Podcast appearances and mentions of Norman Bodek

In this episode of The Manufacturing Stream Podcast Eric has Maureen Fahey of Productivity talks about her days when JIT and Lean started in the West. Working as a young assistant to Norman Bodek, Maureen tells stories of the days when Dr. Shigeo Shingo would visit the United States and Maureen was there during these visit. Maureen also expounds on when SMED and TPM were introduced to Western manufacturers in the early days of JIT.l2l.comYoutube: @leading2lean

Episode page with transcript and more My guest for Episode #500 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is me, your usual host Mark Graban. Today, I'm mixing up the format with a solo episode that celebrates 500 episodes over almost 18 years. I'll share some of the origin story and history of the podcast. You'll hear clips from Episode 1 (with Norm Bodek) and Episode 50 (where Jamie Flinchbaugh asked me about getting started). You'll also hear a clip from a recent conversation where Barry McCarthy, of AME Australia, asked me about persisting with podcasting all these years. Thanks for listening, whether this is your first time, you've listened to them all, or somewhere in between! The podcast is brought to you by Stiles Associates, the premier executive search firm specializing in the placement of Lean Transformation executives. With a track record of success spanning over 30 years, it's been the trusted partner for the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare sectors. Learn more. This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.  Notes and Highlights: More than 500 episodes in 921 weeks, a little more than one every two weeks for 17.75 years 3,276,745 total downloads / listens, although I'm not convinced the stats are 100% consistent The top 10 most downloaded episodes The most frequent guests (#1 is Norman Bodek with 14 episodes) One anonymous guest Where listeners are from The origin story and the intro to Episode #1 A clip from Episode #50 My reflections on the clunky podcast name A shift over time from “big names” to highlighting new faces and their stories The one time I forgot to record! In memoriam: guests who have passed away

The blog post I'm currently working on a Mistake Proofing class for Karen Martin and TKMG Academy. Coming soon!! In the process of writing the course and its script, I've gone back to some older source material that has been on my bookshelf for a long time. In this case, it's a book I not only own but read many years ago (20 years ago?): Zero Quality Control by Shigeo Shingo. It was published by Norman Bodek during the heyday of Productivity Press when he still owned it. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lean-blog-audio/support

