Contact:
Adam Stoehr
VP Education and Research
Excellence Canada
416–251-7600 or 800-263-9648 | adam@excellence.ca

Lean Advisors Inc., Intersol Group Ltd. and Excellence Canada develop alliance to help Canadian governments and corporations become world-class leaders.

OTTAWA – March 23, 2015 – Today Lean Advisors, Intersol Group and Excellence Canada announced a joint partnership to support public and private sector organizations to achieve excellence through a sustainable, integrated approach to running their operations.
Canada survived the economic downturn of 2008 and is now poised to compete with the world. But, in order to compete, Canadian industry and government must become ‘world-class’ organizations. And ‘world-class’ is not about being the biggest or having control of the major markets. It’s about being able to meet the ever-increasing demands placed on them by their clients, stakeholders and competitors. The goal is to be able to provide services and products better, faster and at less cost while improving staff engagement and involvement in the required changes. If they are successful they will become ‘world-class’ and will become global leaders and models for the future to the benefit of all.

The road to success will require a multi-faceted strategy. No one tool or area of focus will be enough. They will need three (3) things:

1) a Well-defined Standard which can be conveyed to all staff,
2) a Solid, Proven Process Transformation Methodology and,
3) a Change Management Approach that is effective across all leadership and staff.

To achieve this goal, Excellence Canada, Intersol Group Ltd. and Lean Advisors Inc. have formed an alliance that will be able to support any public or private sector organization in pursuing these key strategic elements. “Our clients now have the ability to tap into expertise for any of their needs as they progress on their journeys to Excellence, said Adam Stoehr, Vice President of Education and Research, Excellence Canada. Canada has been in need of this type of integration of expertise and credibility for a long time. Now it’s here!”

“Now organizations will be able to set a strategic vision and communicate that direction to support all staff and provide the knowledge and tools required to successfully create the change needed to become best-in-class”, said Larry Coté, President & CEO, Intersol Group and
Lean Advisors Inc.

Intersol Group with its 25 years of experience and professional staff assisting groups, large and small, on how to engage staff, align strategy and drive common, supported direction.

Lean Advisors Inc. with over 30 years of experience coaching, teaching and adapting Lean (process transformation) in all sectors.
Excellence Canada (formerly the National Quality Institute) with over 30 years of experience improving performance through coaching, teaching and recognizing Excellence with the prestigious Canada Awards for Excellence.

The future vision is attainable by those exceptional organizations that want to lead. This partnership is now capable of supporting, coaching, training and officially recognizing all phases of success through an entire journey to becoming ‘World-Class’.

About Lean Advisors, Inc.
Lean Advisors, Inc. is one of the most respected Lean consulting groups in North America. Lean Advisors, Inc., founded over 14 years ago and based in North America, has built a team of senior consultants with hands-on experience in a variety of sectors. In addition to their work with industry, the company has led the way to successful Lean practice in fields such as Healthcare, Education, Government and Manufacturing.
Our senior consultants’ mastery of Lean and Kaizen methods, combined with hands-on industry experience, has prepared them for tough ‘real world’ issues such as resistance, outside perceptions, conflicting agendas, and the need for senior management support. They help individuals become Lean leaders within their organizations as they overcome resistance to change and instill a Lean culture of continuous improvement. To learn more, please visitwww.leanadvisors.com

About Intersol Group Ltd.
Intersol Group Ltd. is a bilingual team of experienced consulting, facilitation and learning professionals whose expertise lies in harnessing and building lasting organizational capacity for its clients. Since 1989, the Intersol team has successfully delivered over 6,000 projects to hundreds of public sector, private sector and non-profit organizations across Canada.
Whether the focus is on shaping vision and strategy, on managing change, on stakeholder consultation, or on high performance teamwork, Intersol helps organizations leverage the knowledge, experience and expertise inherent in their own people.
Using processes, methods and tools that engage people to collaborate effectively and efficiently, we work with clients in the areas Stakeholder Engagement and Public Involvement; Direction Setting and Organizational Effectiveness; and Individual Effectiveness and Workplace Learning. To learn more, please visit www.intersol.ca

About Excellence Canada (formerly the National Quality Institute)
Excellence Canada is an independent, not-for-profit organization that is committed to advancing organizational excellence across Canada. Excellence Canada has helped thousands of organizations become cultures of continuous quality improvement and world-class role models, through its four-level Progressive Excellence Program.

