This is the 2nd collection of real-life experiences and stories from those who have spent time at the “gemba.” They have generously offered to write a chapter about lessons learned and tools they have applied. A great book to share with potential volunteers, or nonprofits wanting to learn more about Lean or Six Sigma applied to their organizations. Proceeds from book sales will go to the nonprofits selected by the authors.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Joe Wojniak and Lynn McCullough: Improving Thrift Shop Donations (interview with authors)
- Proceeds donated to TRU Community Care
- Tim Turner: Helping Others By Following The Toyota Way (podcast interview with Tim)
- Proceeds donated to Center for Quality People and Organizations (CQPO)
- Douglas Cooper: Lessons from Liberia – Standard Work as the Foundation for Lean Practices
- He recounts his time leading programs for Mercy Corps in Liberia from late 2015 to early 2018, navigating the challenges of operating amidst the aftermath of the West African Ebola crisis where the organization struggled with operational instability, fragmentation, rapid program growth, and high staff stress, leading to bottlenecks like delayed payments and procurement backlogs. He first focused on calming the chaos by instituting regular senior leadership and program management meetings. He next concentrated on introducing Excel-based standard work templates for the Operations team to clearly define regularly scheduled responsibilities, which proved effective in establishing a predictable rhythm and greatly reducing rework and lead times. A Kaizen event was conducted with the more stable Finance team, successfully streamlining the document flow and drastically cutting typical waiting times of a week or more. Proceeds donated to Mercy Corps
- Anita Havemann: Reducing Time and Complexity in Nonprofit Accounting
- Proceeds donated to Relay Resources
- Steve Bell: Simple Framework for Complex Problems
- Proceeds donated to Lean4NGO.org
- Elisabeth Swan: Leaning into the Mission of Childcare (podcast interview with Elisabeth)
- Proceeds donated to Cape Cod Children’s Place
- Tracy O’Rourke: Increasing Meals Per Hour with Kitchens for Good (podcast interview with Tracy)
- Tracy ORourke’s chapter was authored with help from Sally Toister and Jennifer Gilmore. It details a #Lean #SixSigma improvement project undertaken with Kitchens For Good and their tuition-free apprenticeship program for people facing barriers to employment. The project focused on improving the efficiency of Project Nourish, a hunger-relief initiative that prepared and distributed over 288,000 nutritious “Heat & Eat” meals annually to San Diegans. The main challenge was that meal packaging was too slow, operating at a baseline rate of only 267 meals per hour, far short of the target of 560 meals per hour needed to meet production goals. Using best-practice improvement tools, the team addressed root causes like inconsistent portion sizes, long volunteer waiting times for prepared trays, and volunteers being unaware of production pace. Key countermeasures included balancing the assembly line to minimize waiting by creating a second Food Tray Filler role, transferring the Packer role to the Labeler, and introducing standard work for setup and portion sizes, including using food scales to ensure consistency. This collaborative effort successfully closed the performance gap, achieving the target of 560 meals per hour and eventually reaching 800 meals per hour, which enabled Project Nourish to reach thousands of people in need. Proceeds donated to Kitchens for Good
- Joy E. Mason: Using Six Sigma to Address Racial Equity (podcast interview with Joy)
- Proceeds donated to The Six Sigma Racial Equity Institute
- Resources and Next Steps
This volume was released on January 27, 2023, and the audiobook was released in Feb 2024.
Here is a 5 minute excerpt video from Elisabeth Swan’s chapter about her work with Cape Cod Child Development
Or you can listen to a podcast episode of “Lean Six Sigma Bursts“
How to order
Do you teach in academia, or run a nonprofit? You may be eligible for free copies to share with your staff and students. Contact us for more information.
*Significantly more proceeds to nonprofits received when ordered via eBook/Kindle through LeanPub
Contact us to inquire about buying multiple paperback books.