In this episode, Tim talks with podcast guest George Trachilis about recognizing and cultivating leadership in their work as leadership coaches. Both Tim and George share their history of how they found themselves working with organizations to improve their processes and systems and the top takeaways each took regarding the power of leadership. As an expert in Lean Leadership, George provides insightful ideas on workplace culture. Drawing inspiration from leaders in mindset and workplace culture, such as James Clear, Normen Bodek, Shigeo Shingo, and Mike Rother, this episode is a treasure trove of resources for leaders who want to focus on self-improvement. If you consider yourself a leader or someone who has a vision and gets things done, this episode has tons of resources and ideas to help you grow.About George TrachilisAuthor and speaker, George Trachilis, is the Shingo Research Award winning contributor and publisher of the book, Developing Lean Leaders at All Levels. His insight as an entrepreneur and Lean Coach will astound. George is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people alive in the Lean world today, and his focus has changed from Lean, to operational excellence to leadership excellence. It has always been about leadership and leading by example. Connect with George today to address your leadership needs.Resources discussed in this episode:Kaizen LeadershipNormen Bodek - The Harada MethodTaiichi OhnoShigeo Shingo Atomic HabitsPaul AkersMike Rother - Toyota KataGemba Walk--Contact Tim Sweet | Team Work Excellence: WebsiteLinkedIn: Tim SweetInstagramLinkedin: Team Work ExcellenceContact George Trachilis | Leadership Excellence: WebsiteEmailLinkedinFind It George Website--George 00:00The more you focus on the laggards, the more attention everybody else will want from you, and you'll lose good people. Focus on your superstars. You know, that's the direction you're going people get caught up. Tim 00:12I'd like to ask you some questions. Do you consider yourself the kind of person that gets things done? Are you able to take a vision and transform that into action? Are you able to align others towards that vision and get them moving to create something truly remarkable. If any of these describe you, then you my friend, or a leader, and this show is all about and all for you. Welcome to the Sweet on Leadership Podcast, episode 16. Tim 00:46Thanks again for joining us on sweet on leadership. I'm really pleased today that I have person who I have followed for years joining me. And when I contemplated what we're going to talk about today was the obvious choice for who to reach out to and that's George Trachilis. George, thanks very much for taking the time. George 01:08Oh, thank you. Thank you, Tim. So Tim 01:10today, we spent a little bit of time here before we hit record talking about what we want to cover. And we don't really know where this is gonna go. But I believe it's all around how both of us, our careers have taken us into the area of strategy, leadership development, team development. And we share a common starting point. And that is really moving from operational excellence, and the tools that are involved there all the way into this, this era. So maybe as a start, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, what you're working on. And then we can get into how we found ourselves down this path. George 01:53So, my name is George Trachilis. For those of you that don't know me, I started off in Lean In 1994, working for a company called Motorcoach Industries, which was Greyhound Buses. And in those days, I was a young engineer, just coming out of school basically. And I was asked to be on an implementation team for an ERP implementation, which took me to Pembina, North Dakota in the US from Winnipeg, Canada. And we implemented an ERP system, which included total quality management, and what we knew as Lean back then, and Kanban, and all the tools. And we had consultants come in from all Oliver White Consulting. And what they did was they share the tools with us, the leaders of the group, and then they asked us to go train others. And I loved it. What I say is I caught the bug, that was it, I can no longer work in a regular job. It needed to be about change, and looking at the light go on in people's eyes. That's what it was all about. And it hasn't been for 30 years now. The first 10 years was me implementing with a team of people the second 10 years, was owning my own consulting business going to Edmonton Calgary throughout Canada. As a matter of fact, I had an online course that created maybe the first online course, on Lean 101 the Lego Simulation Airplane Game. And the Government of Alberta bought it, which means I was allowed to sell it for them. And they trained 300 companies in Alberta, Canada, which then expanded because in 2011, I just said let's give it away to the world. And I had like in December of that year, something like 300 students on average registered per day. So, it was pretty amazing that everybody in 2011 love this thing called Lean. Okay, Lean is great. But I found I was missing something because I would go into a company, somebody would show me the Toyota way and the 4P model. Okay. I didn't know what all that meant. And then in 2012, I was doing more online courses and I met Jeff Liker, and I met Norman Bodek. Actually in reverse Norman first, Jeff Liker, and met a lot of the Guru's and I went to Japan learned a lot about the Toyota way of doing things, met with a lot of Toyota coaches, especially on Toyota business practices, and learned that and now I coach and develop people using Toyota business practices. But throughout the last 30 years, even though the last 10 is all on leadership development, I still go in, I still do value stream mapping, I still do the tools. So that's not a problem. I love doing that. But I get the benefit there. Not everybody else necessarily. If I can teach that, well, somebody else is getting the benefit. Now I coach and develop companies. And I've got two big clients today where I'm coaching leaders to be leaders. And they're coaching others. So, the mental model I used to have in the first one years was the five principles of Lean. Okay? Define value from the customer's perspective, right? Define the value stream, first flow, then pull, and strive for perfection, great five values, great five principles of Lean. Now, ever since Jeff Liker and I put the book together, called Developing Lean leaders at all levels, the model we share there is, number one, live the core values of the company. Okay, that's number one. Number two, commit to self development, because everybody knows, if you don't develop yourself, you don't have that attitude, you're going nowhere, you're going nowhere, plus, you're causing everybody else, no end of pain, because you're in it for yourself, everybody's got to do something for you. And you're not enough for the customer or the company, or your teamwork, or your team players. Number two coach and develop others, we need everybody to be a coach, as a manager. If you're not coaching and developing somebody, you're just not doing your job as a manager. Number three, support daily Kaizen. And then number four, define your targets and align all of your processes towards those targets for that year. So create vision, and align targets. That's number four. So that mental model today is a model that I refer to as the Lean Leadership Development Model. Jeff, and I created a company called Lean Leadership Institute. And we have an online course that trains that to the masses. But really step one, I always say if you can't improve, if you can't say, I want to improve, there's something wrong. And it's not with a everybody else. It's with you. So, so just just making sure people know and then I usually get the question is like, what happens when you meet somebody like that? Well, don't worry about them, don't focus on them as a leader, the more you focus on the laggards, the more attention everybody else will want from you. And you'll lose good people focus on your superstars, you know, that's the direction you're going people get caught up. So what I'm working on today is remote coaching for several companies, and helping them understand how they should be thinking so that they can teach that mindset to others. Tim 07:33It's a real basis and thought, when we think of just the pure efficiency of playing to your strengths, or supporting, I liked what you said there about focusing on the superstars. Because we're going to improve our reach, we're going to make sure that we have all the right thought going on in the organization, rather than focusing on constraints, it it's a good place to be but with teams, we need to be marshaling everybody into a common goal. And what was that old saying that they used to say? You know, do you want to be the hero with 1000 Helpers? Or do you want to be the leader with 1000? Heroes? You know, really, can we bring that out in people? I'm still floored by just how similar the evolution is between yourself and myself and where we've landed. George 08:26I'm not. I think it's funny, because when we're a Lean thinker, what is it we're looking for? We're looking to help people, okay. And when we see the gap, we kind of say, hey, let's close the gap. And this is the gap for a long time. We just never saw it. And we've been distracted by others, like, let's call them thought leaders that have driven us in a certain thinking process. We've been distracted for about 10 to 20 years. But today, I think we're on top of the real issue, which is our leaders are not leaders, at times, they're not behaving that way. They're thinking about short term results and behaving in a way similar to get those versus the long term game that they could get by staying on course, you know, making sure people understand they're valued at the company. They're the only appreciating asset. You're growing the people that's your job. When I was in Japan, it was funny because Matt Amezaga he was the Vice President of Operations at all of Toyota. He said that Fujio Cho, asked him to go back to Kentucky and get the culture back because they had a leader there. This particular leader didn't do a good job. And in a matter of one year, he destroyed the culture. And it took four years to get it back. But he did it in three, he was very impressed with himself. So, this is the kind of culture that you need. And you, you got to think of the culture as the behaviors. And the behaviors, behaviors of the leadership go furthest. When you see somebody in front of you, and they're the CEO of the company, and they bend down, they pick up a piece of garbage, and they throw it in the garbage can. That's not like for show. That's because they live it. That's because they, they understand that if they don't demonstrate what they want from others, they're not going to get it. Tim 10:30Yeah, I think tied on to that is, if the leaders are behaving in a way, or if the managers or the executives in those that should be in leadership roles are behaving in a way that demonstrates the worst possible things, then that also becomes how we define the culture because you know, that culture is defined by the worst behaviors we're willing to accept. And it can be so debilitating for an organization to have the wrong people getting the attention. It really takes away from the enjoyment and from the fulfillment, that everybody who's fighting the good fight is able to derive from it. And when I think back to some of the experiences that I had, I remember what my first major regional management role was with was with a large commercial bakery, and I had Thunderbay to Vancouver Island. Spent a lot of time in Winnipeg, incidentally. You know, working in that area, I spent two years creating, I was deploying TQM back in the day. So we were doing quality circles and having a bunch of unionized employees wrangling waste, and getting it down and, and really working with the union to help them understand why we were having people work off page and not necessarily working to their their job description, but getting excited for their role. And one organizational shift where they decided to take our regional office out of Calgary and send it back east, and that we were no longer going to play nicey nice with the unions, it dismantled culture overnight, it dismantled all of that positive work we had done, and really made improvement. Not impossible, but a fight again, that didn't have to be. And throughout my career, I think as I evolved, I could design great, elegant processes. I could go in and do the work, I could come up with the answer I could, I could define and measure and analyze and improve till the cows came home and loved doing it, it was a lot of fun. You could get the right answers. And if the leaders weren't on side, you were done. You were dead in the water. And if you manage to get it over the line, the leaders decided that that wasn't what they were interested in anymore. They could dismantle it overnight. I started out as a junior team-building consultant, and then I and then I went in school, I found operations management, and loved it. And then I came full circle. And I realized that really, I could enable other people to do the improvement, teach them the skills and let them go out and, and reengineer the processes. But I needed to focus on hoeing the row for those improvement projects to take place. And getting leadership excited. Yeah, so I mean, that's very similar in terms of where I've ended up because it yes, the other work is very, very important. But it needs to have fertile ground. Otherwise you're, you're throwing good money out. George 13:49Yea, it's interesting, you say fertile ground. And I think immediately about the leader. If the leader doesn't have fertile ground in their brain, we've got a problem. And Gallup, for example, just came out with a statement that 70% of all hiring decisions are wrong, based on you know what a good leader is. And you think, well, what's the characteristics of a good leader? They only have other than the skills, the hard skills, the soft skill, one of the main ones is that they're willing, and they believe in improvement. They believe in Kaizen, it's almost like Kaizen resides in their heart. I believe I can be better tomorrow than I am today. And the day after can be better than tomorrow. And ultimately, if they have that belief system, and they're willing to do the work on themselves, that's like a beacon. It'll just generate light for the rest of the organization. Nobody tests for it. So the fertile ground in my mind is in their brain. And today, I've actually avoided working at mid-level in a company. Avoid 90% failure rate is guaranteed when you're not dealing with the executives, and you're not dealing with the people who actually can, in some ways, demonstrate and expand and proliferate Kaizen and improvement and call it Lean, call it excellence. If they don't do it, nobody else is gonna do it. Tim 15:21That lesson was hard one for me, because often, I'd be entering into the wrong level of an organization. And, you know, it took me losing. Well, we did great work, but the work was… George 15:36It's not sustainable. Okay. Tim 15:41Well, there's priority changes, and the work was just the work was just taken out from under us. And, and it was, it was awful. That, because we knew we knew where we were in the answers we were bringing in, but it was a fickle leader made a snap judgment. And so yeah, I have since for several years now, I only work if I'm starting from the top, because you need to have that conviction. And that willingness, and that space, that space to improve. It's really interesting. Sometimes when you're talking about, you'll run into teams that have capacity challenges and want to improve. And one of the first things that I say is a great reason to go and chase some waste is we have to create enough capacity that we have capacity to improve. And then that is that, I think back to that Covey model, where they talk about the Covey's quadrants, and how that quadrant one is urgent and important. And Quadrant Two is really important but not urgent. If we can get operating in quadrant two, that would where Lean resides in my mind, it's the only quadrant that pays dividends. It's the only one that creates more space to create more space, more efficiency to create more efficiency. Capacity building on top of capacity. If we don't have the support of the leaders to start that process, it's really tough. You have that support lined up top to bottom cascading down through the organization. And it's really easy. That's not only easy, it's fun. And I mean, the work is tough enough, trying to convince leadership trying to work and overcome turbulence in teams. That's tough. Like it's, let's let the work be tough. Let's not let's not make working with people tough. So you'd said something earlier again, before we had hit record here. I want you to share that thought around starting in the students mind. You take care of that a little bit. You're talking about Gemba. And I thought that was fascinating. George 17:54Like a progression for me over the years. But I brought Ritsuo Shingo, bless his heart, he's the late Shingo now. Shingo San, I brought him to Santorini, Greece, along with others, who were leaders in their industry, you know, there's business owners, there's, you know, others like Paul Akers, as an example, I brought him to Santorini, Greece. And we did training there. And we went through a Gemba Walk of Santo Wines, one of the biggest, the biggest winery in Santorini. And we're watching somebody work, we're watching somebody work. And what they're doing is they got a big light facing them, and they got, you know, like three bottles on each end. And they're looking, their eyes are focused on the bottle, and the light is behind it. So, you might be able to see something, you know, in the bottle. And so they're looking for spiders, because the bottle sometimes just, just over. So they do wash the bottles, but sometimes, you know, if there's like a big nest in there, you put that bottle aside and needs extra washing, but this is what this person's job function was. And ritual wouldn't leave. And he's just observing. And I'm thinking, what's he, what could he possibly observe? Like the flow is such that there's such a queue in front of them, and the line is running, and there's no way he's gonna be out of work. Like, he's got a lot of work and the lines running, maybe he's not, maybe they're slack. I don't know if he's trying to calculate how much time he's actually working, versus how many bottles are moved. I don't know what he's doing. And it was so shocking. I said, what do you what are you doing? He says George San, watch his eyes. And I'm watching the workers eyes. And as he lifts the bottles, his eyes are down. I'm going oh, Shingo San I never thought to watch the workers eyes. Like pretend you're in the worker shoes, and think you're the worker, and your job is to do this function. And he says also, there's no standard. I sai, what do you mean no standard. Sometimes he lifts up three bottles, and two, and sometimes two and two, sometimes three and three, there's no standard. And I'm going, Wow, he got all that from what I would just say that's just not important. Okay. So from that, I thought, How does somebody look at improvement? And so for example, I'm coaching somebody now he's a, he's a great coach. His name is Raj Pathak, I'm sure he's he's okay with me using his name. He just went through PDCA excellence training with myself and Dr. Jake Abraham, who is my Toyota coach. And we just finished training. And he did a great A3, now it's time for him to train others. And they've got a big project to do. He's leading the project. And I said, So Raj, tell me what you're thinking, what's the first meeting look like? And why? He says, Well, I want to go right into step one, okay. And I'm trying to understand why he would want to just go right into step one, for everybody of problem-solving, when we got a whole team here, and they're different areas, and he might not have a challenge for each one. So I said, what's your challenge for each individual, and he doesn't have that thought through. So I'm thinking, we need to do some visualization, what this might look like. So that's kind of the biggest thing for me, is if you can't visualize the end, to some degree, getting into it right away, that's the gap. There's a gap between being able to visualize the results, and get everybody else signing up into a charter saying, Here's what we want to do great. That charter, I've seen so many places, I've seen it work, it never works without everybody signing. So that's part of the Nemawashi though the consensus building that you need in Lean today, in order to make it work. So that's why I say you got to think about like, what's in their head? For two reasons. Number one, you want to know if there's any gaps. But number two, what are the gaps between them, and you. You could be the one in the learning seat. And so that's where the teacher sometimes learns more than the student. You know, show me more, tell me how you get that. I did that a couple of times, with students that I'm going, okay, I better pick up that book and read it. Jim 22:37Yeah, in my parlance, over the last few years, fluency has been the big word. And it's, you know, are you fluent in your own beliefs and your own thoughts around what we're about to do? Are you fluent in that and how you conceptualize work and what you value? And how you align to the corporate goals? Or what are your own goals? What's your workstyle? What's your genius? George 23:03We call that a little different. We call that the line of sight. But let me ask you this. What's your long term goal? Tim 23:10Myself? George 23:11Yeah, 10 years. Tim 23:1310 years out? I mean, I think it will be that I've managed to train enough leaders in this, in this practice, that they are self-sufficient, that my own company has a body of work behind it, that allows what can be would you say automated or that can be approached individually is happening and that we are focused in that space where other people can can begin to do some of the heavy lifting, I guess. Whereas for myself, I focus primarily on the teaching, and, and really getting the senior most leaders lined up for the work. The challenge becomes, can you carry that work all the way down to the coalface can it cascade through the organization effectively? And so, I mean, from my own practices, I think that's really important that the company has my clients have the ability to carry this thinking all the way down, internally. And so I'd say for the next 10 years on this, it's really about Systemizing. And in getting that, that together, and I'm on track for that. Whether or not it will materialize in that way. I'm not sure. But I don't exactly know “the how” yet to be frank. George 24:41Yeah. So one of the most amazing things I've come across is some guy on the internet. Norman Bodek, by the way, who's dead again, you know, like he he's gone. Mike, another coach is gone. Norman Bodek said, You need to learn about the people-side of Lean. And I'm going I don't know what that means. So he was talking about the Harada Method, with Kakashi Harada in Japan, teaching people how to be self-reliant. And they come up with their goal. They come up with their tasks, they go and execute and and one of the famous, the famous baseball player in the world today Shohei Ohtani did the 64th chart with Takashi Harada, in Japan. So it's pretty amazing that there is a process for almost every problem. But when you want to be successful, you need a system. You can't just have a process, we can go in with Lean. And we can say, here's a problem describing the problem, which is obviously half solved if you can do that. And we put together some tools and we say let's go through this. And we got a solution. For every problem, there's a solution. But for really successful people, they need a system. And that's why the Harada Method came into into play for me as well. 10 years ago, yeah, Tim 26:09that'll help me answer that, that question. More retrospectively, but yeah, the biggest leaps that I've taken in my business and my coaching practice and, and working with leaders, and again, I specialize in academics, and STEM leaders, people that are they're fairly linear in their thinking or at least linear in their, in the practice. And it really has been. It's funny, because as we talk about where that catastrophic derailment happened due to a that's actually what was the impetus for me taking a step back and looking at everything that I practiced over several decades of doing this work two decades doing this work. And deciding that I wanted to just really box what was working the best and I ended up starting to put my practices into some structures and into some processes. And I'd shied away from that. As the Lean guy, I'd shied away from that instead, you know, opting for more of a artisan approach or job shop approach, because I wanted, I wanted to make sure that I gave everybody a unique path through and I had to get my own mind around the fact that you know what, once I had systemized my approach my first conversation, say with with new coaching clients, suddenly I had a bunch of things going for me one, I didn't have to imagine where I was going next I had a place that I could start. And I knew they were reliable tools I used the most. They're things that I believe in, and that they've always worked. So there, I had linear thinkers I was dealing with, I could show them the path. I remember one point in my career, I had an engineer come up to me and say, Man, that was amazing. You did it was a piece of collaborative contract we're doing. But boy, you sure you sneak up on people. He said to me, I said, What do you mean, he says, We I didn't know what this was all about. And then towards the end of it, I was just like, amazed at how far we come out sure would have been calmer. If I had known where you were gonna take us well, now I can put a roadmap in front of this is what we're about to do, I'm not going to wait and deliver a punch line and, and make a guess at what we're going to do. And then the ability to just really test those theories, as blueprints for people doing well, and prove them out until they can be now I can isolate if I'm going to improve something about them, I can see the whole path. And, you know, it's so funny because I try not to be too hard on myself. But you know, you know these tools, and just the ability to step back and apply them to your own business, something that could seem rather chaotic, has made a big difference. George 29:01The entrepreneur does that. The entrepreneur thinks they must recreate everything for our client for every customer. So look, that's not a bad thing. You just got to recognize that if you want to stay a one person company, you'd better start thinking differently. Entrepreneur not. Because yeah, because there are people out there that like a system. And nowadays two companies are growing. Their reference of the past is not as relevant as it was. So what they're doing is they're experimenting their way towards the future. And understanding how to experiment is critical. So you know, of course Mike Rother is, you know, that Toyota Kata guy, and he used to be a student of Jeff Likers. So, you know, it's coming kind of from the same place. What did we miss with Toyota? What we missed was the soft stuff. We got the hard stuff. You know, 4S, they have at Toyota not 5S, we kind of know how to do that. But we don't have the discipline. And we're always thinking, look at all these tools, what are they there for? They're there to develop the people. And we never thought like that. We were, you know, great people, great products, they kind of bound it in between you got all your tools and systems and results. But it starts with great people. And it ends with a great product. You know, they kind of bound the problem there. And I don't know too many industries that wouldn't start like that, you know, we need great people. And what are those great people? Well, they're the ones that want to improve. And because they're doing it, they can demonstrate to others, in several ways coach and develop them to do it. And what are they striving for? Well, we need to get short term and long term results, you got to do both. So it's kind of like a big challenge in industry, especially everywhere, it doesn't matter. But we got the quarter crunch, the year end, you know, we got to make our numbers all the time, I just remember that the nightmare I was in, when I worked at New Flyer Industries, which ultimately ended up going bankrupt or taken over whatever. But it was a nightmare. We owed all our suppliers, like a lot of our suppliers, tons of money 120 million past 90 days. So it was like crazy, that's the way to run a business is to try to start a bus so you can get a progress payment, and then pay for parts on the buses that are in the yard. So you can actually get them shipped to the customer. So the challenge is applying lean is like an exercise in futility. What we got is great people, and we got to get those results. So we kind of nailed it. And Toyota went bankrupt way back in the 50s. So that's where, you know, they kind of learned their lesson. That's why they have a big bank account. Tim 31:57The big question that's left is you think about your journey through and how your thinking and your and your application. And your focus has evolved. When you think about that leadership experience that you're now focused on the other part of that Gallup poll that I thought was really interesting, or sorry, not Gallup poll, but their their recent publication was, they had said, They figure 10% of the population has the DNA of a leader, the ability to actually, you know, operate in them. And I my hypothesis is, it's actually smaller, because although they may start with 10%, only a fraction of that, I like to say 6% have the opportunity to lead or have not incurred other baggage, or something that will take them out of the mix, or don't have a personal situation that wouldn't allow them to do that, or haven't suffered trauma that wouldn't allow them to do that. So when you look at the leadership experience, and as you watch the leaders that you're working with, really grasp these concepts and then apply them and become higher and higher performing. What do you think the key, in your experience, what are the key mindsets? As I say, you know, you've talked about the five principles, what are some of the watershed moments that you see with leaders where they, you know, a light bulb goes on? And, and it clicks and they really get something? Could you share some thoughts on that? In terms of what are some of those big pivot points? George 33:32Yeah. Okay, I'm not sure they're big pivot points. This is part of the problem. Tim 33:34Sure. George 33:45The problem is we have a lot of little pivot points, which end up making a lot of big change at the end of the day. Tim 33:48Great, perhaps, what are some of the common little pivot points? George 33:50Yeah, so, number one, when I look at leaders getting excited, I think about why are they getting excited? It's because you've pointed out something, whether it's through your book or what have you. It's something that they did not expect. Okay, here's what they expected. And they got something else, there's a gap between what they expected and what they got. That gap is called learning. And as soon as you can increase the learning for that leader, they get hooked. It is the adrenaline, it's the dopamine that you know, gets released in your head. As soon as they do that, they get hooked. So one of one of my students in Germany, she was, I can't remember how we got to this. We were talking about a book called The Power of Habit or something. And I said, Look, a company is made up of habits. So tell me the behavior you would like to see. Tell me what the trigger is and how do you make sure that trigger happens? Because you got to have a trigger. You know, and then you can do the routine was the behavior and you need to kind of reinforce for yourself that that was a good thing to do. And you reinforce it in many ways. So she was, I want to make my bed every morning. I don't know why maybe she heard it and you know, they do it in the army and stuff. Okay, I want to make my bed every morning. So I said, Great. Let's talk a little bit about the trigger. So the trigger is, okay, I'm not gonna have my coffee. I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna put my clothes on, I'm gonna put my slippers on or whatever she's doing. There's a trigger somewhere for her to make her bed. Good. Then she makes the bed. And I said, what's the reward? And she struggled. We have a hard time programming our own thinking to say this is successful. And I said, Okay, I think in the book, they talked a little bit about somebody going on the sheets, just straightening out the sheets. And that felt good. I think it was a  Febreeze thing. I mean, they did that as a reward. And I thought, Okay, why don't you try that. And she says, George, it worked the next day. It worked. I can't believe it. Specifically thinking about the reward. I did this on the bed, and it smoothed out. And I felt good. I smiled. Well, okay, good. The smile is the reward too. So we have a hard time building in new habits that we know we need to have. Because we don't understand that we need a trigger. We need to do the routine because you know, it's important. And we need to create that little reward. And after that becomes a habit, you're done. You're done. Because every time today, when I go into a meeting, I always ask, what's the purpose? And what's the desired outcome of that meeting? I always ask it's a habit for me. And at the end, I always say it's time for Hansha, which is Japanese for reflection. Okay, what went well, during this meeting? What can we do better? How do we build that in for next time, and we improve our meetings each time. So that's just my meeting routines. But the habits make the difference. And so when I start with somebody, what, what we're doing is we're learning. And when we're learning, I'm saying, Are you satisfied with everything? You know, the way life is? Or would you like to improve something? And of course, we bring up the Taiichi Ohno no problem is the biggest problem of all? Yeah, okay, if you're, if you don't have a problem you want to fix then then I'm really no good to you. But let's, let's fix something, let's break it up, let's make sure we have little habits that we put together, maybe that'll create a routine, maybe that falls into a system that we built for you. Okay, so this is excellent when they can see how all this comes together. And they're excited about it, and then they transfer it to others. So I just think it's those little learning bits that make all the sense in the world. Tim 38:00Well, there's one other thing that you said there that I think I like to just stop on. And that's for your students that you talked to make the bed and then smooth out the sheets. And take a moment to reflect that you did this and that you're enjoying it and that the smile is the reward. You had said earlier that it's really important to, you know, go to the Gemba. And that being get into the students mind and understand what they're starting with. Right, this kind of thing. And I think it's a really interesting concept to say, maybe that going to the Gemba is getting into our own mind for a minute. And just stop for a second. And appreciate why you appreciated the reflection again, but saying, hey, you know, understand what you're out for here and understand what you just created for yourself. And take a moment, I used to be a chef. I was so I was a I was a classically trained chef, before I went back to business school. And what's the most important thing that a chef can do throughout that, that experiences if you're not tasting, you're not in control of the process? You have to stop and enjoy. Your own soup for a minute, if you're going to truly understand is it ready to go out? You have to look at it and say is this beautiful? What I just created here? You have to take a moment. And I think that's also part of sort of empathy when we're dealing with other people see it from their perspective. Appreciate it for a moment for what it is take a moment to be there with the person but you know, and this is where I'm like be there for a moment with yourself because I'm I was always really bad at that. I would do something meaningful. And I would steamroll right past it. Right. I wouldn't take praise for it. I wouldn't. Very bad at saying You're welcome. These kinds of things. You have to take a moment and say we just did something for a minute here, let's just put pause and realize, we got to the milestone we thought we were gonna get it because that gives us fuel for the next time we make the push. And the next time we do the next piece of effort, George 40:09That's called celebration, but we have to celebrate. Yeah. And being grateful. Look, that's all preparing your mind. And that's preparing yourself to be a better person, which you can then translate to others. So all of this is all teachings that you can apply to work. The customer, really, we got to turn this into value-added, we've run a business, we can't go home and say, Hey, I did this, I smoothed my bed. And now I want you to pay more for that product. No. So all of this is part of the little steps that it takes for them to say, Hey, I did this at home. Why can I do this at work? What's wrong with doing five paths? In a way, where there's a trigger? Five minutes before the end of the shift? Everybody does a five-minute 5S and we give each other a high five before we leave nothing wrong? Unless you're in COVID times, then maybe it's an elbow bump, you know? Tim 41:16Yeah. Well, it's been really enlightening to hear your perspectives on this stuff. And I hope we can do it again, because I'm having a lot of fun. And I'm learning through this conversation. So thank you very much for that. I want to make sure that people know how they can get involved with your thinking, how you'd like to be contacted, if somebody is inspired to reach out. George 41:38So my name is George Trachilis, they can go to georgetrachilis.com, they can contact me if they want to talk to me, or, you know, book me for a meeting and my calendars right there. That's the best way. Also, there's resources like the Harada Method I mentioned, you can go to finditgeorge.com, which is a great place that I'm building up now. And anybody can type something like A3, and they will have examples of A3s there. But if you type Harada, you'll get the five, five worksheets to use in the Harada Method. If you buy the book, I don't have anything to do with the book. But I promote the book. And those five worksheets are in there. So type Harada and download them for free. Tim 42:32Great, we'll make sure to put those links in the show notes so that everybody has quick access to them. One piece of advice from George Trachilis. George 42:40Yeah, and you know what I put it as a quote on my website, too. I've been where you are Tim, and I thought I've got so much to offer. You know, these executives, they just, sometimes they just don't see what I see. The key is to have an open enough relationship with these people where you can ask a question, and you ask a question to learn. And you can ask a question to teach. And in those situations, you're going to have to ask a question to teach, you're gonna have to figure out what that question is, that will allow you to not be offensive. Because Lord knows we can be offensive in what we're asking, and come across in a way that's very respectful, but gets your point across. But it's a question. They don't have to answer it. So many times. They're thinking short-term. And the question can simply be, are we thinking about the long term and the ramifications of doing this? Six months from now, versus what we get today? So, you know, I my quote was always just ask questions. Sooner or later, you'll become a teacher. Tim 43:56Once again, hey, thank you for for doing this. It was fantastic to spend some time with you. And we'll do it again. I'll talk to you real soon. Thank you so much for listening to Sweet on Leadership. If you found today's podcast valuable, consider visiting our website and signing up for the companion newsletter. You can find the link in the show notes. If like us, you think it's important to bring new ideas and skills into the practice of leadership. Please give us a positive rating and review on Apple podcasts. This helps us spread the word to other committed leaders. And you can spread the word to by sharing this with your friends, teams and colleagues. Thanks again for listening. And be sure to tune in in two weeks time for another episode of Sweet on Leadership. In the meantime, I'm your host, Tim sweet, encouraging you to keep on leading

