A while back, I was invited to present a lean topic to the management team at Personix in Indianapolis during this manufacturer’s monthly PB & J. I love to promote the lean approach and share improvement ideas, so I was happy to attend the lunch meeting. However, I had to ask first, what was PB & J?
For those that don’t know like me, PB & J stands for Peanut Butter and Jelly. Each month, the staff hosts a business learning lunch session with a buffet line set up to make your own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (They assured me that the peanut butter was safe!)
During the lunch, different topics are presented and discussed. It could be a book review, a lean tool, a lean concept or whatever learning topic is of interest to the group. What a simple, easy and fun concept!
I was asked to run through my Japan Kaikaku Experience from my lean study mission hosted by Gemba Research. A couple of the lean leaders at Personix had previously seen my presentation and wanted the rest of their group to see it. It was just a quick snapshot of the lean lessons I learned from my trip (which I previously posted on my blog site).
Japan Day 1 Toyota Motor Kyushu
Japan Day 1 Nanjo Sobi
Japan Day 2 Matsumoto
Japan Day 3 Toto
Japan Day 4 HOKS Part 1
Japan Day 4 HOKS Part 2
Japan Trip Epiphany
If you wish to completely immerse yourself in seeing lean in action in a truly transformational professional experience, this trip is for you!
Personix, a wholly owned business units of FISERV Inc., has been working on its lean journey for several years now with excellent success. Personix delivers solutions for card, print/mail and electronic document delivery. Personix began as a plastic card personalization company and has expanded into other custom documents like benefits explanation, consolidated statements, tax documents, etc. Personix personalizes more than 875 million document images and 125 million cards per year.
The session interest was high and several topics generated great discussion. Based on this discussion during the PB & J, I am confident that the Personix team will continue looking for ways to continuously improve!
About the author:
Mike Wroblewski started his lean journey with instruction in quick die change from Shigeo Shingo. Mike is currently the lean sensei at Batesville Casket Company in Batesville, Ind. He also writes a blog called “Got Boondoggle?” featuring lean and Six Sigma topics. Check it out at http://gotboondoggle.blogspot.com/.
