Steve Burns, VP Global Operations & Supply Chain,
Avery Dennison Office & Consumer Products
LCA truly understands the DNA of the Toyota Production System – not just the tools. Consultants are very flexible in their approach, and more responsive to specific requests. LCA integrates with the business and team – they are truly and extension of your team. Teaching not telling is their approach. We earned 1,700% return on our investment in LCA’s services.”
Jim Hall, Director,
Continuous Improvement, BAE Systems
What distinguishes Lean Consulting Associates is the focus on helping you achieve your business goals by working at the “gemba” and learning by the hands-on use of the lean tools. Every minute they spend at your facility adds value that will continue to grow after they leave. It is obvious that their goal is to make you self-sufficient, not to make you dependent on them to achieve improvements. All of the LCA consultants we worked with had many years of living “The Toyota Way”. They all understand that just applying the Lean tools will not achieve sustainable results. They have the experience and skills to work with any leadership team to create and sustain a Lean culture.
Mike Thelen
Lean Facilitator, Hub City, Inc. division of Regal-Beloit Corporation
In 2006, Hub City, Incorporated, a subsidiary of Regal-Beloit Corporation, began a partnership with Lean Consulting Associates (LCA). Through active, hands-on involvement with Mike Murney of LCA, Hub City has successfully started down the Lean path. In our first focus area, we have:
- Reduced lead time from 4-6 weeks on any area product to less than 3 days on 80% of the product and less than 15 days on 10% of the product, both exceeding customer's expectations for responsiveness.
- Reduced WIP 35%
- Reduced Finished Goods by 95%
- Improved on-time delivery from 74.6% to 96% or higher for ten consecutive months
- Increased sales by 28.7% (in a mature market)
- Increased orders shipped by 43.9%
- Increased units shipped by 17.3%
More importantly, we have been able to take what we have experienced and apply it to other areas of our organization, with activities led and completed by empowered direct labor employees. While Mr. Murney has been instrumental in our learning and development, his training methods have succeeded in LCA's corporate strategy of planned obsolescence. You will find Mike Murney and Lean Consulting Associates to be invaluable mentors, building a relationship with you beyond consultant and customer.
Vivek Bhargava
Vice President, Critical Business Processes, Regal Beloit Corporation
Bob, under your direction, we embarked on a path that has taken us beyond our expectations. Your team spent time teaching, coaching and then teaching some more. You taught us how to envision the goal and identify the path to reach it. You rightly pointed out the importance of engaging people as key to creating a sustainable lean culture.
Your Senior Consultant, with his experience and ability to accurately read a plant, was instrumental in steering us towards ‘true north’. His honesty, work ethic, and willingness to put in long hours enabled us to move the needle and to absorb the necessary Lean knowledge rapidly.
It has been 3 years since we partnered with Lean Consulting Associates, LLC and the benefits are visible at our manufacturing facilities, offices and in our bottom line. The Lean Six Sigma activities have transformed "the way we work and think".
Phil Fletcher
Director, Production Engineering and Program Management Learjet, Inc.
Stephen (Chun) is unlike other consultants in that he is able to quickly and effectively engage our employees in "learning to see" their workplace and process deficiencies and then teach them to lay out an effective improvement plan that meets the need. His approach is unique and clever to get employee buy-in and he gets lasting results.
Keith LaPointe
Gillette-Proctor & Gamble Purchasing Project Manager
Stephen (Chun) is different from most consultants with whom I have engaged in his commitment to the development of me and my teams. Rather than simply pursuing the committed deliverables, Stephen's style allowed him to provide coaching and feedback in all areas of management: including, but not limited to interpersonal communication and style, summarizing findings for both the operations staff and senior management, engaging across cultures, and the concept of "Learning to see". Working with Stephen not only delivered hard dollar savings via operational improvement, but also provided a personal coach both during and since the project.
Floyd Parks
Partner (retired), PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Bob is one of the few that has personal knowledge of "Lean" coming from the company that revolutionized its industry with Toyota. Additionally, he has personal experience in the application of the concepts of Lean in a services environment.
If you are looking for someone who truly knows how it's done end-to-end all the way to the front line worker, then Bob is someone that can deliver that knowledge.
Joe Kazadi
former CEO, Ateliers Thomé-Genót
I wish to express my gratitude and appreciation for the for the coaching my organization and I received from Bob Bennett and the Lean Consulting Associates team while I was CEO of Ateliers Thomé-Genót in France.
The support Bob and the team provided helped us succeed in turning a 150-year-old forging company into a Lean based modern and effective organization. In less than a year, we improved on-time delivery by 208%, reduced defects by 49% and increased output of our production assets by 23%. This resulted in an increase in sales of over 10% and brought with it additional business including first ever long-term contracts with major customers. The Toyota and Toyota supplier experience on Bob's team was key in helping us win the new business from demanding Japanese suppliers to Toyota and OEMs.
I do believe, however, that the success we experienced is most attributable to the passion and talent Bob and the team brought to our organization, their ability to work side-by-side with our people as well as their approach because it was done with the utmost integrity and respect for all of our people.
It was certainly a joy working with Bob and his team. I have maintained my relationship with Bob and I continue to use him on occasions as a sounding board for many of my business strategies.
Joe Kazadi
Technical Director
Alcan Primary Metals Europe
Voreppe, France