As a national authority on Quality and Healthy Workplace®, Excellence Canada provides excellence frameworks, standards, and independent verification and certification to organizations of all sizes and in all sectors. It is also the custodian and adjudicator of the prestigious Canada Awards for Excellence program, of which the Patron is His Excellency, the Right Honourable David Johnston, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D., Governor General of Canada. To learn more, please visit www.excellence.ca

Contacts:
Marc Valois
President and CEO
Intersol Group Ltd.
613-230-6424 ext.  241 | mvalois@intersol.ca

Larry Coté
President and CEO
Lean Advisors, Inc.
1-613-382-1583 | lcote@intersol.ca

Intersol Group Ltd. and Lean Advisors join forces to form a full service, integrated, top-tier management consultancy firm.

OTTAWA – May 20, 2014 – Intersol Group Ltd. and Lean Advisors Inc. today announced a joining of forces to combine Intersol’s strategic and cultural management expertise with Lean Advisors’ process transformation methodology.

With tremendous ongoing pressure in all sectors to do more with the resources they have, while streamlining business process and shaving costs, the focus has to be not only on process transformation, but also on strategic and leadership transformation.  The gap has been in how to integrate these elements with a view to creating ongoing sustainability.

Over the last couple of months serious discussion between these premiere consulting, training and coaching organizations has culminated in the two corporations jointly agreeing to provide a much needed solution.

“What we have just accomplished, by combining Intersol Group’s and Lean Advisors’ knowledge and expertise, gives organizations the complete knowledge, both of vision and action, that they require to effectively change their group or organization to meet the needs of their clients in the future,” said Larry Coté, President and CEO of Lean Advisers, Inc., “Our amalgamation is a union of expert talent that will give clients the complete solution to overcome and conquer the challenges facing them today and for decades to come.”

“We are delighted to welcome Lean Advisors into the Intersol Group of Companies,” said Marc Valois, CEO of Intersol Group Ltd. “Their Lean process expertise and methodologies, combined with Intersol Group’s expertise in Change Management, Employee Engagement, Leadership and cultural transformation provides a compelling way for organizations of all types and sizes to adapt to continual change while creating more value for the clients, members and stakeholders they serve.  The sustainability of the solutions we create with our clients will be a key differentiator for their organizations of the future.”

About Lean Advisors, Inc.
Lean Advisors is one of the most respected Lean consulting groups in North America.  Founded over 14 years ago and based in North America, it has built a team of senior consultants with hands-on experience in a variety of sectors.  In addition to their work with industry, the company has led the way to successful Lean practice in fields such as Healthcare, Education, Government and Manufacturing.

Their senior consultants are passionate about Lean transformation.  Their mastery of Lean and Kaizen methods combined with hands-on industry experience has prepared them for tough ‘real world’ issues such as resistance, outside perceptions, conflicting agendas, and the need for senior management support.  They help individuals become Lean leaders within their organizations as they overcome resistance to change and instill a Lean culture of continuous improvement. To learn more, please visit www.leanadvisors.com

About Intersol Group Ltd.
Intersol Group Ltd. is a bilingual team of experienced consulting, facilitation and learning professionals whose expertise lies in harnessing and building lasting organizational capacity for its clients.  Since 1989, the Intersol team has successfully delivered over 6,000 projects to hundreds of public sector, private sector and non-profit organizations across Canada.

Whether the focus is on shaping vision and strategy, on managing change, on stakeholder consultation, or on high performance teamwork, Intersol helps organizations leverage the knowledge, experience and expertise inherent in their own people.

