Interview with Karen Kiel Rosser
(MGMC VP)
In this video, Karen says...
How did KaiNexus help your Lean efforts?
KaiNexus gave us the framework to quantify our projects. We've been doing projects for the last three years - Rapid Improvement Events, Value Stream Mapping events - a number of quality improvement activities have been going on, but we haven't really quantified all our projects the way we knew we should. We were looking for a system, and KaiNexus was a great system to work with. KaiNexus helped us quantify those results and projects a little more easily.
What was the goal of the KaiNexus 100 Day WorkOut?
We did the 100 Day WorkOut and introduced KaiNexus to our leaders. Really the intent behind that was to build the spread and engage our leaders. They've been engaged all along in our improvement journey and our Lean journey, but we really wanted to engage more leaders and front line people, and bring their staff along to help everyone understand how simple it can be to really make improvements happen and see the quantified results of their improvement. We wanted to build some excitement, build that engagement, and I think we did a great job with that today.
Were your expectations met?
Our expectations were beyond met; I think we exceeded our expectations. Our results and our savings definitely exceeded my expectations. The engagement we built, the excitement and enthusiasm, the leaders' ability to get into the system and really use it, and then start working with it and see their projects built... it was exciting. Yes, our expectations were met.
What was your favorite opportunity for improvement?
I don't have a favorite opportunity for improvement, I enjoyed working with every one of them. We looked at all of them. Ron and I worked a number of opportunities together, resolving them. I just enjoyed working with the leaders and seeing the projects that came through. There were comments like, "I was meaning to do this, and the system just helped me bring my project along," or "The 100 Day WorkOut concept really encouraged me to do this and to see the results in 100 days," so that was exciting.
What was your reaction when you saw the final savings number?
My reaction was "Wow." If we can do that in 100 days, imagine what we could do every day, continuing this mindset. It's not just a 100 Day WorkOut, it's every day, 365 days, engaging every single person at the front line. Really managing for daily improvement is what it's all about.
Final thoughts?
This helped our organization on our innovation journey as well. I really think the software has been innovative, and the support we received from KaiNexus in taking our feedback and our suggestions has been great. You really do work with your customers and listen to the customers' voices, so thank you.
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