E096: Interviews from IISE Annual Volunteer Service Project at Southcenter Store near Seattle

In this podcast, I extract the audio from a published video by IISE that recapped our last volunteer service project in Seattle in May 2022. We have been conducting these volunteer events prior to each annual conference since 2012, and this was the first one we’ve had since the pandemic. You can read about prior

E095: Applying Lean Six Sigma to College and K-12 Education with Jenelle Zito

In this podcast, I interviewed Jenelle Zito, who is the Director Of Continuous Improvement at Racine Unified School District (RUSD). Prior to joining RUSD about 5 years ago, she implemented process improvement at Gateway Technical College as a Quality Champion, after earning her Lean Six Sigma Green and Black Belt certification. She shares examples of

E092: Process Improvement in Nonprofit Daycare with Elisabeth Swan

In today’s episode, I interviewed Elisabeth Swan, who has over 30 years of process improvement experience with a great background working for consulting firms like Rath & Strong and Pivotal Resources. She has lots of experience working with nonprofits, government, hospitality, healthcare, entertainment (including work on “Saved by the Bell”), and the for-profit sector. She

E091: Process Improvement in Not-for-Profit Sectors with Tracy O’Rourke

In today’s episode, I interviewed Tracy O’Rourke, who has over 20 years of process improvement experience, working with nonprofits, government, education, military and the for-profit sector. She teaches Lean and Six Sigma at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD), is the co-host of the podcast and video series, Just-in-Time Cafe (with Elisabeth Swan), and is

E090: Guest Interview on Environmentally Conscious Nation Podcast from Aug 2021

In today’s episode, I share the interview I had with D.J. Vagnetti, host of the Environmentally Conscious Nation podcast. I don’t think his podcast is still active, otherwise I would recommend listening directly to the episode. This interview assumes that the audience doesn’t know much about process improvement or Lean or Six Sigma, so if

E086: Helping Nonprofits with Process Improvement through Consulting and Volunteering with Lauren Neder

In this podcast, I talk with Lauren Neder, Industrial Engineer and lean consultant working with nonprofit organizations as a consultant and volunteer. She shares her experience working with a nonprofit in Haiti (in person and virtually), and how she is learning how to approach nonprofit organizations with process improvement. We discuss: how she transitioned from

E085: Applying Lean and Agile for People and the Planet with Brad Jeavons

In this podcast, I talk with Brad Jeavons, lean and Agile consultant with SA Partners. He is the host of the Enterprise Enterprise podcast. An episode we did together for his podcast will be released soon. Brad and I got along great, as we have similar passions around sustainability, the environment and social issues. During

E083: Kata for Good and #RootCauseRacism with Deondra Wardelle

In this podcast, I interview Deondra Wardelle, whom I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know over the past year. She is a strategic thinker and consultant based in Indianapolis (Indiana) who focuses on coaching, empowering and developing individuals towards achieving their personal and professional goals. Her passion and life’s calling is using Continuous Improvement

E078: Importance of Leadership Systems for Improving Nonprofits and Government

In this podcast, I interview Daniel Edds, Lean Leadership consultant and author. We discuss his work with nonprofits, government agencies and manufacturing companies. His recent focus is the importance of creating a strong leadership system to create proper structure and support of your continuous improvement methods. You can watch the full video here… Links Daniel

E075: Saving the Timber – Henry Ford’s Today and Tomorrow

In this episode, I share chapter 11 of the 1926 book, “Today and Tomorrow” by Henry Ford. In this chapter, he discusses how they reduced their use of wood while still increasing production. He also talks about minimizing fuel usage and reducing metal scrap. He applied his improvement methods to all aspects of his business,