Using processes, methods and tools that engage people to collaborate effectively and efficiently, we work with clients in the areas Stakeholder Engagement and Public Involvement; Direction Setting and Organizational Effectiveness; and Individual Effectiveness and Workplace Learning.  To learn more, please visit www.intersol.ca

By Larry Cote, President Lean Advisors Inc

In the past few years there have been rumblings from the North American manufacturing community about the desire to return some of their manufacturing to North America.

There have been many changes in the economics and the markets since the early 90s both here and in Asia (China specifically).  Some of those changes are that China’s economic environment has evolved and grown.  As it happens in every economy, growth and competition puts pressures on the cost of doing business, the infrastructure of transportation/logistics of shipping higher volumes and more products becomes stressed.

In the meantime while this evolution has been happening in China, North American productivity has improved, especially in the US through technology and advancements in process thinking.  All these factors (and many more) have caused CEOs of manufacturing companies to reassess the decisions that they made a decade or two ago to move production overseas.  They are realizing that it may be more profitable now to do some of their manufacturing here on this continent.

This opportunity should not be missed by Canada or the US.

Management teams must first recognize that they can be competitive in quality, cost and speed of supply.  Once this realization is made then they quickly must re-examine the importance of dramatically and quickly transforming their current methods and thinking – both culturally (value thinking) and processing.  We must not kid ourselves, this opportunity to take advantage of ‘repatriation’ or ‘re-shoring’ will not last long.   CEOs are constantly searching for the next place to invest, where they can drive profits and a better ROI.

The one solution that is being touted for attracting manufacturing back to North American soil is to adopt the latest technology as well as investing in innovation.  This is a simple solution that on the surface is an obvious statement to make.  The reality though, is that over the past decade, our margins have been squeezed so tight that survival has been the primary focus.  In this scenario, very little money can be freed up to buy new technology let alone spend time on research and innovation.  So, what do we do??

Our belief is that expensive technology should not be the first step in becoming attractive to foreign business.  Technology should be the second step in turning around your company.  “Leaning out” your existing processes is the first step and will give you the knowledge and understanding of what technology you really require and should invest in.

Initially, North American organizations should be focused on ensuring their current processes are ‘waste’ free.  Without this customer focus of ‘value’ as the major driver of the corporate strategy, we will miss the opportunity to attract the manufacturing industry we lost to foreign countries over the past few decades.  This “leaning out” will also give organizations the profits they need to move to the next phase, which is purchasing new technology.

I know this sounds like the same old preaching Lean has been teaching since the mid 90s, but ‘off-shoring’ of manufacturing began well before Lean could have an impact.  Now we’ve had the past 15 years to become experts – let’s call the last 15 years ‘practice time’ – and we are ready to actually demonstrate to the world that North America is the place to invest if you want the best quality, service and cost.

Manufacturing is the backbone of our economy.  Let’s not miss this small window of opportunity to bring back some of the manufacturing we lost and even to develop new opportunities for growth.  We have been given a second chance, let’s not miss out!!

Lean is a journey of continuous improvement and throughout their journey, Lean Advisors has introduced Lean thinking and applications at the day to day operational level through Enterprise Value Stream Mapping as well as at the strategic, business planning level through Hoshin Planning. That enterprise level of commitment is delivering results in terms of improved efficiency, productivity, staff engagement and most importantly with increased client satisfaction.

Here is their story:

In 2008, The Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) adopted the Lean business process improvement strategy.  SAMA is responsible for the governance of the overall assessment system in Saskatchewan, and the provision of assessment services to our 756 client municipalities.  The Agency provides a financial foundation for municipalities and the education sector that they can use to establish and sustain local programs and services.

Lean is aimed at engaging the talents of the Agency’s people to eliminate waste, and create value for our customers.  With an ever-increasing workload and limited resources, Lean helps to ensure that SAMA’s clients’ and stakeholders’ needs are successfully met.

