Discovering an enclave of Lean in JAX (Jacksonville Florida)

March 11th, 2015

  For 3 days in February, 12 curious participants toured through six organizations that exuded a culture and mature adoption of Lean in practice throughout the Jacksonville Florida area.  While it is no longer a surprise (for me at least) that organizations that have adopted and persevered on their Lean journey have achieved amazing results, it does continue to invigorate and motivate me to actually see it in action.

For me, coming from a "service" based industry, the excitement was made all that much more palpable because of the inclusion of 2 very service based implementations in the tour; the Jacksonville Sheriff's office, and Dr Bahri's dental practice.  I am often asked by people within my own organization, as well as many from other companies to help translate the application of Lean from a manufacturing or operations framework into a service context.

Explaining the application of Lean in a service context usually involves describing an analog for some more traditional application of a Lean tool or method in a manufacturing environment.  After seeing how Dr. Bahri has adapted "one piece flow" to his dental office - I now have a very clear way of describing how Lean methods can be adapted in service industries to both eliminate waste AND drive up customer value. 

The companies represented by the Lean Tour participants spanned a number of industries. They included a couple of financial management companies, a logistics organization, a medical supply company, higher education, and a manufacturing trade and industry organization.  While each of these industries has vertically specific products and services, the appreciation for applying Lean methods within each quickly brought the group to a shared understanding and common vision of how Lean can help improve their businesses and provide focus for improving customer value. 

And while we were focused on the structured and planned Lean tour of these six organizations within Jacksonville Florida, it turned out that we didn't need to go too far to see other evidence of Lean at work.  This reminds me to always keep your eyes (and ears) open.  I was standing at the front counter of the hotel where we were all staying, and when I had a casual opportunity to see down the hall behind the front desk where the Hotel office was, I noticed something that looked familiar.  I asked if I could step back there for a moment, and when I did, I saw a visual team huddle board!

Yes - the hotel has a huddle board with visual management of their important KPI's and team goals.  It turns out they also do a full (hotel) team huddle once a week in the Lobby - and guess what - they invite any guests that happen to be there to join them if they want.  And when I asked "what does OPOG stand for" (a heading on their Huddle Board), they proudly announced "Outrageously Pleasing Our Guests".   In fact - that's how they close every weekly huddle.  They close with a "one, two, three,  OPOG!" chant.

There was even an opportunity to catch up with a close friend and fellow Blackbelt cohort member,,,,

But there were lots of other great examples of Lean in action at organizations like Dr. Bahri's Dental Office, Grainger Industrial Supplies, Pilot Pen, Medtronics, Vistakon, and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Outstanding tour, great insights and extremely welcoming hosts.