyone is excited to see the offerings the MLC will provide in the New Year!
Your feedback is always appreciated!
For the Love of Lean, Holly Plaga, Michigan Lean Consortium Chair
Our Coffee Chat Subject Matter Expert of the Month was Megan Atkinson, CSM, CSPO, CAL. Megan presented on Visual Collaboration Tools for Remote Work and Learning. It was an interactive and informative presentation! Megan serves at the intersection of business and technology strategy as a Business Transformation Analyst at Dart Container.
She has spent over a decade dedicated to digital transformation through her work in experience design, product management, enterprise architecture, and process reengineering. Thank you again Megan!
September’s Coffee Chat subject is Problem Solving A3s presented by Brian Braman, Senior Manager, Operational Excellence at Orchid Orthopedic Solutions on September 16th.
Please let us know if you would like to present a topic!
Each year at the Annual Conference, the MLC recognizes one or more individuals for their contributions to the organization. This recognition is called the Distinguished Service Award and it is awarded to a Dave Kippen and Debra Levantrosser.
Dave Kippen has been so integral to the success of MLC from his early days as a board member to his most recent contributions as Events Team Lead and Annual Conference Team Lead. Dave has been one of the largest supporters of MLC in its entire history. In fact, this is Dave’s second time being honored with this award. His first was in 2013. As Events Team Lead, Dave was the person responsible for coordinating and executing the full events calendar. During the shutdown periods of COVID, this was especially trying, and Dave always approached these situations with the MLC’s best interest as his priority. The MLC Board thanks Dave for his tireless efforts of volunteerism and are grateful for volunteers like Dave.
Debra Levantrosser was this year’s second awardee. Debra is the face of the MLC Annual Conference. For the entire history of the event, Debra has offered up her time and talents to be the Master of Ceremonies. She is a consummate professional, who always knows just the right activity to run or words to say during the event. She makes the Annual Conference fun and entertaining year after year and does it with grace. Debra was also a founding member of MLC and played a key role in laying the foundation of this important organization.
Please consider volunteering in any capacity where you feel you have talents that would help the MLC. This organization relies on volunteerism to continue to provide great resources and content to those around the state who are on their Lean journey.
Alen Ganic, a former board member, is looking to expand our Government Community of Practice and support the board as needed. Alen will be formally onboarded in August at the Annual Conference and will be included in the MLC State of the Business on Thursday. We are very excited to have such a great team joining us as we move forward. Please Welcome Him To The Team!!
Alen Ganic is a dynamic and passionate leader and management professional with a track record of steering efficiency and continuous improvement by deploying Lean Six Sigma methodology and tools and leveraging team capabilities. He is recognized for the ability to transform businesses through training, coaching, and mentoring.
Twenty-plus years ago, Alen fell in love with the Lean philosophy. Since then, he has helped manufacturing plants with Lean transformation, coaching, and mentoring. Alen has also helped streamline and transform some departments and operations in the public sector.
In 2019 Alen received the Michigan Lean Consortium Distinguished Service Award for superb customer service and going above and beyond in time commitment and service to Michigan and the MLC community.
In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family and reading. Also, he loves spending time outdoors, like kayaking, hiking, and biking. Alen speaks fluently three languages; English, Bosnian, and German.
You may know Jayne Overbeck from being a part of the Events Team this year! She is new to the board and will bring fresh ideas along with strong project management experience to our team. Please Welcome Her To The Team!!
Jayne Overbeck is a Senior Strategy Manager at Dart Container where she manages high-level program initiatives and helps to foster strong cross-functional collaboration. She is responsible for continuously improving the Strategy Department’s processes and methodologies to drive value and support better business outcomes. In addition, she leads kaizen events, teaches courses on Lean principles, and mentors team members.
Jayne started practicing Lean over 25 years ago. She attended the General Motors Quality Institute where she had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Deming. Her Lean journey received inspiration after observing the red bead experiment. Prior to joining Dart, Jayne gained project management, Lean and consulting experience working in multiple industries including manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and technology. She has led continuous improvement projects in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Jayne has a bachelor's degree in Scientific and Technical Communications from Michigan Technological University. Jayne is an avid reader, she loves spending time her fur-baby Casey, and (of course) her wonderful husband Jim.
Be sure to engage your graphics, marketing or other arts department early on in your Lean endeavors. There is a lot to do in Visual management, and their help will be invaluable.
In early Lean activities, 5S and area organization is key. As things progress, standard work is implemented, requiring visual representations to go with the narrative. Flow lanes, takt time, and a long list of others make your graphics team key to presenting the visuals in a timely and personalized manner.
If you don’t have a marketing or graphics department, there are several online tools that can provide examples of visually engaging representation of data, like Venngage or you can use online programs like Canva for visual management.
