Our Approach
We help you envision, create, and implement strategies to drive a culture of continuous improvement. Leaders and staff are trained to identify waste, discover countermeasures, and implement the “Least Waste Way” of doing business.
Our approach is a way of identifying, reducing and eliminating waste in business processes.
Our Team
With more than 50 combined years of leadership experience, we are a dynamic coaching team that comes alongside and mentors our clients through dramatic improvements in their organizations.
We set high expectations of the people we work with—and help them reach their goals.
Our mission is to seek out and develop continuous improvement leaders in every company we work with.
Elizabeth Peters
Vice President
Elizabeth Peters has a 20-year background in leadership communications, product development, and process improvement. Her Lean practitioner journey began with formal training at Goodrich Aerostructures, a company hailed as “the best in the world outside of Toyota” by James Womack. At the Oregon Association of Nurseries, Peters founded and directed the award-winning Lean Team and served on the steering committee for the Mid-Willamette High Performance Consortium for manufacturers. Honored in 2016 with the “Distinguished Member of the Horticultural Allied Trades” award by the Oregon Association of Nurseries, Peters guides leaders in developing strategies that drive a culture of continuous improvement.
Rick Peters
President
Rick Peters is an Oregon business owner with more than 30 years of investment management experience. His interest in the Toyota Production System (Lean) began in the 80’s when, as an investment advisor, he learned that companies with strong Lean initiative make exceptional investments. He has participated or led hundreds of improvement events in various types of businesses and industries since 2009. He was honored in 2016 with the “Distinguished Member of the Horticultural Allied Trades” award by the Oregon Association of Nurseries. A professional trainer since 1984, Peters takes a hands-on approach to helping clients significantly reduce waste and increase productivity by applying Lean principles.
Michael Schmich
Training Specialist
Michael Schmich is a trainer, training designer, and consultant who has worked in manufacturing, education and training since 1975, both in the U.S. and internationally. He has trained Spanish speaking supervisors in several different industries. He was instrumental in implementing a $3.2 million Department of Labor grant to bring Lean to the food processing industry. He developed and delivered training designed to help non-English speaking workers to participate in Kaizen activities conducted in English. He is a certified instructor of Training Within Industry, (TWI Institute) in both Spanish and English. He was lead instructor on a multi-year contract with the Intel Corporation to develop and implement a worldwide language standardization program for maintenance technicians.
What is Lean?
Lean is a way of identifying, reducing and eliminating waste in business processes.
Lean principles give a powerful framework for delivering more value to customers at a lower cost, in shorter time, with fewer defects, and less human effort.
Also known as the Toyota Production System, Lean recognizes that the concept of “value” must be from your customer’s perspective, not yours.
Value is created only when three criteria are met
- The customer is willing to pay for the product or service
- The work transforms the product or service
- The work is done right the first time.
When one or more of these criteria are missing, the activity is considered waste, or “non-value added” activity. Many are surprised to learn that the typical business has about 95 percent activity waste. Even Toyota, which has been practicing Lean since the 1950s, estimates that 50 percent of their activity is still non-value added.
Companies applying Lean can typically improve productivity for a given process by 40–80 percent or more. They do this by viewing processes from the customer’s perspective, and eliminating waste wherever possible.
What is waste?
Toyota defines waste as seven types of activities that do not add value for the customer:
- Transportation:
Any action that moves product, information or materials from one place to another results in waste. - Inventory:
Accumulating more than the minimum needed for a process. - Motion:
Movement of people. - Waiting:
When people wait, raw materials or product are idle. - Over-processing:
Doing things beyond the needs of the customer. - Overproduction:
Producing more than customers buy — or making it sooner than customers need it. - Defects:
When a process has to be repeated or reworked, fixed due to lack of information, or when mistakes occur.
The goal of Lean is to eliminate as much waste as possible, in a way that respects the people working in the company. When you see any of the above in your business, you’ve just found an opportunity to learn and improve.
If you are interested in our services and would like to schedule a consultation click the “Free Consultation” button or give us a call at 503-250-2235.