Managing to Learn:
Conversations with Lean Leaders about the Real Impact of the A3 Management Process 

a free two-part webinar featuring:
John Shook, D. Lynn Kelley, Ph.D, Eric Ethington, and John Billi, M.D.

Please join us for the second in a series of webinars exploring the use and impact of the A3 management process as described in John Shook's book, Managing to Learn. In the first webinar, held on October 9, 2008 and archived at http://www.lean.org/Events/WebinarHome.cfm, Jim Womack and John Shook discussed the fundamental issue facing all lean managers and leaders today: how can one create and sustain a lean managerial system? They described specific processes and behaviors that true Lean leaders use every day, with a special focus on the A3 Management Process.

John Shook will share more of his personal experiences in introducing, teaching and using A3’s both at Toyota and in his many lean transformation projects. Joining John will be Dr. John Billi, associate vice president for Medical Affairs of the University of Michigan. Dr. Billi was one of the A3 pioneers in US healthcare and has applied the process to everything from very defined departmental care/service delivery problems to the highest level strategic planning issues in the organization. You will also hear from 2 lean leaders from the Textron Corporation.  D. Lynn Kelley, Vice President, Textron Six Sigma will explore the cultural and business reasons for the use of the A3 spontaneously “taking off like wildfire” at Textron, while Eric Ethington, Lean Implementation Manager, will cite some specific A3 applications and how he uses the A3 management process in his influencing role day-to-day.

You will learn about:

• The reality of changing the strongly held belief – by both manager and reports – that the  manager is the “answer person”
• The keys to getting beyond the mechanics of the A3 process to the A3 thinking style
• The wide range of A3 applications, from the tactical to the most strategic situations
• The most challenging parts of the A3 process and proven countermeasures

This is the second in a series of two webinars dealing with the A3 process. This second webinar, scheduled for November 13, 2008, will feature John Shook and executives who use the A3 as a key feature of their personal management process. If you registered for the first webinar you do not need to register for the second.

About the speakers:

John Shook, Senior Advisor, Lean Enterprise Institute

John Shook is an industrial anthropologist who began his observations and analysis of companies, their operations, and organization during his first tour of companies in Japan in 1977. This led to John learning about lean while working for 11 years with Toyota in Japan and the United States, helping that company transfer production, engineering, and management systems from Japan to its overseas affiliates and suppliers.  During his seven-year stay at Toyota's headquarters, he became the company's first American "kacho" (manager) in Japan.  In the United States, John became a part of Toyota’s North American engineering and R&D center in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1991, a s general manager of administration and strategic planning. His last position with Toyota was as senior American manager with the Toyota Supplier Support Center in Lexington, Kentucky, the company’s organization to assist the efforts of North American companies to implement TPS.

This real-world experience in implementing lean principles throughout an organization gives him extraordinary insight into the challenges faced by those who are interested in lean enterprises. As co-author of Learning to See,John helped introduce value-stream mapping as a tool for lean practitioners; with Managing to Learn, he similarly is taking lean practitioners into new territory, that of working with and leading with A3's.

John now spends his time researching and developing lean principles with Jim Womack, Dan Jones, and José Ferro as a senior adviser in the Lean Enterprise Institute. He is the former director of the University of Michigan, Japan Technological Management Program, and currently heads two consulting groups—the Lean Transformations Group, LLC and the TWI Network, Inc. John is recognized as a true sensei who enthusiastically shares his knowledge and insights within the lean community and with those who would not have made the leap.

D. Lynn Kelley, Vice President, Textron Six Sigma

Lynn drives the ongoing deployment of Textron Six Sigma and the continuous improvement of its DMAIC, DFSS, and Lean capabilities across all Textron business units, including Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft, E-Z-GO, Jacobsen, and others. She is a member of the Textron Transformation Leadership Team, a Corporate Officer, and a Textron Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Lynn began her Textron career at Textron Fastening Systems in 1999, where she held various positions, including Vice President, Continuous Improvement and Acting Vice President of Strategic Planning. She spent time at Textron Fluid & Power and had various international assignments. As Performance Solutions Manager for Textron University, Kelley led the development and deployment of new courses for Textron Six Sigma, Lean, and Integrated Supply Chain, in support of Textron’s heightened focus on talent development. 

Prior to joining Textron, she was Professor, Department Chair, and Director of the Master’s Degree in Quality and Operations Management at Madonna University, School of Business, in Livonia, Michigan. She also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Doctors Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.
Lynn holds a PhD from Wayne State University, an MBA from Michigan State University Executive MBA Program, and a BBA, Business Management from University of Detroit-Mercy. She has published books in the fields of statistics and operational excellence.

Eric Ethington, Lean Implementation Manager, Textron Six Sigma

Eric’s role is one of driving change within Textron through influencing and teaching others.  Key  internal customers of Eric’s are Bell Helicopter, Jacobsen and the Textron Six Sigma Council. Prior to joining the lean group, Eric spent eighteen month in the corporate black belt program, obtaining his DFSS certification in October of 2006.

Before joining Textron in 2005, Eric held various positions at Delphi in a career spanning 22 years.  Assignments were held in diverse areas including Advanced Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Operations, Portfolio Management, Launch Management and the Corporate Lean organization.  A key accomplishment during his Delphi career was his team’s development and execution of Delphi’s internal Lean Enterprise College.  Additionally, Eric was mentored for 3.5 years by Yoshinobu Yamada, former General Manager of Production Control for NUMMI.

Eric earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan, Flint campus.  Additionally, he maintains strong professional ties to the Lean Enterprise Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

John Billi, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Education, Associate Vice President for Medical Affairs of the University of Michigan  

Dr. Billi, also leads the Michigan Quality System (MQS) at the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS).  MQS, drawing from GM’s Global Manufacturing System and the Toyota Way, uses lean principles to build on continuous improvement methods to improve quality, safety, efficiency, appropriateness, and service in healthcare. MQS also works with regional physician groups and hospitals.

Dr Billi directs courses for introducing lean thinking in healthcare, including a joint educational program with the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering.   From 1997 to 2005, he led UMHS’s development and implementation of innovative health programs that were used in insurance pilots with Ford, GM, and currently are being used by several insurance companies. Dr. Billi is active in statewide, regional, and professional initiatives affecting quality of care and physician practice issues, especially the use of community consortia to support quality improvement.