Thanks to the commitment of staff and Senior Management, SAMA is involving people throughout the Agency to tackle some of the challenges affecting the property assessment system in Saskatchewan.

“One of Lean’s strengths is its focus: the people most familiar with the actual work determine the necessary process improvements and plan the necessary changes,” said SAMA CEO Irwin Blank.  “The Agency has achieved significant progress to date, and Lean process improvement initiatives will continue to be a focus for SAMA in 2013 and beyond.”

Because the Agency looks for input from staff and management in all eight of our regional offices across the province, as well as our central office in Regina, the Agency has opted to train all staff and managers in Lean processes.  Staff all receive Introduction to Lean training, and many staff have received further training in Lean processes and change management.  The Agency currently has 14 certified Green Belts, and 5 certified Black Belts.  There are an additional four certified Green Belts who are currently Black Belt candidates, as well as another 14 Green Belt candidates.  Six of SAMA’s Executives have also completed Green Belt training.

To help guide and steer the Agency’s Lean journey, SAMA uses value stream mapping to improve the Lean process.  One of these improvements was to develop a Lean Manual.  The manual outlines details on creating and managing value streams, organizing and executing Rapid Improvement Events and the roles and responsibilities of staff, value stream leaders, facilitators and others.  All staff can access the manual on SAMA’s intranet system.

SAMA currently has several value stream maps in progress representing the different areas of focus within the Agency. For the operations area (Assessment Services) SAMA has value streams for Data Verification, Revaluation, Support of Value and Industrial Assessments.  For the Agency’s support divisions SAMA has value streams for Revaluation Governance, Finance, Quality Assurance, Human Resources and Agency Planning.

SAMA’s original Lean goals were:

• A 25% increase in efficiency and productivity between 2009 and 2013;

• Highly engaged staff, that take ownership of the business processes; and

• An Agency in a much better position to meet the increasing demands from clients.

Under the Lean initiative the Agency has:

• Advanced the Agency’s annual property maintenance program by 3-4 months and in 2012 completed the work for 62% of our client municipalities by December 31^st.  In comparison, only 14% of client municipalities received their annual property maintenance by December 31^st in 2009.  Property maintenance occurs when municipalities request SAMA to do on-site inspections of specific individual properties, usually where significant developments or changes have been made that have altered the physical data on  a property.

• Increased property reinspection productivity 57% over four years from 761 properties per appraiser Full Time Equivalent (FTE) in 2008 to 1,198 properties per appraiser FTE in 2012.  Periodically, municipalities must have all their properties reinspected on-site to verify that physical data and valuations are accurate.

• Made changes to sales verification, market analysis and support of value processes and reduced total appraiser time to complete the 2009-2012 revaluation cycle by 28.1 FTEs or 22% – an average of 7.0 FTEs for each year of the program.  Sales verification and market analysis are two key components of the Agency’s revaluation work that happens on a four year cycle. SAMA is also required to participate in property appeals and provide full disclosure of how property values are determined. This responsibility for openness and full disclosure is part of what SAMA calls “support of value.”

SAMA’s 2014 to 2017 Lean goals are:

• Increase the number of properties that an appraiser can review by 80% from 1,029 to 1,850 properties annually using Lean business process and technology improvements.
• Double the number of properties that an appraiser can reinspect from 1,050 to 2,100 properties annually using Lean business process and technology improvements.
• Utilize Lean value-stream mapping events and other tools to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of work processes.
• Improve the efficiency and productivity of annual maintenance processes resulting in the reallocation of 14 FTEs to the property reinspection program by 2018.
• Based on continued significant growth expected in Saskatchewan’s energy and minerals sectors, the agency will progressively double the capacity of our industrial program by 2017.  Lean process improvements, software upgrades, cost model simplification and remote data collection tablets will improve the efficiency of the industrial property assessment program by 25%.

• Efficiencies will be attained in delivery of the revaluation and annual maintenance programs that will allow the reassignment of critical appraiser resources to the reinspection program – increasing the agency’s average capacity for reinspections from 8 FTEs in 2013 to 27 FTEs annually by 2018.

