Contact: Elizabeth Peters Oregon Association of Nurseries,

Oregon companies are gaining serious competitive advantage by making products at a lower cost, in a shorter time, with fewer defects and less human effort using Lean. ” Oregon Association of Nurseries,

Lean is NOT  A cost reduction program or one-time “fix it” tactic.  A new concept. Lean is…  A disciplined structure for eliminating waste  A way of thinking and acting for all parts of an organization  Building a learning culture (change) Oregon Association of Nurseries,

 Constant pursuit of the “Least Waste Way”  Laser focus on value to the customer  Value: what your customer pays for  Waste: what you pay for Oregon Association of Nurseries,

 Think about any process… What are those activities that do not add value? Do we know what they are? What resource drain do they have? Value Added Activity Non Value Added Activity Source: Goodrich Aerostructures Oregon Association of Nurseries,

 What we ( think ) we do Strategy Planning Execution “Production” Delivery Follow up  What actually happens Strategy Planning Execution “Production” Delivery Follow up Source: Goodrich Aerostructures Oregon Association of Nurseries,

VALUE  Transforms the product or service  Customer is willing to “pay” for it  Done right the first time WASTE  Overproduction  Waiting  Motion  Transportation  Overprocessing  Inventory  Defects Oregon Association of Nurseries,

 Walking  Unnecessary stock on hand, “just in case”  Transporting product or supplies to different areas  Waiting for machine cycle or changeover  Generating useless reports  Searching for tools or supplies Oregon Association of Nurseries, Lean’s Goal: Eliminate non-value-added activities

 Continuous Improvement  Flow  Go and see  Just in time  Kaizen  Plan – Do – Check – Act  Point of use storage  Pull vs. push  Value stream  Visual controls  5-S (handout) Oregon Association of Nurseries,

 Bailey Nurseries – Yamhill  Order pulling: 50% increase in efficiency  Potting: reduced crew size from 20 – 12, slowed down the machine and increased units/man hour 42%.  Field Staking: 24% increase in units/man hour ▪ Reduced walking around ▪ Dropped crew size from 10 – 8 ▪ Better inventory (stakes) supply  J Frank Schmidt & Son Co.  Began Lean journey in mid Since then: ▪ One inventory process improvement saved $25,000 ▪ One container yard process improvement saved $40,000 ▪ Bare root planting schedule process improvement saved $35, As reported at NW Ag Show

 Our first Lean effort  Nursery Guide process mapping event ▪ Found and cut 240 hours of waste in a single process. ▪ Removed useless steps ▪ Clarified the process ▪ Defined standard work  Today: ▪ Happy team members ▪ No overtime ▪ On-track with schedule

Five nurseries Began October, 2010 Oregon Association of Nurseries,

The OAN Lean Pilot Program  Strategic-level guidance for leaders  Development of certified Lean “champions”  Basic employee-level training  Hands-on improvement events in participant companies  Community of support, accountability, learning together Oregon Association of Nurseries,

Van Essen Nursery PRT Oregon F & B Farms and Nursery Gold Hill Nursery Oregon Association of Nurseries,

 Lean Team is one-of-a-kind  Inquiries from KY, WA, CA, RI, BC  “Most Innovative Company of the Year” by the Wilsonville Chamber of Commerce  OAN serves on Job Growers High performance Consortium Steering Committee Oregon Association of Nurseries,

Can you be successful? Do you have the will to change?

 Strategic decision by top management  Leadership must be engaged, not just support.  This is a culture change. Leaders must lead.  Coordinator/facilitator/evangelist  Trusting management-employee relationship  Decision making at all levels  Respect for people - philosophy  Work with outsiders  OAN Lean Team or a consultant to get started. Oregon Association of Nurseries,

19 Habit #4 – the ability to recognize the performance gap Leadership model Actions in the Process Process outcomes Drivers Results DTM Defects OI Cost Cash Flow Production Traditional Management focus Lean Leader Focus Habit #1 – Recognition and action on Drivers vs. Results Habit #3 – a change of habit. This is different, it requires a fundamental change It is non-optional This will mean some will not make it Habit #2 – discipline to recognize and follow a process Lean Events Policy Deployment Lean assessments Organization Change

20 Habit #1 – Focus only on Results Results are at best history lessons and cannot be changed Habit #3 – Inertia and those unable to make the humbling journey I did not get to this level knowing nothing … Joe Brown Supreme Commander Habit #4 – the Law of the lid* *John Maxwell An organization cannot progress beyond the level of its leader Habit #2 – the process is not important, just give me the results

We’ve been doing it this way for years. It’s good enough. The computer won’t let us do that. Some people will complain. That will take longer than it does now. It’s not possible. We tried that before and it didn’t work. If it were only that easy! It’s too radical. We need to form a committee. Oregon Association of Nurseries,

 Learn the basics, begin to build a culture.  What Year 1 members get:  Six from the company trained in the principles of Lean  Three managers receive Lean tools training  Three owners or managers get Lean leadership training  Facilitated, hands-on improvement event at the member business  Unlimited participation in events at peer companies  Year-1 participant fee $3,750 ▪ Most recoup costs in first event. Oregon Association of Nurseries,

 Learn to deploy Lean without expensive consultant fees.  Train 13 of your team members: Lean principles, Lean tools, Lean leadership.  You gain from hands-on improvement at your facility.  Peers give you trusted “outside eyes” to see opportunities.  Unlimited access to improvement events at other nurseries.  Access to highly-skilled practitioners Greatest value: Your employees become thinkers and improvers. Oregon Association of Nurseries,

Contact: Elizabeth Peters Oregon Association of Nurseries,