Land and Building Use – Lean Six Sigma and the Environment

E106: Lean and Green Case Study – Prefab Home Manufacturer Saves $300K

By -admin
Posted on November 27, 2023December 12, 2023
Posted in Employee Engagement, Land and Building Use, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Podcast, Solid Waste

In this podcast, I share a “Lean and Green” case study I supported for a prefab home manufacturer in California in 2020-2021. I was asked to speak to the Industrial and Systems Engineers class by Professor Corey Kiassat at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. He contacted me after my presentation at the Lean Global Connection

E102: How Massport uses Lean to Achieve Sustainable Airport Operations

By -admin
Posted on April 20, 2023May 2, 2023
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Employee Engagement, Energy, Government, Land and Building Use, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Management, Podcast, Pollutants, Solid Waste, Water

In this podcast, I share a webinar held with Dr. Luciana Bardi and Darcy DeGeorge from the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport). MassPort is a state authority responsible for three airports including Logan International Airport, four maritime facilities as well as real estate in Boston. They give an overview of Massport along with the lean engineering

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

By -admin
Posted on September 17, 2020October 5, 2020
Posted in Land and Building Use, Podcast, Raw Materials, Solid Waste

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,

E062: Warehouse Optimization to Feed the Hungry with Rise Against Hunger

By -admin
Posted on March 27, 2020March 30, 2020
Posted in Employee Engagement, Land and Building Use, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Podcast, Transportation, Volunteering

In this podcast, I interviewed Courtney Hudson, Distribution Warehouse manager with Rise Against Hunger. They were awarded the inaugural “Excellence in Sustainable Development” Award in 2019. She shares the improvements they made to their warehouse operations to increase the number of packaged meals they send to countries in need. They are working to achieve SDG

E061: Lean Journey of Employee Gardens for Nonprofits

By -admin
Posted on March 23, 2020August 31, 2022
Posted in Employee Engagement, Land and Building Use, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Podcast, Solid Waste, Volunteering, Water

In this podcast, I share a presentation given by Joe Hnat from Collins Aerospace (formerly Rockwell Collins) at last year’s IISE Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida on May 19, 2019. He worked with his facility using lean principles and methods to find space for an employee garden on campus and make it successful. The fruits

EC 042: Process Improvement in the Building Reuse Industry

By -admin
Posted on February 12, 2019February 12, 2019
Posted in Land and Building Use, Podcast, Solid Waste

In this podcast, I read an article I wrote for the Building Materials Reuse Association (BMRA), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the recovery, reuse and recycling of building materials. I share my thoughts on how I hope the reuse industry can follow the path of other industries to embrace the concepts of

Will process improvement methods from manufacturing work with reuse?

By -admin
Posted on February 10, 2019December 6, 2020
Posted in Land and Building Use, Solid Waste

Most major corporations, especially those in manufacturing, have some type of improvement program they follow to save money, reduce inventory and increase customer satisfaction. These programs fall under the popular terms such as Lean, Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement, or Operational Excellence. These approaches have been around for decades with a strong track record of success. When these

EC 007: Greening Your Lean Events

By -admin
Posted on May 20, 2016April 18, 2020
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Energy, Land and Building Use, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Podcast, Raw Materials, Solid Waste, Transportation, Water

Summary For the 7th episode, I am posting an older (but popular) article on how to green your lean event. This episode gives tips and tricks to making your lean six sigma events and meetings more eco-friendly. We also include a link in the notes to download a free checklist of these suggestions. There is also a link

Use Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEP) to drive sustainability

By -admin
Posted on May 16, 2014January 1, 2023
Posted in Carbon Footprint, Energy, Land and Building Use, Lean Six Sigma Tools, Pollutants, Raw Materials, Solid Waste, Transportation, Water

If you have a small or mid-sized company in the United States (or Puerto Rico), and are in the manufacturing industry, there is a Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) available to help you. MEP Centers are a diverse network of state, university-based, and non-profit organizations, offering products and services that help manufacturers increase profits, create jobs

Hold a lean kaizen event without wasting paper!

By -admin
Posted on October 31, 2013September 3, 2016
Posted in Land and Building Use, Pollutants, Raw Materials

As someone who is conscientious of wasting paper, I struggle with conducting lean events with the vast amounts of “butcher” paper and easel pads that are used during the event. I try to utilize white boards as much as possible, especially for mapping and documenting actions items. I’ll also encourage computer use, to capture information