Lean Manufacturing Principles with Paul Akers

Looking to “sell” your plant managers on Lean manufacturing? Manufacturer, author of the award-winning book 2 Second Lean and self-proclaimed “Lean maniac” Paul Akers would tell you, “You can’t sell Lean.” Instead, Akers tells Lean Frontline podcast host and Rever co-founder and CEO Errette Dunn, a better strategy is to apply Lean to creating extraordinary results that will draw in those people who are ready and willing to embrace the benefits of Lean.

“Creating extraordinary results” may sound like a lofty goal, but Akers offers a fairly simple formula for practice. “You need to develop fundamental habits that are very simple on a consistent basis. If you do that, the extraordinary results will materialize in a short period of time. But it must be deliberate, consistent and simple,” Akers says.

At FastCap, the product development company specializing in woodworking tools and hardware for the professional builder that Akers founded in his garage in 1997, employees start their day with a simple habit that helps set the day. “At 7 a.m. at my company, we start every day with sweeping, sorting and then creating standards and doing small improvements,” Akers shares.

He finds these “3S’s” to be critical for driving consistent improvements in the company. In fact, he advises other companies to set aside five to ten minutes each morning to this habit. As Akers puts it, “It’s better to start small and consistent then large and inconsistent.”

For more advice from Akers on Lean manufacturing best practices, tune in to the full interview on The Lean Frontline.