In this episode, Patrick's guest is George Trachilis, P.Eng. Patrick and George discuss the Harada Method and how it can benefit individuals and organizations. About the Guest: George Trachilis lives in Canada and consults remotely and throughout the world. He started his career at Motor Coach Industries in 1994 where he received Lean coaching in Just-in-Time manufacturing, and Total Quality Management. Having lead change for over 10 years, he decided to start his own consulting firm in 2003. It grew to become one of Canada's Fastest Growth Companies by 2006. The government of Canada asked George to create an online course to teach Lean. This course educated over 300 companies. It also became a book OEM Principles of Lean Thinking. By 2011, the course was offered globally and educated 100,000 students from 60 different countries. In 2012, relationships were forged with some of the most recognized names in Lean including Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker, best-selling author of the Toyota Way, and Norman Bodek, known as the Godfather of Lean. He was encouraged by both Jeff and Norm to adopt a much deeper understanding of Lean which stretches back to Japan and the origins of Toyota. George decided to video document his many webinars, two (2) Japan Study Missions, live Harada Method workshops, and many other teachings on the topics. George is now one of the most knowledgeable people on the topic of Lean and more importantly, a practitioner. George's standard coaching is based on the key books and online courses which he has published. One book and online course, Developing Lean Leaders at All Levels, received the Shingo Research Award in 2016. The second is on self-reliance, Norman Bodek's Harada Method. He has, as of this year, published as an online course and book, Lean Construction Leaders: A Trade Partner's Guide to Lean. What You'll Learn: Harada Method background and how George discovered it. How Shohei Ohtani, the best baseball player in the world, used the Harada Method. George's lessons that will stay with him for the rest of his life. How someone can learn the Harada Method for free. What is next for the Harada Method? What is the vision? https://georgetrachilis.com https://theharadamethod.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/leansolutions/support

