Business901

I had the pleasure of discussing with Mark, the role he is playing at the Lean Enterprise Institute and his book on Lean Health Care. Mark is an engaging speaker and a Lean advocate.  Mark also writes the highly acclaimed Lean Blog.

Mark Graban is a Senior Fellow at the Lean Enterprise Institute and author of the Shingo Prize-winning book Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction. Previously, Mark worked as a consultant for numerous healthcare organizations across North America and in the United Kingdom. He taught and led teams of hospital personnel across multi-month lean transformation engagements in departments including laboratory, radiology, primary care, and nursing settings. Working with managers and senior leaders, these hospitals developed a track record of sustaining their lean improvements and also instilling a culture of continuous improvement and kaizen. With a background in Industrial Engineering, Mark first learned and practiced lean in various manufacturing industries, learning how lean concepts and management methods could be translated into different settings.

Related Blog Post can be found on the Businss901 blog.

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Deron K. Ertel is General Manager of Process Excellence for Embarq Corporation. This NYSE-listed company has approximately 18,000 employees and operates in 18 states offering voice, data, high speed internet, wireless, and entertainment services to over 5 million customers.

In our conversation, it was very evident that Deron believed in his message that “Embarq doesn’t lead with the tools - they lead with results.” Deron’s focus is very much customer driven and his description of using Lean, Six Sigma and project management when it is needed was excellent.

Deron will be presenting “Best Practices on Cost Reduction using Lean Six Sigma” at The Global Lean, Six Sigma and Business Improvement Summit. This summit represents the largest gathering of leading experts and senior executives across various industries who are passionate about achieving process and business excellence.It is held October 13-16, 2009 in Orlando, FL.

WCBF Six Sigma Solution Conference Global Six Sigma Awards

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On the Business901 podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Slater, the Operational Excellence and Productivity Leader for Sonoco. Sonoco is a $4.1 billion global manufacturer of industrial and consumer products and provider of packaging services, with more than 300 operations in 35 countries, serving customers in some 85 nations. Jeff is an expert in his field and had some very progressive ideas on how to leverage the Supply Chain for competitive advantage. Lean Six Sigma is a tool that he uses to accomplish many of his objectives and he explained the use of them at Sonoco.

Jeff will be presenting a case study on the Application of Lean Six Sigma to the Supply Chain at The Global Lean, Six Sigma and Business Improvement Summit. This summit represents the largest gathering of leading experts and senior executives across various industries who are passionate about achieving process and business excellence.It is held October 13-16, 2009 in Orlando, FL.

WCBF Six Sigma Solution Conference Global Six Sigma Awards

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I had Robert Stapp of OP•EX Direct Results Inc. on the Business901 podcast. We had a discussion on performance and the use of Six Sigma as a tool to achieve this. He discussed several interesting ideas on how to leverage Six Sigma and other tools in developing operational excellence. There was a slight problem with Robert’s microphone, but only from having a clean audio. The sound level and content is great.

Robert is the Founder and President of OP•EX Direct Results Inc. which was established in 2006 as an S-corporation based out of Huntington, Indiana as a performance improvement and management consulting firm which focuses on creating value and delivering results for clients.

Operating Excellence™ is a highly advanced and sophisticated system of management sciences, which leverages Lean Six Sigma, Engineering Solutions and Leadership to establish world class performance. OP•EX Direct Results Inc. has served both manufacturing and service industries; such as Health Care, Publishing, Food & Beverage, Automotive Manufacturing, Mining Equipment, Commercial Glass, Printing, Milling & Foundry Operations, and Construction Goods leveraging his experience and knowledge to positively transform entire business enterprises.

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My podcast this week featured Robert Stapp of OP-EX Direct Results Inc. In the 1st session of this 2-part series, Robert discusses Hoshin Kanri aka Policy Deployment. Robert is an executive professional with nineteen years Lean Six Sigma Operation Management experience domestic and internationally.  He is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (since 1998) and Certified Lean Master™ (CLM) process improvement expert ( since 2005). Robert is an author and speaker for Lean Six Sigma business transformation and quality engineering solutions. As a certified kaizen instructor he has managed, facilitated and been involved in continual improvement his entire career.

Robert is the Founder and President of OP•EX Direct Results Inc. which was established in 2006 as an S-corporation based out of Huntington, Indiana as a performance improvement and management consulting firm which focuses on creating value and delivering results for clients.

Operating Excellence™ is a highly advanced and sophisticated system of management sciences, which leverages Lean Six Sigma, Engineering Solutions and Leadership to establish world class performance. OP•EX Direct Results Inc. has served both manufacturing and service industries; such as Health Care, Publishing, Food & Beverage, Automotive Manufacturing, Mining Equipment, Commercial Glass, Printing, Milling & Foundry Operations, and Construction Goods leveraging his experience and knowledge to positively transform entire business enterprises.

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About Wisdom’s vision is to “Bring Wisdom into the World through the Hearts of Women and Girls.” Beverley Danusis, author of Sophia and the Seven Goddesses, participated in a 2-part series on my Business901 podcast. Beverly not only discussed the company’s vision and the book, she personalized it in a very meaningful way that makes this podcast a very special one. Enjoy her message on what made her go forward with this new career and how she has went about imparting the wisdom she has collected.

This is part 2 of 2.

Find out more about Sophia and Beverly at http://aboutwisdom.com.

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About Wisdom’s vision is to “Bring Wisdom into the World through the Hearts of Women and Girls.” Beverley Danusis, author of Sophia and the Seven Goddesses, participated in a 2-part series on my Business901 podcast. Beverly not only discussed the company’s vision and the book, she personalized it in a very meaningful way that makes this podcast a very special one. Enjoy her message on what made her go forward with this new career and how she has went about imparting the wisdom she has collected.

This is part 1 of 2.

Find out more about Sophia and Beverly at http://aboutwisdom.com.

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Time and time again, I struggle with people identifying their ideal client. This is my attempt to take some of the mystery out of the selection. I think once you have this identified, 50% of your marketing is done.

Download the E-book on the Subject or Read more!

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I always wondered, even before I started applying Lean Marketing Principles , why the marketing process rarely considered what stages a customer went through to buy their product or service. Customer usually have a fairly regimented way they conduct business and a very structured purchasing pattern. Most will even tell you and the fact of the matter is, that your sales people already probably know it. Document that process, even create a sales funnel or hour glass on this process. If you do this, it will create an entire different way of looking at your marketing. From the customers point of view!

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A short discussion on how to use your marketing to create cash flow.

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