updates from the enterprise excellence community practical value

Practical Value, Leading-EdgeBest Practices SharedNetwork and exchange “lessons learned.”

Annual Conference

Great organizations, great individ-uals, and great teams all share acommitment to excellence. In

this year’s AME annual conference inBaltimore November 15-19, attendeeswill encounter many opportunities tolearn about concepts and ideas forextending best practices throughouttheir enterprise. In addition to a richprogram of presentations, workshops,plant tours, exhibits, and other confer-ence offerings, “Excellence Inside” par-ticipants can learn about — and share— leading-edge improvement “lessonslearned” during numerous networkinggatherings.

For example, conference atten-dees who belong to a consortium (orwho are considering membership orin forming a consortium) will learnabout networking and exchange activ-ities designed to provide practicalvalue that can be used when theyreturn to their organizations. TheConsortia Program, coordinated byDave Hogg and Bob Kerr, will includeinformal presentations about bestpractices by participating consortia inCanada, the United States, andAustralia. “One-on-one” sessions withSteven J. Spear (author of Chasingthe Rabbit: How Market LeadersOutdistance the Competition and sen-

ior lecturer at the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology) and GeorgeKoenigsaecker (a pioneer of lean inNorth America at Jake Brake andHON and author of Leading the LeanEnterprise Transformation), planttours at consortium member sites,and a special interest session on howto start a consortium are among addi-tional planned activities for consor-tium members. A variety of additionalnetworking and idea exchange ses-sions will enable conference attendeesto gain added value from their confer-ence participation.

Learning for Leaders

AME’s commitment is that partic-ipants will find excellence and valuein all aspects of the conference pro-gram, according to Dan McDonnell,conference marketing chair. Learn-ings that will help leaders initiate andimplement effective improvementstrategies for rejuvenation of theirorganization will be takeaways forattendees, he noted.

Among the keynoters sharingtheir inspiration and experiences willbe Malcolm Gladwell, author of thebook, Outliers: The Story of Success(suggesting a new approach for help-

ing people succeed by using the fac-tors that really foster success).Keynoter George Koenigsaecker is aprincipal investor in several leanenterprises, board member of TheShingo Prize for Operational Excell-ence, AME, the ThedaCare Center forHealthcare Value, Ariens OutdoorPower Equipment, Baird CapitalPartners, Simpler Consulting, andWatlow Electric Corporation; he ledthe lean conversion of (furniture man-ufacturer) HON Company.

Colleen Abdoulah will also give akeynote presentation. She is the onlyfemale CEO to lead a Top 20 cablecompany and has guided WOW!Internet, Cable and Phone throughseven years of industry-leading finan-cial success. Abdoulah will share herviews on the strategic importance ofcustomer experience and companyculture; development of gender-bal-anced management and leadership;and cultivation of authentic leader-ship. Keynoter Dr. John Toussaint isthe former president and chief execu-tive officer of ThedaCare, Inc., a com-munity-owned, four-hospital healthsystem in Wisconsin. He introducedthe ThedaCare Improvement System(TIS), derived from the ToyotaProduction System that helped save

ConnectionsUpdates from the Enterprise Excellence Community

30 Target Fourth Issue 2010 Target.ame.org

millions of dollars in healthcare costsby reducing patient errors, improvingoutcomes, and delivering better quali-ty care at a higher value.

Presentations and Workshops

Seven value streams of practition-er-to-practitioner presentations as wellas a broad program of workshops willbe offered during the conference.Presentation value streams includeCustomer Focus, Finding True North,Process Sustainment, Respect forPeople, Continuous Improvement,Daily Value Stream Management, andMaterial Flow; approximately 60 pre-sentations are planned. The lineup ofpresenters includes representativesfrom Autoliv; Acuity Brands Lighting;Cogent Power Inc.; Cancer TreatmentCenters of America; Alcon Laboratories,Inc.; Watlow Electric (Hannibal Plant);DJO, LLC; HID Global; Currier Plastics;GE Transportation; Barry-Wehmiller;Wenger Corporation; and O.C. Tanner.Insights about improvement strategiesand results will also be shared byEaton Corporation; AccuRounds; S&CElectric Company; Warren Distribu-tion; Grunau Company; Fres-coSystem USA, Inc.; Northrop GrummanShipbuilding; Northrop Grumman Elec-tronics Systems/Defense Electronics;VIBCO Vibrators; Ventana MedicalSystems; Harland Clarke; the U.S.Department of Housing and UrbanDevelopment (HUD); Stoner Incorp-orated; Ball Metal Container Opera-tions; HABCO, Inc.; and other organi-zations.

Best practices in the healthcarefield will be offered by presenters fromThedaCare Health System; CancerTreatment Centers of America(CTCA); Denver Health MedicalCenter; St. Joseph Health System;and New York City Health andHospitals System.