40 years with Toyota, founder and the first president of Toyota China. Show notes: https://www.leanblog.org/409 My guest for Episode #409 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Ritsuo Shingo. I first met Mr. Shingo at the Shingo Institute Annual Conference in 2009 when my book Lean Hospitals received the publication prize that's named after his father, Shigeo Shingo. I was also blessed to have time to speak 1x1 with Mr. Shingo, thanks to our mutual friend, the late Norman Bodek, which included discussions about the need for mistake proofing in healthcare -- very vivid memories for me. Ritsuo Shingo is an expert in leadership with more than 40 years of experience serving at top management positions at Toyota.  He was the founder and the first president of Toyota China. Under his leadership, Toyota China became one of the most successful ventures of Toyota worldwide. Following this success, he was appointed as the president of Hino Motors and then served as the president of GAC-Hino until 2009. Shingo was the translator of the first book on Toyota Production System in English written by his father, TPS pioneer, Shigeo Shingo in 1976.  He applied his father's and other TPS pioneers' teachings into his management practices. Today he dedicates his time to coaching high-level executives as well as teaching the next generation of leaders his learnings from the practice of Toyota style management. He is teaching a virtual master class in leadership and management, which starts this Thursday: Practical Leadership Skills – Microcertification program in Management There will be a discount available for listeners of this podcast - use code 8QQV4AWY0VDF and tell them you heard about it via the Lean Blog Podcast. Disclosure: the NK Institute for Human Advancement offered me a free virtual seat in the workshop. Topics and questions in today's episode include: What was the most important thing you learn from your father? What do you remember about translating the green book? Big misunderstanding… in the West, they thought suppliers should keep big inventory even though Toyota had none Just in time requires local suppliers, frequent deliveries, and high quality You need close relationships with suppliers, win/win collaboration How do you explain TPS? “An accumulation of small improvements” “Wherever you go, workers are not the problem” “It's a management problem, but sometimes they blame workers” He told a plant manager he was “escaping from his responsibility” What is the origin of the term SMED – Single Minute Exchange of Die? What are the golf origins? Should it have been called SDED – Single Digit Exchange of Die, since it means “single digit minutes” not “one minute”? “It's too late” You define TPS as “organisational fitness to adapt” rather than a set of methodologies — what do you mean by that? Please tell us more… “Nobody ever told me what Toyota culture was” — the culture is the people Is a fully automated plant the best plant? No How has Toyota fared so well during the pandemic? Helping the supplier reduce costs together, versus just demanding a lower price (Nissan, Tesla, etc.) Favorite memories of our friend Norman Bodek? Tell us more about the workshop The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity and healthcare industries. Learn more. This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network. 