The agency will continue to build on the Lean improvements attained over the past five years. The plan takes a long term and careful approach to innovative new business processes, and it invests in technology to ensure the sustainability of the property assessment base and municipal and education property tax revenues.

The focus for 2014-17 will be on sustaining current levels of service for our governance responsibilities, continuing to improve the delivery of assessment valuation services to our clients, and building the capacity to enable the Agency to reinspect all properties at least once every 12 years.

SAMA’s Lean journey has been one of trial and error and learning from our missteps.  The Agency’s Lean transformation has required this learning process, which will ultimately help us move towards becoming a truly Lean organization. With a strong commitment and growing knowledge of Lean, SAMA is constantly looking for ways that Lean can influence and improve our everyday business, and in turn, help us provide our customers with the best service possible.

Watch Webinar Recording

Mobilizing Our Ingenuity Through Good Management.

In this video, Mike Rother shares valuable insights into the importance of ‘structured’ change methodology, called Kata.

At Lean Advisors, we believe Kata is the next major critical concept organizations need to grasp in order to create a sustainable transformation. Mike has uncovered, through his research with U of Michigan another important piece of the puzzle necessary for success and taking your team to the next level of competitiveness

Message from Larry Cote, President, Lean Advisors Inc.

I recently came across this video of Mike Rother who spoke at the Lean Summit in 2012. I had the privilege to work with Mike back when Lean was just gaining interest in the mid 90s.

At that time, much of Mike’s research and efforts were focused on Toyota and the primary transformational tool known as Value Stream Mapping (VSM).

We wanted to share this with our online community.

Lean Summit 2012 – Mike Rother – Toyota Kata

In this webinar, Larry Cote, President, Lean Advisors Inc. shares an objective assessment of Lean 15 years after the concept was coined ‘Lean”.  He highlights his own experiences as well as examines and identifies how different organizations from all industries have succeeded with Lean implementations.

Watch Webinar

First, let’s alleviate the misconception, apprehension or anxiety that Lean doesn’t work.  It does work!

The caveat is that you must discover the ‘right’ or proper adaptation of the thinking and concept to  your unique situation!

Once you have acknowledged the above, you can then begin to search for the proper solution and resources to lead your Lean Transformation.

Chances are you will try to find the expert internally first and then if you feel you don’t have the internal expert, or need additional resources or guidance, you will go outside your organization to either hire someone or find a credible consultant.

The problem with trying to select the expert talent is that you may feel a little hesitant as you may not know what to look for (or not look for) in an individual in order to make this important decision.

This decision becomes even more stressful because you know that you get one chance to make the right decision and that if you select the wrong person(s), you alone are responsible for taking your organization down the wrong path and it is extremely difficult to start again.  We acknowledge that much of this confusion has been caused by consultants and trainers that have misguided their clients and/or students and given them the incorrect or incomplete knowledge which in turn the leadership unknowingly uses to select what and who they need to guide them.

So we thought it might be helpful in this post to at least highlight some of the red flags to be aware of when hiring a person(s) to lead the change in your organization and that you are willing to put your reputation on the line for.

Here is a list of some of those Red Flags to keep in mind when deciding on the expertise you are looking to engage:

1)      The transformation costs tons of dollars.

2)      The person doesn’t know the difference between Process and Value Stream Mapping and where both are critical.

3)      They speak about tools instead of cultural change.

4)      They have a solution prior to properly assessing the situation.

5)      They will do it for you – your staff won’t be that involved, the staff only have to utilize the changes once the consultant is done.

6)      They use the word ‘bottleneck’ or project to focus on one area.

7)      They call it Lean Sigma and it is really mostly Six Sigma (a tool).

8)      They use a matrix type chart to determine the priority of projects i.e. the one axis is normally large and little impact and then the other axis is little or most effort.