Tours

MarquipWard United, SiemensHealthcare Diagnostics, Harley-Davidson, GM Powertrain, GE Health-care, Leonhardt Manufactur-ing,Wright Manufacturing, and MarlinSteel Wire Products, LLC are amongthe conference tour hosts. Also sharingtheir experiences with plant “tourists”will be W.R. Grace & Co., GraceDavison Technical Center; PhillipsSeafood, Inc.; EDCO (Equip-mentDevelopment Company); etc. Therewill be special tours at Camden Yards(home of the Baltimore Orioles) and theU.S. Naval Academy.

Added Activities for Practitioners

AME/APQC Community of Practice,lean certification, Minitab StatisticalSoftware, and other special interestsessions will be offered during theconference. Attendees can also par-ticipate in hands-on learningkaizens, the Practitioner Idea Ex-change Café, exhibits, and other con-ference activities. The GreaterChesapeake and Potomac (GC&P)Region of the American Red Cross,which has implemented a leanprocess in all blood drive operations,will conduct a blood drive and tourduring the annual conference. It nowuses a pull process with standardizedwork guidelines and visual tools tohelp staff and donors move throughthe blood drive process. For moreinformation on the conference activi-ties as well as registration informa-tion, visit http://ameconference.org.

Lea A.P. Tonkin, Target editor-in-chief,lives in Woodstock, IL.

Target.ame.org Target Fourth Issue 2010 31

Submit a guest commmentary or suggestions for Connections articles by sending an e-mail to Lea Tonkin, [email protected].

Gold SponsorsTurning Technologies

Silver SponsorsBrady Worldwide

GEM Group

University of Maryland, Manufacturer Assistance Program

Microsoft—UMT Consulting Group

Kronos Workforce Management Solutions

Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development

Bronze SponsorsUniversity of Michigan, College of Engineering,

Center for Professional Development

The Quality Group

We appreciate the support of theseorganizations for the AME Annual

Conference, Baltimore, MD, November 15-19, 2010:

Thank you for your support!



AME is working to develop closerworking relationships with otherlike-minded organizations —those dedicated to pursuingenterprise excellence throughshared learning. We’re proud tobe working with some of the best in the business:

Alliance Partners

The Association for Operations Managerment

(APICS)

American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC)

American Society for Quality(ASQ)

Council of Supply ChainManagement Professionals

(CSCMP)

Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE)

Lean Product & ProcessDevelopment Exchange Inc.

(LPPDE)

National NanotechnologyManufacturing Center

(NNMC)

Productivity Alberta(PA)

Society of Manufacturing Engineers

(SME)

The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence

T he AME Institute was created tofund and sponsor longer term pro-grams to advance the mission of

AME. So far it has funded attendance ofprofessors and students at the AMEannual conference, and also the LeanAccounting Summit.

The AME Institute board is develop-ing a partnership with Dan Shunk andJeff Goss of the Arizona State UniversitySchool of Engineering to offer leadershipdevelopment for senior managers inter-ested in moving organizations beyondthe first stages of lean implementation,that is, to extend lean principles to allfunctions of a company and create aculture in which lean thinking is sus-tained. A follow-on research programwill explore how this can be betteraccomplished.

The AME Institute’s vision is toleverage the knowledge, experiences,and resources of people in manufactur-ing, primarily in North America, devoted

to enterprise excellence in order to pro-mote fresh, original, creative, and sus-tainable ideas for improving their work-place now and in the future. Its mission:to promote learning through experiencesharing, idea broadcasting throughexperimentation, leadership modelsthrough examples, and knowledgeacquisition via discovery.

More information about the AMEInstitute is available at www.ame.org/institute or from Chairman BasemHishmeh at [email protected] orPresident Ralph Keller at [email protected].

Donations to support the Institute’sprograms are tax deductable. Just makeout a check to “AME Institute” or “MacMcCulloch Fund” and send them to theAME office in Rolling Meadows, IL. Orfor more sustained contributions, con-tact Director of Development DickBarton at [email protected].

AME Institute Pursues Education,Research Program T H E

I N S T I T U T E

C hampion’s Club is a specialgroup of AME members who areidentified as the strategic lead-

ers with responsibility for leadingprogress in their organizations. Duringthe last year, a small team of long-timeAME Champions has focused on sup-porting the improvement of this group toensure that member companies areaware of this unique opportunity to net-work with fellow leaders of improvement.

Over the year, the team developedthe key principles that drive theChampion’s group, executed a processfor identifying and contacting potentialmembers, and created a new orientation

process with a personal touch, accord-ing to team member Cheryl Jekiel. Theteam also developed an on-boardingprocess that will be used to improve hownew members discover the benefits oftheir membership. The team will docu-ment their efforts to allow future use oftheir work to increase membership andprovide a valuable program as part ofthe AME organization.