Norman Bodek, the Godfather of Lean, was a visionary, great promoter and always willing to help. His recent passing has many in the lean world sharing stories of his contributions and how he impacted their lives. For Chris Barnes, it was simple, as the host of Supply Chain is Boring, he wanted to share his story and he was willing to oblige. They started by discussing the session length. Norman was concerned with having enough to talk about. Chris indicated if they could get about 50 minutes of content, they would be good. A couple hours later they were finished. As an end-product they created 3 separate podcast episodes. That was Norman. Loved what he had accomplished and was able to recall everything as if it happened yesterday. Given that Chris started his career implementing JIT (and Lean) solutions, he felt like a pupil sitting at the side of a great philosopher. He was always teaching and enjoyed sharing the benefits of what could be. He viewed the future as full of possibilities.   Little did Chris know one of the best parts of being a podcast host is getting to know people like Norman Bodek.   Upcoming Events & Resources Mentioned in this Episode: Subscribe to Supply Chain Now and ALL Supply Chain Now Programming Here: https://supplychainnowradio.com/subscribe Leave a review for Supply Chain Now: https://ratethispodcast.com/supplychainnow Connect with Scott on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scottwindonluton/ Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisrbarnes/ Supply Chain Now Ranked #3 Supply Chain YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/yazfegov Download the Q3 2020 U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index: freight.usbank.com/?es=a229&a=20 Watch the Replay of The Connected IoT Supply Chain: https://supplychainnow.com/the-connected-iot-supply-chain https://www.leanblog.org/2020/12/mourning-the-loss-of-a-mentor-norman-bodek/ https://leanblog.podbean.com/e/remembering-norman-bodek/ This episode was hosted by Chris Barnes. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/scn-classic-bodek

https://www.leanblog.org/whiskey23 for show notes and linksIn Episode 23, Mark and Jamie return to finish out 2020, this time joined by Kentucky native Deondra Wardelle, so naturally Kentucky bourbon is our whiskey category of choice. Bourbons selected include Brough Brothers, Willett, and Barton 1792. After introducing Deondra to our listeners, we take a moment to toast the life of Norman Bodek, who passed away last week at the age of 88. After briefly debating whether peppermint should ever be added to beer, even if it is the holidays, we get on with our bourbon selections. We return at the end of the episode to talk about other drinks such as Irish (or whiskey) cream, wine, cocktails, and eggnog. A tempting challenge was put forth for Mark and Jamie to make their own whiskey cream at home - perhaps a future episode event. The bulk of the episode we get into Deondra's favorite topic, Toyota Kata, teed up by a Lean Enterprise Institute article. The article prompts us to talk about the underlying nature of learning in lean, problem solving, kata, and coaching. We aren't convinced that you need a new kata to add to the improvement and coaching kata, but instead propose coaching and behavior adjustments to make sure we don't lose sight of the purpose, which is to learn. So, give us a listen, and let us know what you think, about learning, or about whiskey. We wish everyone a safe, healthy, and happy holidays to wrap up 2020, and we will see you again in 2021. Cheers! Links:Our guest Deondra WardelleDeondra's kata presentation for Lean FrontiersDeondra's upcoming Lean Frontiers webinar: Strategic Planning Workshop 2021: Planning Through a Continuous Improvement Lens, Thursday, 1/21, 12 noon EST#RootCauseRacism and www.rootcauseracism.com Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Webinar, "The Lean Journey to Equity for All" Thursday, 1/28 @ 1pm ESTMark's tribute to Norm Bodek who recently passed awayLexington Brewing's Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter  Deondra's Brough Brothers bourbon from Louisville, KYJamie's Willett Pot Still Reserve bourbon Mark's Barton 1792 Full Proof bourbonStory about the warehouse / rickhouse collapseThe LEI article on kata ("Improve Continuously by Mastering the Lean Kata")Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn book mentioned on Isao Yashino Henri Poincare quote on intuition Mark's 2011 April Fool's Joke (the A3 "app") Five Farms Irish CreamCooper's Hawk Sweet Red wine 

