The Central Coast Lean Summit, an annual showcase of strategies that maximize customer value while minimizing waste in health care, education, government and non-profit agencies, will be hosted by the Central Coast Lean program in Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business on April 16-17 at the SLO Brew Rock Activity Center.
The theme of the seventh annual conference is “Establishing a Lean Culture.” Industry leaders and lean experts, including Jeff Hastie of the Bose Corp. and Carlos Scholz of The Permanente Medical Group, the largest medical group in the U.S., will focus on creating high-performing workplaces by strengthening the team environment.
“I think this year’s theme will help organizations reap true value from their investment in lean tools and processes by engaging their workforce,” said Cal Poly Professor Eric Olsen, who is host and facilitator of the lean summit. “This event will benefit everyone from CEOs to new hires across a variety of industries.”
The philosophy of lean business practices originated in manufacturing but has influenced other sectors to streamline processes and require less human effort, less space, less capital, and less time to make cost-effective products and services with fewer defects.
Hastie, Bose’s global director of lean enterprise, will share the story of how a Lean Enterprise Maturity Model changed the journey of the company, which designs, develops and sells audio equipment.
Scholz, director of Kaiser Permanente’s strategic initiatives, will talk about the “North Valley Way,” a lean operating system aimed at achieving engagement and continuous improvement by every team member, implemented at Kaiser Permanente, North Valley.
The two-day event will include interactive breakouts led by experienced facilitators to allow participants to actively apply lean concepts to a variety of industries and specific job functions.
In addition, a Coaching Café will give participants the opportunity to discuss lean challenges with Sam MacPherson, lean transformation leader and founder of the Lean Leadership Academy.
Attendees will be able to network with lean experts from throughout California and collaborate with Cal Poly faculty. Participants will also see lean posters of improvement projects from Cal Poly students and the Central Coast Lean community.
A networking reception in the SLO Brew Rock beer garden will take place at the end of the day April 16.
Attendees can also take advantage of a post-summit workshop from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 17. Jim Benson, author of “Personal Kanban: Mapping Work, Navigating Life,” will discuss continuous improvement processes for back-office employees.
Registration is open. Tickets and corporate sponsorship information can be found at: https://www.cob.calpoly.edu/ccl/.