Paul Akers has built FastCap into an industry leader and one of the most exciting manufacturing companies in America. His innovative, thoroughly American use of lean manufacturing principles and techniques has made him a top expert who is in high demand to speak to and teach his secrets to all kinds of organizations, from factories to hospitals to office environments. On my visit to FastCap, Paul’s employees showed me several examples of how they have employed the 2 Second Lean principle to save time and money – usually saving a lot more than just two seconds! I’m a believer, and have incorporated many of Paul’s strategies and principles into my own office’s CQI process, helping me empower and motivate more than one thousand legal professionals and support staff to save our clients and taxpayers millions of dollars.”

When Cambridge Engineering started their daily meeting they did it for about three months before doing anything else. They did not have their people do 3S and daily improvement until after they established an effective and engaging daily meeting. Keep it Simple and Short! This is the spirit of a Lean culture. When the leader is willing to be corrected and has no ego issues with sharing credit, that same generous and supportive spirit flows between everybody." Ten years ago I began my Lean journey. I had never even heard the word before, but what happened was nothing short of astounding. My wife and I started our company, FastCap, in our garage in 1997. FastCap is a product development company that specializes in producing innovative tools and hardware for cabinetmakers and builders. Why woodworking products? Because I’m a passionate craftsman who lives and breathes for the opportunity to massage a piece of Honduras Mahogany.

When humility becomes a central attribute of the Lean leadership, a vortex of creativity and buy-in will follow. When there is a culture where people know there is not an egomaniac in charge, they begin to grow and thrive." My mistake had to do with my incorrect focus on processes. I needed to focus on building a culture of people who understand and embrace continuous improvement."

This is awesome. Love all the photos. Love the home applications. If all Lean ‘gurus’ practiced what they preached… hmmmm… A week earlier the bank president told me it was the best company he had ever seen and now this guy was telling me I didn’t know what I was doing and that I was essentially in a free fall. Your thoughts and take-away from this chapter: Lean videos: Chapter Two You Mean I’m Really That Bad?We were having inventory problems, specifically with managing our incoming raw materials. I hired a manufacturing consultant to see if he could suggest a software program to manage our inventory more efficiently. After touring our entire facility I asked him, So, Tracy, what do you think? Can you help me out?

You can apply this book anywhere, but harried moms might be the first group I would recommend it to. Applying it to home life was eye-opening for me. Essentially, on a daily basis, find what bugs you and do something about it (that something is discussed at length in the book). Not complicated, but it does take discipline.

Customer reviews

Focus on you. Focus on eliminating your waste.... When people see how much your area has improved, how much easier your work is, how much more they can depend on you, how consistent you are and how the quality of your product improves, they will want to know how you are doing it. Then you can show them. And then they will be eager to learn and begin their own Lean journey. But do not try to get your wife, your dog, your hamster, your cat, or your co-workers to do Lean." Honesty is the best policy, and I plan to be honest. This was not my favorite read. Sure, the lessons were good, but the message came off sort of like it was for first time employees of the company rather than a help book. Having to get all the way to the end before LEAN was broken down for us was sort of frustrating. However, this doesn’t mean the lessons learned along the way were hopeless. To be lean is to eliminate what bugs you, going one at a time, and standing on it’s two foundational principles: eliminating waste and continuous improvement.