9)      They give you a long list of projects to assign to staff or themselves with no sequencing analysis.

10)   Their plan requires them to be on-site for, what seems like, an unreasonable length of time.

These are only some of the Red Flags you should keep in mind.  If you ‘see’ any of these types of ‘flags’, take notice and do some additional analysis and research into the credentials and approach.  Doing this analysis properly could save you years of regret, not to mention thousands of dollars, and in the end- frustration and disappointment not just for you but for your entire staff.

Lean does work when implemented properly!  The challenge for you is to choose the distinctive and effective adaptation of the theory that is right for your environment/situation that will not only transform your processes but also transform your culture into a sustainable continuous improvement organization.

For more information, contact us at corp@leanadvisors.com.

Universities and Colleges represent an immense opportunity for the application of Lean Concepts. Lean Advisors Inc, Senior Advisor Sav Pota P.Eng, will share his insights on how Lean principles and practices apply to educational processes.  He will also provide highlights from his own experiences in higher education, including success examples, lessons learned, and advice on how to best engage university/college staff in order to create a culture of continuous process improvement to achieve the most effective and efficient results.

Date: February 28,2013

Time: 1300 – 1345 EST

Space is limited. REGISTER TODAY

About the Presenter:

Saverio (Sav) Pota P.Eng

With over 25 years of practical experience in various industries, both manufacturing and non-manufacturing, (healthcare, government, justice, logistics/distribution) Saverio (Sav) Pota has a unique ability to “make complicated systems simple” using Lean. His passion has always been to pass on this ability to adapt and apply Lean to challenging situations and to others.

Sav’s Lean experience includes many sectors – manufacturing, healthcare, college/educational institutes, government, design/architecture and service. From his early days in the electrical industry where traditional production management (e.g. EOQ and the big batch) was prevalent, he saw firsthand how North American companies latched onto individual concepts, such as Just In Time (JIT), which led to disappointment because benefits could not be sustained. Sav then worked in the Auto Industry where he was first indoctrinated in the Deming management philosophy. This led to an understanding on how company culture is a fundamental requirement for sustaining continuous improvement.

Subsequently, Sav worked for a major Crown Service Corporation where Lean was introduced as a new direction (a direction that lives on 15 years later).The basic principles of Lean, (Define Value, Map the Value Stream, Make in Flow, Pull and Perfection) became the driving force for both cost and service improvements. Mapping the Value Stream clearly identifies the end-to-end flows of a product or service and is paramount for any sustainable improvements. Sav also led a major initiative (Kaikaku) in a product processing overhaul, but more importantly he led a team of his peers in the development of a Value Stream Management organization. Sav believes that it is imperative to have internal value stream owners to ensure that Lean becomes imbedded into the culture of any organization.

Sav’s work continued into the private courier industry, where he planned and managed the start up of new facilities based on Lean principles. As a director at a major North American transportation company, he applied the concepts of Lean in the creation of their long-term vision. This vision was the guiding principle of their business transformation initiative.

Recently, he was part of the design team for the new Children’s Hospital in Saskatchewan. He led teams comprising of Ministry reps, Hospital leaders /staff and designers to analyze existing processes and establish new, more efficient , flexible flows throughout the facility that would be incorporated into the design of the future hospital.

Presently, he is working with several Health Regions in Ontario, College Administrations and Municipality Administrations to transform them using Lean.

As an owner/partner in a manufacturing company, Ontario, he has also managed to benefit from Lean principles. Significantly growing his own company over the years. This company has survived and thrived even throughout the latest recession.

A graduate of Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto, Sav has furthered his professional development by keeping abreast of manufacturing management techniques by attending seminars and conferences. Sav even had the opportunity to attend a Deming seminar lectured by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. He led a presentation at the “Lean Summit” in Atlanta, Georgia, plus was asked to present at two other Lean Manufacturing Conferences hosted by the Institute for International Research. He was also a co-presenter, with his Lean Advisors colleague Mike Boucher, at the ASQ conference .