http://www.leanblog.org/rememberingnormanI'm republishing a "remastered" and commemorative version of Episode 1 of this podcast series from 2006.I was incredibly saddened yesterday to hear that Norman Bodek passed away this week. Norman was 88.This was announced through an email from Norman's company, PCS Press.Norman Bodek, famed as “the Godfather of Lean”, inducted into Industry Week's and American Manufacturing's Hall of Fame, published over 250 management books, taught at Portland State University, and created the Shingo Prize at Utah State University. He recently wrote “Leader's guide for social responsibility” and this week published CEO Coaching by Kazuyoshi Hisano.We should all be so fortunate as to be as energetic as Norman was in his 80s. He was an enthusiastic teacher and mentor, but he also had a hunger for learning that was impressive and inspiring.He suggested that we do an “audio interview” series… that became this podcast and he was the first guest. He was the second guest… in fact, he appeared 14 times.I’ve written some additional reflections — you can find those, share your own, and find links to all of his past episodes by going to leanblog.org/rememberingnormanRepublishing episode 1… remastered a bit. Boy, the audio quality wasn’t as good back in 2006… I enjoyed re-listening to this the other day. I hope you will too. 

Our guest for the September 2020 Happy Hour was Norman Bodek, the "Godfather of Lean" He had left the Portland area recently, and moved to Japan (was quarantined at a hotel in Tokyo at the time). You can watch this talk with the slides and video on YouTube Thanks to Maria Grzanka for facilitating and setting up the event! Learn more about Lean Portland at https://leanportland.com/

I share exciting news that we have digital access to Norman Bodek's past PRODUCTIVITY newsletters from 1980-1993. He lived in Vancouver, Washington (near Portland), but was moving to Japan permanently, and we have scanned in the documents for you to search, download and review. Links BIZ-PI.com LeanSixSigmaDefinition.com PRODUCTIVITY newsletters and interviews with Norman Bodek --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/leansixsigmabursts/message

After many trips to the library in the early 1980s studying what drives productivity, Norm Bodek began taking American Executives on study missions to Japan. Now, 50 years and more than 80 study missions later, his fascination with Japanese management focused on quality and lean continues even at 87 years of age. In Japan, Norm met then translated and published in English the books of over 100 top Japanese management thinkers including Taiichi Ohno and Dr. Shigeo Shingo, made famous by their creation of the Toyota Production System. Norm's study missions, books and conferences he ran for years under Productivity, Inc. earned him the title of the Godfather of Lean in America as he popularized such methods as Kaizen. With a passion deeply rooted in “respect for people”, one of the teachings American Professor Dr. W. Edwards Deming brought to the Japanese after World War II, Norm believes organizations still have a long way to go in fulfilling the promise that people are the most valuable asset of every organization.   

"Profiles in Supply Chain Leadership: Norman Bodek (Part 3)" Supply Chain Now Radio, Episode 243 This episode concludes the series with Norman Bodek. Norman is President of PCS Inc. In 1979, after working for 18 years with Data Processing companies, Norm Bodek started Productivity Inc. - Press by publishing a newsletter called PRODUCTIVITY. At the time, he said he knew virtually nothing about the subject and had spent very little time in manufacturing facilities. But, he quickly became fascinated with the subject and went to Japan to discover the processes that was making Japan the world leaders in quality improvement and productivity growth. Even though on his first visit to Japan he didn't know a single person or speak Japanese, he has since, in the last 31 years, gone to Japan 80 times, visited more than 250 plants and published more than 100 Japanese management books in English, and over 150 other management books. As a fortune cookie once told him, "You have the talent to discover the talent in others." Mr. Bodek said his claim to fame is that he found amazing tools, techniques and new thoughts that have revolutionized the world of manufacturing. He has met Dr. W. Edwards Deming, Dr. Joseph Juran, Phil Crosby, Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, Dr. Joji Akao, Mr. Taiichi Ohno, Dr. Shigeo Shingo and many other great manufacturing masters and published many of their books in English. Each person he met gave him a new perspective on continuous improvement. Mr. Bodek has lead over 25 study missions to Japan and was one of the first to find and publish books, training materials and run conferences and seminars on TPS, SMED, CEDAC, quality control circles, 5 S, visual factory, TPM, VSM, Kaizen Blitz, cell design, poka-yoke, lean accounting, Andon, Hoshin Kanri, Kanban, and Quick and Easy Kaizen. Mr. Bodek, who was once called "Mr. Productivity" by Industry Week Magazine, and "Mr. Lean" by Quality Progress Magazine, said his most powerful discovery was the way Toyota and other Japanese companies opened the infinite creative potential often lying dormant inside every single worker. Most recently, he worked with Gulfstream Corporation, a private jet company, where 1000 people that went from 16-implemented ideas in February 2005 to close to 40,000 in 2011, and resulting each year in annually savings of over $2 million. Mr. Bodek founded the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence at Utah State University with Dr. Vern Buehler and is one of the few to be personally awarded the Shingo Prize. He also was inducted into Industry Week's Hall of Fame. Learn more about Bodek’s firm, PSC Inc, here: https://www.pcspress.com/ Upcoming Events & Resources Mentioned in this Episode Subscribe to Supply Chain Now Radio: https://supplychainnowradio.com/subscribe/ SCNR to Broadcast Live at CSCMP Atlanta Roundtable Event: https://tinyurl.com/y43lywrd Reverse Logistics Association Conference & Expo: https://rla.org/event/80 SCNR to Broadcast Live at MODEX 2020: https://www.modexshow.com/ SCNR to Broadcast Live at AME Atlanta 2020 Lean Summit: https://www.ame.org/ame-atlanta-2020-lean-summit 2020 Atlanta Supply Chain Awards: https://www.atlantasupplychainawards.com/ SCNR on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/scnr-youtube The Latest Issue of the Supply Chain Pulse: https://conta.cc/2YTuebX Check Out News From Our Sponsors The Effective Syndicate: https://www.theeffectivesyndicate.com/blog Spend Management Experts: https://spendmanagementexperts.com/ APICS Atlanta: https://apicsatlanta.org TalentStream: https://talentstreamstaffing.com/ Verusen: https://www.verusen.com/ Georgia Manufacturing Alliance: https://www.georgiamanufacturingalliance.com/ ProPurchaser.com: https://tinyurl.com/y6l2kh7g Supply Chain Real Estate: https://supplychainrealestate.com/ Vector Global Logistics: http://vectorgl.com/ This episode was hosted by Chris Barnes. For more information, please visit our dedicated show page at: www.supplychainnowradio.com/episode-243

