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Harold P
I would like to get feedback from other users regarding what qualifies as “lean experience” in today’s job market. I admit this is in part for selfish reasons but hopefully we can have a good discussion around this topic because I would assume (and yes I know what assuming can do) if I have the question others must as well.
A little bit about my background. I worked as a consultant for about four years. During this time I was new to the process improvement industry and I had heard of lean, but did not know much about it. As a consultant I introduced clients to and trained them on concepts such as changeover reduction, problem solving, waste reduction and standardizing work processes. We also would use process mapping (which after learning more about lean was actually more like value stream mapping) in order to layout the whole process and identify poor flow and identify unnecessary processes. I will say as an “evil” consultant we gave no regard to the respect for people piece of lean. In fact one of the things we almost always did was to recommend letting people go. It wasn’t until about two years ago that I was introduced to lean officially. Until that time when I thought of lean all I thought of was cleaning, trhowing things away and lines on the floor. Once I went through some basic lean training I was surprised to see how much of the concepts I had been using. It took me about a year to go through my training class and since I started my introduction I have been practicing the various elements. I have led Kaizen events on 5S (now that I know it’s about more than cleaning and lines), quick changeover and waste reduction. My team and I have worked to create a Hoshin Plan and we have completed both a current and future state VSM.
Based on this information would you say that I have six years of lean experience or less than two? The last thing I would want to do when looking at another opportunity is misrepresent myself or to waste time looking at positions I may not be considered qualified for.
Harold
A little bit about my background. I worked as a consultant for about four years. During this time I was new to the process improvement industry and I had heard of lean, but did not know much about it. As a consultant I introduced clients to and trained them on concepts such as changeover reduction, problem solving, waste reduction and standardizing work processes. We also would use process mapping (which after learning more about lean was actually more like value stream mapping) in order to layout the whole process and identify poor flow and identify unnecessary processes. I will say as an “evil” consultant we gave no regard to the respect for people piece of lean. In fact one of the things we almost always did was to recommend letting people go. It wasn’t until about two years ago that I was introduced to lean officially. Until that time when I thought of lean all I thought of was cleaning, trhowing things away and lines on the floor. Once I went through some basic lean training I was surprised to see how much of the concepts I had been using. It took me about a year to go through my training class and since I started my introduction I have been practicing the various elements. I have led Kaizen events on 5S (now that I know it’s about more than cleaning and lines), quick changeover and waste reduction. My team and I have worked to create a Hoshin Plan and we have completed both a current and future state VSM.
Based on this information would you say that I have six years of lean experience or less than two? The last thing I would want to do when looking at another opportunity is misrepresent myself or to waste time looking at positions I may not be considered qualified for.
Harold