12 Chicago Workshops Help Companies Compete Using Lean Management.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) will bring 12 workshops on lean production and lean management to the Chicago area June 10-12, 2008, including a special session on how to apply lean principals to management accounting.

The workshops will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lincolnshire Marriott, Lincolnshire, IL. Registration information, workshop details, and faculty descriptions are at the Education page of the LEI web site at http://www.lean.org/Workshops/ by calling [phone], or by emailing [e-mail].

Orry Fiume will teach a special session June 12 on Lean Accounting: the Switch from Batch to Flow. Fiume, former vice president of finance and administration of The Wiremold Company, led the company's conversion to lean accounting, which was an important part of the company's overall lean conversion as described in Lean Thinking by James Womack and Daniel Jones. Fiume is the co-author of Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization, which won a 2004 Shingo Research Prize.

Here is a summary of the workshop schedule:

Tues., June 10

* Building the Lean Supply Stream

* Developing People and Capability for Lean

* Key Concepts of Lean: An Introduction to the Toyota Production System 

* Lean Problem Solving 

Wed., June 11

* Coaching Skills for Lean Implementation Leaders

* Value-Stream Mapping for Manufacturing

* Creating Continuous Flow

Thurs., June 12

* An Introduction to Using the A3 Management Method

* Lean Accounting: The Switch from Batch to Flow

* Making Materials Flow

* Standardized Work, the Foundation for Kaizen 

* Value-Stream Mapping for Offices and Services

The workshop price of $800 per day includes all materials, breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Discounts apply to individuals taking multiple workshops or multiple attendees from the same company. For details, see http://www.lean.org/Events/RegistrationInformation.cfm

LEI runs basic and more advanced workshops and management seminars in a different region of North America every month on how to implement lean principles in manufacturing and non-manufacturing processes. Registration is open now for training in:

* Lincolnshire (outside Chicago), IL, June 10-12

* Montreal (Canada), July 29 - 31

* Durham, NC, Aug. 12-14

What is Lean? http://www.lean.org/WhatsLean/

The term "lean production" or more correctly "lean management" refers to a complete business system for organizing and managing product development, operations, suppliers, customer relations, and the overall enterprise that requires less human effort, less space, less capital, less material, and less time to produce products and services with fewer defects to precise customer desires, compared with traditional management.

Toyota pioneered lean management as a complete business system after World War II. During the late 1980s, a research team headed by LEI Founder James Womack, Ph.D., at MIT's International Motor Vehicle Program coined the term "lean" to describe Toyota's system.

Lean management principles cuts costs and inventories rapidly to free cash and resources, which is critical in a competitive world economy. More importantly, lean management supports profitable growth by improving productivity and quality, reducing lead times, and freeing resources. For example, it frees office and plant space and increases capacity so companies can add product lines, in-source component production, and increase output of existing products. Companies implementing lean can take advantage of economic growth by increasing sales while controlling costs.

About the Lean Enterprise Institute http://www.lean.org/

Based in Cambridge, MA, the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education, publishing, conferencing, and management research center founded in September 1997 by management expert James P. Womack, PhD. LEI helps organizations transform themselves into lean enterprises. Its workshops and workbooks teach lean techniques like value-stream mapping, lean manufacturing, supply chain and logistics management, A3management, and strategy deployment. Its management seminars and books help managers and executives develop the leadership behaviors that sustain lean enterprises. Its conferences showcase firms making lean breakthroughs. The Lean Global Network, organized by LEI, has 14 nonprofit global affiliates in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. For more information visit LEI at http://www.lean.org.