"Profiles in Supply Chain Leadership: Norman Bodek (Part 2)" Supply Chain Now Radio, Episode 239 This episode features Norman Bodek. Norman Bodek is President of PCS Inc. In 1979, after working for 18 years with Data Processing companies, Norm Bodek started Productivity Inc. - Press by publishing a newsletter called PRODUCTIVITY. At the time, he said he knew virtually nothing about the subject and had spent very little time in manufacturing facilities. But, he quickly became fascinated with the subject and went to Japan to discover the processes that was making Japan the world leaders in quality improvement and productivity growth. Even though on his first visit to Japan he didn't know a single person or speak Japanese, he has since, in the last 31 years, gone to Japan 80 times, visited more than 250 plants and published more than 100 Japanese management books in English, and over 150 other management books. As a fortune cookie once told him, "You have the talent to discover the talent in others." Mr. Bodek said his claim to fame is that he found amazing tools, techniques and new thoughts that have revolutionized the world of manufacturing. He has met Dr. W. Edwards Deming, Dr. Joseph Juran, Phil Crosby, Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, Dr. Joji Akao, Mr. Taiichi Ohno, Dr. Shigeo Shingo and many other great manufacturing masters and published many of their books in English. Each person he met gave him a new perspective on continuous improvement. Mr. Bodek has lead over 25 study missions to Japan and was one of the first to find and publish books, training materials and run conferences and seminars on TPS, SMED, CEDAC, quality control circles, 5 S, visual factory, TPM, VSM, Kaizen Blitz, cell design, poka-yoke, lean accounting, Andon, Hoshin Kanri, Kanban, and Quick and Easy Kaizen. Mr. Bodek, who was once called "Mr. Productivity" by Industry Week Magazine, and "Mr. Lean" by Quality Progress Magazine, said his most powerful discovery was the way Toyota and other Japanese companies opened the infinite creative potential often lying dormant inside every single worker. Most recently, he worked with Gulfstream Corporation, a private jet company, where 1000 people that went from 16-implemented ideas in February 2005 to close to 40,000 in 2011, and resulting each year in annually savings of over $2 million. Mr. Bodek founded the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence at Utah State University with Dr. Vern Buehler and is one of the few to be personally awarded the Shingo Prize. Learn more about Bodek’s firm, PSC Inc, here: https://www.pcspress.com/ Upcoming Events & Resources Mentioned in this Episode Subscribe to Supply Chain Now Radio: https://supplychainnowradio.com/subscribe/ SCNR to Broadcast Live at CSCMP Atlanta Roundtable Event: https://tinyurl.com/y43lywrd Reverse Logistics Association Conference & Expo: https://rla.org/event/80 SCNR to Broadcast Live at MODEX 2020: https://www.modexshow.com/ SCNR to Broadcast Live at AME Atlanta 2020 Lean Summit: https://www.ame.org/ame-atlanta-2020-lean-summit 2020 Atlanta Supply Chain Awards: https://www.atlantasupplychainawards.com/ SCNR on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/scnr-youtube The Latest Issue of the Supply Chain Pulse: https://conta.cc/2YTuebX Check Out News From Our Sponsors The Effective Syndicate: https://www.theeffectivesyndicate.com/blog Spend Management Experts: https://spendmanagementexperts.com/ APICS Atlanta: https://apicsatlanta.org TalentStream: https://talentstreamstaffing.com/ Verusen: https://www.verusen.com/ Georgia Manufacturing Alliance: https://www.georgiamanufacturingalliance.com/ ProPurchaser.com: https://tinyurl.com/y6l2kh7g Supply Chain Real Estate: https://supplychainrealestate.com/ Vector Global Logistics: http://vectorgl.com/ This episode was hosted by Chris Barnes. For more information, please visit our dedicated show page at: www.supplychainnowradio.com/episode-239

"Profiles in Supply Chain Leadership: Norman Bodek (Part 1)" Supply Chain Now Radio, Episode 237 This episode features Norman Bodek. Norman is President of PCS Inc. In 1979, after working for 18 years with Data Processing companies, Norm Bodek started Productivity Inc. - Press by publishing a newsletter called PRODUCTIVITY. At the time, he said he knew virtually nothing about the subject and had spent very little time in manufacturing facilities. But, he quickly became fascinated with the subject and went to Japan to discover the processes that was making Japan the world leaders in quality improvement and productivity growth. Even though on his first visit to Japan he didn't know a single person or speak Japanese, he has since, in the last 31 years, gone to Japan 80 times, visited more than 250 plants and published more than 100 Japanese management books in English, and over 150 other management books. As a fortune cookie once told him, "You have the talent to discover the talent in others." Mr. Bodek said his claim to fame is that he found amazing tools, techniques and new thoughts that have revolutionized the world of manufacturing. He has met Dr. W. Edwards Deming, Dr. Joseph Juran, Phil Crosby, Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, Dr. Joji Akao, Mr. Taiichi Ohno, Dr. Shigeo Shingo and many other great manufacturing masters and published many of their books in English. Each person he met gave him a new perspective on continuous improvement. Mr. Bodek has lead over 25 study missions to Japan and was one of the first to find and publish books, training materials and run conferences and seminars on TPS, SMED, CEDAC, quality control circles, 5 S, visual factory, TPM, VSM, Kaizen Blitz, cell design, poka-yoke, lean accounting, Andon, Hoshin Kanri, Kanban, and Quick and Easy Kaizen. Mr. Bodek, who was once called "Mr. Productivity" by Industry Week Magazine, and "Mr. Lean" by Quality Progress Magazine, said his most powerful discovery was the way Toyota and other Japanese companies opened the infinite creative potential often lying dormant inside every single worker. Most recently, he worked with Gulfstream Corporation, a private jet company, where 1000 people that went from 16-implemented ideas in February 2005 to close to 40,000 in 2011, and resulting each year in annually savings of over $2 million. Mr. Bodek founded the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence at Utah State University with Dr. Vern Buehler and is one of the few to be personally awarded the Shingo Prize. Learn more about Bodek’s firm, PSC Inc, here: https://www.pcspress.com/ Upcoming Events & Resources Mentioned in this Episode: SCNR to Broadcast Live at CSCMP Atlanta Roundtable Event: https://tinyurl.com/y43lywrd Reverse Logistics Association Conference & Expo: https://rla.org/event/80 SCNR to Broadcast Live at MODEX 2020: https://www.modexshow.com/ SCNR to Broadcast Live at AME Atlanta 2020 Lean Summit: https://www.ame.org/ame-atlanta-2020-lean-summit 2020 Atlanta Supply Chain Awards: https://www.atlantasupplychainawards.com/ SCNR on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/scnr-youtube The Latest Issue of the Supply Chain Pulse: https://conta.cc/2rLkO5Y Check Out News From Our Sponsors: The Effective Syndicate: https://www.theeffectivesyndicate.com/blog Spend Management Experts: https://spendmanagementexperts.com/ APICS Atlanta: https://apicsatlanta.org TalentStream: https://talentstreamstaffing.com/ Verusen: https://www.verusen.com/ Georgia Manufacturing Alliance: https://www.georgiamanufacturingalliance.com/ ProPurchaser.com: https://tinyurl.com/y6l2kh7g Supply Chain Real Estate: https://supplychainrealestate.com/ Vector Global Logistics: http://vectorgl.com/ This episode is hosted by Chris Barnes. For more information, please visit our dedicated show page at: www.supplychainnowradio.com/episode-237

Godfather of Lean Norman Bodek reveals his first dip into the world of continuous improvement and industry insights he's accumulated from legends such as Taiichi Ohno and Dr. Shigeo Shingo. He discusses the Harada Method's origins from a Japanese high school's track and field coach and its journey into becoming a lean business application. Talk to a kaizen expert today at leanfrontline.com

On December 6th 2017, Lean Portland interviewed Norman Bodek about his thoughts on Lean almost 40 years after he first founded Productivity Press in 1979. Hosted by Lean Portland and Portland Made at the Grovemade HQ. Introduced by Lean Portland founder Matt Horvat and moderated by Lean Consultant Kjell Van Zoen. EVENT SPONSORS Grovemade Portland Made Keaton Averman & Sven Shoultz of Rose City Digital Marketing PhotosbyKim IISE Portland Chapter Organizers Northwest West Coast Event Productions Business Performance Improvement vanZoen Consulting

Everyone can set a life goal to be successful at work. Known to some as "Mr. Productivity", "Mr. Lean" and the "Godfather of Lean" teacher, author, consultant, speaker and founder of Productivity Plus. Norman Bodek joins me on this episode as we discuss the people side of Lean, respect for people and the Harada Method.

On this week's show, Paul Akers visits Grenada with Norman Bodek and narrates and retells the story of Norman's adopted son, Fitzroy. The post Norman and Fitzroy first appeared on Paul Akers Website | Lean Books | Lean Culture.