For more information on theChampion’s Club or to join, visitwww.ame.org and select Champion’sClub; or contact Director PatrickCarguello at [email protected] or315-387-5611.

Champion’s Club


AME continues to expand network-ing and enterprise excellenceopportunities through partnerships

with other industry organizations. Forexample, a new partnership with theAmerican Society for Quality (ASQ) wasrecently announced. The affiliation “willopen more doors during this challengingeconomic time,” said Phil Roether, AMEpresident. “Our organizations and mem-bers can exchange best practices, freshideas, and new tools and technologiesthat may improve everyone’s bottom lines.”

The new partnership will offeropportunities for the Society ofManufacturing Engineers (SME), TheShingo Prize, ASQ, and AME together tooffer and expand their lean certificationprograms. “Our lean certification pro-gram consists of three levels — bronze,silver, and gold,” said Bill Baker, AME’svice president of affiliations. “It is not

just a certificate; rather, professionalsmust dedicate time and effort intodemonstrating industry-standard leanexpertise.” Additional information onthe lean certification program is fea-tured in the article, “CertificationUpdates, Test Taking Suggestions,” inthis issue.

A memo of understanding for anAME alliance with Productivity Alberta(PA) was also signed by Roether. Henoted that Mike McAloney and BrianBush contributed to the development ofthis agreement, which will offer numer-ous opportunities for AME and PA mem-bers such as enhanced benchmarkingcapabilities, greater access to best-prac-tice research and lessons learned,broadened marketing exposure andrecognition, and expanded memberaccess to networking, knowledge shar-ing, and learning opportunities.

Expanding ProfessionalPartnerships, Alliances

AME is evaluating a possible elec-tronic publication to supplementTarget and address readers’

interest in current news, commen-tary, and additional information-sharing opportunities. The prospectsfor a potential e-publication startupwere discussed by Bill Baker, AME’svice president of affiliations andbenchmarking process specialist ofTeam AvaTar (which was made up ofthe Target editors and several volun-teers who benchmarked e-pub bestpractices with other leading e-pubmagazines and gathered data on

related activities including content,content management, communica-tion, cost, staffing, and frequency) atthe third quarter AME board meetingin Chicago.

Thanks to responses from Targetreaders who participated in an onlineZoomerang survey, Team AvaTarlearned their preferences for e-pub-lishing related to coverage, frequency,and other areas. The team agreed thatreaders’ input is essential to success-ful e-publication and that initiatives toattract reader feedback will continue.Keep those comments coming!

Target Moving Into theDigital World?

F or potential cost savings and moreenvironmentally-friendly practices,organizations are turning to the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s(EPA) SmartWaySM Transport Partner-ship program (www.epa.gov/ smart-way). Launched in 2004, it offers acollaborative effort among govern-ment, business, and consumers toreduce fuel consumption and protectthe environment.

Shippers, carriers, logistics compa-nies, and truck stops can affiliate withthe SmartWay partnership and receiveinformation/tools for cutting fuelusage and saving money. The programalso provides information on compa-nies that lease SmartWay-certifiedvehicles, tractors, and trailers. Non-

profit affiliates include trade and pro-fessional associations, academic insti-tutions, government agencies, andother organizations.

Logistics partners assist shippersand carriers in making better choicesfor their businesses and the environ-ment, for example. According to JaredPalmer, general counsel for Niles, ILlogistics provider AFN® (a SmartWay-certified logistics provider), “Many ofour customers are under pressure tobe more environmentally-friendly. Themyth is that green initiatives will costmoney. We are trying to dispel thosemyths by working with them on strate-gies such as consolidating shipmentswith other companies. By joiningforces with their neighbors, consolidat-

ing shipments, and sending full truck-loads to their customers’ location inthe same geographic area, they arefinding the ‘sweet spot’ for more effi-ciencies.”

Palmer noted that the SmartWayprogram includes a rating system forcarriers, shippers, and logisticsproviders. “For us, they analyze howmany SmartWay-approved truckingcompanies we use,” Palmer said. Thecriteria help shippers make better deci-sions for cost savings and how toreduce the amount of carbon emis-sions associated with shipping.

