Podcast – Lean Six Sigma and the Environment

E116: Using Energy Treasure Hunts and Energy SWAPs to Engage Employees and Reduce Costs

By -admin
Posted on September 9, 2024September 8, 2024
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Employee Engagement, Energy, Government, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Podcast

In March of 2024, the Iowa Sustainable Business Forum (ISBF) and Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS) were still separate organizations, and they agreed to host a joint webinar to promote Energy Efficiency and Lean. I was fortunate to connect up with Paul Lemar, Jr. from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), who has

E115: Using Lean to Minimize Waste Within ESG Initiatives

By -admin
Posted on July 16, 2024July 15, 2024
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Energy, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Nonprofit, Podcast, Solid Waste

Continuing our discussion on Lean Six Sigma and ESG, I brought back last episode’s guest, Erin Bauer (Product Development Manager at ASQE) and added a new guest, Beth Cudney. She is a Professor of Data Analytics and the Program Coordinator for Data Analytics at Maryville University. She received her B.S. in Industrial Engineering from North

E114: Sustainability Benchmarking Studies with Erin Bauer

By -admin
Posted on July 2, 2024July 1, 2024
Posted in Employee Engagement, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Nonprofit, Podcast

I had a great interview with Erin Bauer, who is the Product Development Manager at ASQE, which is a trade association created by ASQ to provide benchmarking assistance to corporations within ASQ. One of their key products is the Insights on Excellence® (IoE) Benchmarking Tool. The benchmarking survey results are available to members and nonmembers

E113: Applying Lean Six Sigma within Nonprofits and Life Coaching with Aleshia Jordan

By -admin
Posted on May 16, 2024May 16, 2024
Posted in Employee Engagement, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Nonprofit, Podcast

I had a great interview with Aleshia Jordan a few weeks ago, to discuss how she transitioned from finance to Lean and Six Sigma consulting, and how she is now taking her Master Black Belt skills and over 20 years of experience into her firm Virtualocity, LLC to help organizations, nonprofits and individuals in their

E112: Applying Lean Six Sigma to Healthcare and Career Development with Sarah Tilkens

By -admin
Posted on May 6, 2024May 6, 2024
Posted in Employee Engagement, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Nonprofit, Podcast

Making a real difference in your organization can be a struggle, but there is a way to leverage powerful tools and strategies to drive positive change, while also boosting your own career development. In this episode, I introduce you to Sarah Tilkens, a former biologist turned operational excellence leader, who cracked the code on impactful

E111: Apply Lean to Nonprofit Boards with Sally Toister

By -admin
Posted on April 8, 2024April 23, 2024
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Employee Engagement, Energy, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Nonprofit, Podcast, Volunteering, Water

Sally worked many years in the hospitality industry applying Lean Six Sigma, and she shares her experiences to improve the guest experience. She also shares an example of a project that determined the optimal reward points to get customers to agree to reduced or no housekeeping, which was good for the environment, resulting in less

E110: Lean for Community Projects with Lean Portland – Lean Global Connection 2023

By -admin
Posted on February 20, 2024February 18, 2024
Posted in Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Nonprofit, Podcast, Pollutants, Solid Waste, Volunteering

In this podcast, I share the presentation given by my peers who helped us create the Lean Portland group back in 2015. They gave this presentation at the Lean Global Connection on November 30, 2023. It is a free annual online event put on by the Lean Global Network (LGN). The event took place over

E109: Applying Lean Tools to Environmental and Social Challenges – Lean Global Connection 2023

By -admin
Posted on February 14, 2024February 16, 2024
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Energy, Government, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Nonprofit, Podcast, Solid Waste, Volunteering, Water

In this podcast, I share the presentation I gave virtually at the Lean Global Connection on December 1, 2023. It is a free annual online event put on by the Lean Global Network (LGN). The event took place over a 24-hour period. All the presentations were recorded, and I encourage you to check out all

E108: Interview with Maria Grzanka and Reed Harrison

By -admin
Posted on December 21, 2023February 13, 2024
Posted in Employee Engagement, Government, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Nonprofit, Podcast, Volunteering

In this podcast, I share an interview I had with Reed Harrison, Executive Director of Mind Matters Portland, and Maria Grzanka, a process improvement expert and prolific volunteer in Portland, Oregon. Reed worked in Supply Chain management and Operations with major companies like Adidas and Columbia Sportswear, but ended up as Executive Director at Mind

E107: Lean Methods for Sustainable Businesses – ISBF Webinar Series

By -admin
Posted on December 12, 2023December 25, 2023
Posted in Book Review, Employee Engagement, Energy, Government, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Nonprofit, Podcast, Pollutants, Solid Waste, Volunteering

In this podcast, I share a presentation that was Part 1 of a 2-part sustainability webinar series sponsored by Iowa Sustainable Business Forum and Iowa Lean Consortium (part of CIRAS). It was geared towards introducing those in sustainability roles to Lean methods, which have become some of the most popular improvement methods used in high-performing