Episode #250... a big round number. 250 podcasts in just under 10 years. Thanks again to Norman Bodek (my first guest and frequent guest) for the idea back in 2006. My goal with the podcasts has always been to showcase my guests. Occasionally, I take the stage or share the stage with audio of me. Today is one of those episodes. Earlier in May, I had the chance to co-present a webinar with Dr. Jack Billi from the University of Michigan (archived here). The webinar was hosted by the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, which is being spun off by the American Medical Association. Before the formal webinar, Jack and I recorded some informal Q&A with the host, Stephen Davidow. This audio, shared with the permission of the PCPI also includes the Q&A that was done after the webinar presentation. I hope you enjoy our discussion about how we each got started with Lean in healthcare and more.

Originally Aired: May 12, 2015 Length: 1 hour Hosted By: Mark Graban (KaiNexus VP of Customer Success) Presenter: Norman Bodek In this webinar: Lessons from Norman Bodek's 80+ visits to Japan The "9th Waste" of Lean The role of managers in creating a culture of continuous improvement The importance of personal growth plans and self reliance How the "Harada Method" furthers these goals of self reliance and Kaizen Join us for a very special conversation with a Lean legend, Norman Bodek. Norman worked with, translated, and published the books of Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo, credited as creators of the Toyota Production System.

Implementing a Visual Workplace does not mean you’ll lose your job. In this podcast, Dr. Gwendolyn Galsworth explains that new efficiencies should not cause workers to be eliminated. She also tells of her career history, how she worked with Norman Bodek, and was apprentice to the great Shigeo Shingo.

Joining me once again for episode #176 is my good friend Norman Bodek, who has been a guest many times here. Today, we are talking about his latest book, The Harada Method the Spirit of Self-Reliance. You can also learn more about the book and Norman's workshops at his website, PCSPress.com. As always, it's great to hear Norman talk about his interests and what he has learned in his trips to Japan, including Harada's work. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/176. You can find links to posts related to this podcast there, as well. Please leave a comment and join the discussion about the podcast episode. For earlier episodes of the Lean Blog Podcast, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.org, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. You can also listen to streaming episodes of the podcast via Stitcher: http://landing.stitcher.com/?vurl=leanblog If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Episode #141 is a chat with Norman Bodek with his recollections of working with Taiichi Ohno, one of the creators of the Toyota Production System. Norman met and worked with Ohno in Japan and then published the translation of Ohno's classic book "Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production" in 1988. To point others to this, use the simple URL: www.leanblog.org/141. You can find links to posts related to this podcast there, as well. Please leave a comment and join the discussion about the podcast episode. For earlier episodes of the Lean Blog Podcast, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.org, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. You can also listen to streaming episodes of the podcast via Stitcher: http://landing.stitcher.com/?vurl=leanblog If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Episode #95 features Norman Bodek talking about some of the ideas in his most recent book, How to do Kaizen: A new path to innovation – Empowering everyone to be a problem solver. Late in the podcast, Norman asks and answers an interesting question: what if an employee suggests “we should blow up the factory”?? This was recorded in March 2010, with Norman appearing from his office in Portland, OR. You can read about or comment on this podcast at www.leanblog.org/95. You can also see Norman speak, as this was also published as Video Podcast #11 -- go to www.leanblog.org/v11 For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.ort, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Norman Bodek is once again back for episode #61 of the LeanBlog Podcast, talking about his discovery of a unique system in Japan, at Canon, called the "Super Meister" system that trains employees to be able to build an entire copier on their own. This was introduced in Episode #55 of the Podcast. Norman also talks a little more about Gerry Corrigan and his Lean/5S work in Ireland, employee ideas, and his video terminal that allows him to teach people remotely. For past episodes, go to www.leanpodcast.org. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Norman Bodek is once again back for episode #55 of the LeanBlog Podcast, talking about his recent trip to Ireland. If you're a fan of Norman, his books and his podcasts, be sure to check out the special charity auction that's running on www.leanblog.org through December 19. You can get a specially autographed CD set of Norman's previous Podcasts along with an autographed book. You'll see links to the auction on the Lean Blog, so visit today. The auction benefits the Josie King Foundation, a group that supports improvements for patient safety in hospitals and healthcare, a very important cause. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Norman Bodek is once again back for episode #47 of the LeanBlog Podcast, talking about his most recent trip to Japan (his 68th trip!). He poses the question, "What can we do to leapfrog Toyota?" Norman asks important questions about how we can help people, in any role, enjoy their work, rather than dreading Mondays. Why does Norman think the Canon photocopier plant he just toured is the best he's ever seen? Why does Norman disagree with the phrase, "Work smarter, not harder"?? If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

LeanBlog Podcast #36 once again features our friend and frequent guest, Norman Bodek, noted lean author, consultant, and President of PCS Press. In this episode, Norman talks about his most recent publication, a text by the legendary Shigeo Shingo, called Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking - The Scientific Thinking Mechanism, as well as future publications he is working on. This was recorded back in 2007, before the book was published (it has now been out in publication for a few months, I apologize for the delay in getting this podcast released). If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

LeanBlog Podcast #32 once again features our friend and frequent guest, Norman Bodek, noted lean author, consultant, and President of PCS Press. In this episode, Norman talks about his recent study trip to Japan and what he saw there. If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you'll check out the rest of the series by visiting the LeanBlog podcast main page at www.leanpodcast.org. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

LeanBlog Podcast #28 features our friend and frequent guest, Norman Bodek, noted lean author, consultant, and President of PCS Press. This also celebrates the 1 year anniversary of the Podcast, which featured Norman as our first guest. As I've given him credit for previously, the Podcast really was Norman's idea when he said I should do "radio interviews" with him. Thankfully, this has turned into a series of interviews with others that I have enjoyed immensely. I hope you enjoy them as well. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast. Visit www.leanpodcast.org for themain LeanBlog Podcast page with all previous episodes and visit the Lean Blog at www.leanblog.org.

LeanBlog Podcast Episode #21 features our friend and frequent guest, Norman Bodek, noted lean author, consultant, and President of PCS Press. In this Podcast, we talk about how Lean should be good for a company's employees, that Lean and the Toyota Production system are really about building people and investing in them rather than laying people off. Norman's previous Podcast episodes can be found on the Podcast main page, at www.leanpodcast.org. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Here is LeanBlog Podcast #11, once again with Norman Bodek of PCS Press and the author of many books, including Kaikaku: The Power and Magic of Lean. In this Podcast, we discuss a topic posed by a podcast listener, Bruce from Akron Ohio: how do you educate your top leadership about lean? Norman and I discuss the perspectives of CEOs and executives toward lean, change, and their organizations and some examples of lean problem solving approaches. It's a long podcast (about 40 minutes), so I'd suggest you check out the show notes to find times of specific topics if you want to jump around.

Here is LeanBlog Podcast #7, a new discussion with our friend Norman Bodek, President of PCS Press and the author of many books, including Kaikaku: The Power and Magic of Lean. In this Podcast, we discuss Toyota's response to recent quality problems and recalls along with other Lean leadership topics. If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

This is the second part of my conversation with Jamie Flinchbaugh, founder and partner with the Lean Learning Center and co-author of the book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean." . In the first part of the discussion, we talked about the specific language of waste reduction. This episode focuses on leadership's role in identifying waste and driving it out of your organization. If you'd like to hear the first part with Jamie, or earlier podcasts with Norman Bodek and Jeff Liker, you can visit www.leanpodcast.org for more information.

In this podcast, I talk with Norman Bodek, author, lean consultant, and Toyota Production System expert. We talk about the Toyota principle of "respect for humanity" and how to stop blaming individual employees for problems or defects. Management is responsible for the design of the system, and therefore are also responsible for the results. Please visit www.leanblog.org for show notes, links and more information.

Here is my first LeanBlog Podcast, featuring author and consultant Norman Bodek, President of PCS Press. For more information, please visit www.leanblog.org. There, you can find show notes and can comment on the podcast. Norman Bodek, of PCS Press, discusses the history and evolution of kaizen and continuous improvement. He details the history of Toyota's employee suggestion system and how it has evolved, in Japan and North America, along with some tips for running a suggestion system of your own. If you have feedback, visit www.leanblog.org, email leanpodcast@gmail.com, or leave a voicemail by contacting skype id "mgraban" or by phoning (817) 776-LEAN (817.776.5326).