Lea A.P. Tonkin, Target magazine execu-tive editor, lives in Woodstock, IL

Cost, Environmental Bennefits

Smarter, Greener Freight Transport



Action speaks

louder than

words, but not

as often.— Mark Twain

D uring the recent EnvironmentalBusiness Symposium (EBS) inNorfolk, VA, nearly 150 partici-

pants learned about “green initia-tives” and how these efforts can con-tribute to operational performanceimprovements. “We can supportefforts and successfully raise aware-ness about green workforce trainingand job creation, especially thosemanufacturing energy-efficient prod-ucts,” said Green Jobs Alliance co-founder Randy Gilliland. In the “Leanand Green” session track, he intro-

duced speakers from AME and theVirginia Philpott ManufacturingExtension Partnership (VPMEP).Presenters included Bill Baker, AME’svice president of alliances and amember of the steering team for theAME/APQC Benchmarking Communityof Practice (CoP), and Jeff Kohler,executive director of VPMEP. Bakermade the connection between leanprinciples and the burgeoning greenprinciples, noting that the combina-tion results in extra “lift.”

Bill Haslett, manager of enter-

prise sourcing and logistics forNorthrop Grumman, said the compa-ny is reducing energy demands todecrease the organization’s carbonfootprint by 25 percent. “Everyoneneeds to ‘go green’ — it’s not anoption,” Haslett said. “At some point,we’re going to use up all of ourresources if we don’t start takingresponsibility for our actions towardthe environment.” More informationabout the EBS is available at theInside Business website, www.insidebiz.com/ebs2010.

Symposium: Green Initiatives


A strong community of practition-ers dedicated to enterpriseexcellence is the core of AME.

The organization’s leadership isencouraging members to serve asAME ambassadors, helping to broad-en understanding of improvementconcepts and practices.

A key component of the “Excel withAME” membership campaign launchedthis year is the “Recruit a Member”program. Members are asked to visitwww.ame.org/recruit and refer a busi-ness associate to membership in AME.The web page has related details formembers referring their colleagues for

AME staff follow-up. Based on howmany new members are recruited byan existing member, rewards for the“recruiter” range from a $25 gift cardto membership in the Ambassador’sClub to a fully-paid registration forthe 2011 AME International Confer-ence in Dallas.

Recruit AME Members, Excel with AME



T he AME/APQC BenchmarkingCommunity of Practice (CoP) iscontinuing to grow, with 313 com-

panies and more than 700 membersfrom around the globe. Every month awebinar is presented, dealing initia-tives of interest to CoP membership.

The most recent webinar, on “Re-shoring,” was presented by HarryMoser, leader of the Re-ShoringInitiative for the National Tooling andMachining Association (NTMA) andPrecision Metalforming Association(PMA). Companies are beginning tosee the disadvantages of offshore pro-duction, including shipping costs,supply chain issues, and inferiorquality, according to Moser. He rec-ommended that companies use atotal cost of ownership analysis (pre-view.tinyurl.com/22uhbht) tool toeffectively compare total cost of localand off-shored sources and makeinformed business decisions. Thewebinar link for free replay of the ses-sion is: webmedia.apqc.org/il80web20025/Marketing/Webinars/AME_APQC_Benchmarking_CoP%20_%20June_2010.wmv.

Moser called for on-shoring or re-shoring of production. He said thistrend is gaining broader acceptanceas the weak dollar and surging wagerates in low-labor cost countriesmake it more costly to import prod-ucts from overseas. “We are commit-ted to changing the sourcing para-digm from ‘off-shored is cheaper’ to‘local reduces the total cost of owner-ship,’” said Moser. “NTMA and PMApurchasing fairs (www.purchasingfair.com) help OEMs find competitivesources for outsourced work.” Headded that a shorter supply chainreduces safety stock, inventory, andend-of-life obsolescence, and localindustry is much more sustainabledue to a smaller carbon footprint.AME recommends re-shoring as ameans of breathing new life into therebirth of manufacturing jobs.

For more information on theAME/APQC Benchmarking CoP, go towww.ame.org and click on Bench-marking, then Community of Practice,or go to www.apqc.org and search forAPQC/AME Benchmarking CoP.

Benchmarking Communityof Practice:Re-shoring of Production

Association forManufacturing ExcellenceEnterprise excellence through shared learning

3701 Algonquin Rd., Suite 225, Rolling Meadows, IL 60008

224-232-5980 • Fax: 224-232-5981 • www.ame.org

AME Staff

Sue Bouraoui

Membership Coordinator

[email protected]

Veronica Ceaser

Registration Coordinator

[email protected]

Susan Chandler

Office Manager/Benchmarking

CoP Coordinator

[email protected]

Rachel Miller

Finance Manager

[email protected]

Sara O’Hara

Meeting Planner/Marketing

[email protected]

Scott Schiave

Director of Marketing & Communications

[email protected]

Terry Suttle

Webmaster

[email protected]

Lea A.P. Tonkin

Target Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

JoAnn Weitzenfeld

Target Managing Editor

[email protected]

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as thoughnothing is a miracle. The other

is as if everything is.— Albert Einstein

updates from the enterprise excellence community practical value

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