At the 2023 Lean Global Connection virtual conference held in late November, Maria Grzanka, Dominic Stokes and Matt Horvat share their experiences setting up and participating within Lean Portland. They discuss project examples of teaching Lean to nonprofits in the Portland area, and what they learned and benefitted from those experiences. There is also a video of the presentation you can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwoRBFyN8_8 There were numerous presentations provided during this event, so you can check out all of them in the links below. Links Lean Global Connection 2023 Vi ..read more

When using Statistical Process Control (SPC) charts to monitor your process, you are comparing your current data to historical data to determine if the process is similar or different. The basis for this decision lies in the Western Electric Rules (now called Nelson Rules) for detecting out of control conditions. For example, if you detect 6 consecutive data points going upwards from the previous data point, that is considered a trend, and the process should be stopped to investigate if there is a problem or not. Brion Hurley, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with Business Performance Improvem ..read more

After making improvements to your processes, a best practice is to calculate the benefits to the organization. Calculating financial benefits is an important part of building momentum for improvement with upper management. However, this can be confusing for those not familiar with financial data, and is not done very often in organizations.   Brion Hurley will discuss commonly used methods for capturing financial impacts of process improvement work.   The 5 categories are:  • Income Statement  • Cash Flow  • Growth  • Avoidance  • Soft Savings   We will ..read more

Join us for a share out from our volunteer consultants about what we've learned over the past 10 years.   * listening to voices of our nonprofit partners (customers)  * unexpected benefits of helping others  * building community through building relationships  * turning the continuous improvement lens on ourselves   AGENDA:   * Improvements within Lean Portland to increase the number and quality of nonprofit volunteering projects  * Reducing Administration Required to Onboard Harvest Leads with Portland Fruit Tree Project  * Improving Inventory Supply Ma ..read more

Case Study with Stephanie Hill: Prysm Piercing Shop   As a member and volunteer for the Association of Professional Piercers (APP) and having a partner who owns a body piercing studio, Stephanie Hill had the rare opportunity to share a Lean case study with a room of 200 international body piercers at an annual APP conference. Modified for the Lean Portland Happy Hour, Stephanie will share this case study of how she worked with her partner, Rob Hill at Prysm Body Piercing in Des Moines, Iowa, to increase profit using Lean practices. While members of the Happy Hour may not own piercing shop ..read more

At our April 6th Happy Hour, we are delighted to feature long-time member of Lean Portland, Sheilah "Paddy" O'Brien, who recently finished writing her latest book, “Facilitating Rapid Process Improvement Workshops (RPI), a Self-Study Guide for Lean Leaders.” This is a follow-on to her first book, “Lean for the Nonprofit, What You Don’t Know Can Cost You."   With two books under her belt, we wanted to have a conversational Happy Hour with her and ask: “What was it about our Lean culture and practice that compelled you to write these books?” We think you will find the answers will piqu ..read more

Ernest Mayer is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Project Manager at Providence Health & Services in Portland, Oregon. He explains the Daily Management System (DMS) he has helped developed with local nonprofits, and how that transitioned into a rollout across Providence. He explains that DMS is more than a set of tools and metrics, it requires a culture change that starts with managers transitioning to leaders, where they coach and mentor instead of dictate and give orders.   Connect with Ernest at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernest-mayer-45368b15/ Learn more about Lean Portland at https ..read more

Creating flow is one of the principles of Lean Thinking. At first, we apply this principle to process work flows. What might we learn if we applied this to intrapersonal flow? How might we improve quality and reduce waste as we move throughout the day?   Lori Jorgenson is a vitality coach with the Taylor Group in Portland, OR. With her background as a personal trainer and world champion outrigger canoe paddler, Lori joined the Taylor Group in 2017 with extensive experience in the realm of physical well-being. Her role as a vitality coach goes much deeper than that however, recognizing the ..read more

At our December Happy Hour, Sam Pardue, founder of Indow in Portland, shares his work history and how he quickly transitioned his company during the pandemic using Lean methodology, called Clean Practice. Watch the full video at https://leanportland.com/local_events/clean-practice-uses-lean-to-protect-workers-during-pandemic/ Learn more about Lean Portland at https://leanportland.com ..read more

Founders of the Lean Portland volunteer group talk with practitioners from Charlotte and Jacksonville to provide history of the group and recommendations for setting up their own volunteer group. Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpnbZ5BBZ3c Learn more about Lean Portland at https://leanportland.com ..read more