I talked about one of our favourite clients BAUM Cycles at Agile Australia 2013 in the middle of the year – It must have been popular because I’ve been invited back for the Agile Encore in Melbourne on the 14th. I’m also running a workshop in the morning before the afternoon session – Here’s an insight into what you’ll get !
Afternoon Talk – Agile, Lean, Broken Ribs and a World Champion
Taiichi Ohno was reputed to take new graduates at Toyota to the factory floor and draw a circle on the ground. The graduate would then be told to stand there and observe; if upon his return they had not seen enough then he would tell them to observe for longer. While it might feel like something out of a Karate Kid movie Taiichi Ohno was really teaching a simple lesson. The only way to really understand a problem is to go to where it happens and see it.
Admiral Rickover (father of the nuclear submarine) understood this only too well and long before the Toyota Production Systems day he would force ships’ captains into boiler suits to crawl the bilge of their ships with him looking for problems on ships in for repair and refitting.
“What it takes to do a job will not be learned from management courses. It is principally a matter of experience, the proper attitude, and common sense – none of which can be taught in a classroom… Human experience shows that people, not organisations or management systems, get things done.” – Rickover
Genchi Genbutsu – Go and See.
How then do we do this when more than 90% of us are creating virtual things – intellectual property, software, design or products – not something you can drop on your foot?
One of Luna Tractor’s most interesting projects over the last year has been working with BAUM Cycles. Their bikes are widely regarded as the Ferraris of the bike world, ridden by world champions who pay their own money and line up like everyone else. In a small, sometimes hot, often cold and dirty factory on the North Shore of Geelong, they have been steadily shifting the operation of the entire business to an Agile and Lean process.
With a blue collar workforce, most factory language unprintable and the background noise a constant mixture of Triple M and machinery; some different approaches are required. Hear real world lessons about Lean flow, physical stock management; Agile sales and customer service along with who ended up with the broken ribs. Get a sneak peak into the new factory design that we are currently building also.
You can sign up and see the rest of the program here – www.agileencore.com/index.html
Morning Workshop
In addition I’m running a workshop in the morning covering a wide ranging background of Agile, Lean and Systems Think as it can be applied across a whole organisation. This session will be great for beginners and experience agilistas alike with a focus on the background, and philosophy of Agile, Lean and Systems Thinking as well as interactive discussions about how to practically start using these approaches right across your organisations – not just in IT.
Full Details and workshop sign up here – www.agileencore.com/workshops.html
PS: Use the code ENCORE-JAMES to save $100 on the workshop.