Welcome to the April edition of our monthly newsletter, Learning to Lean. In this month's edition, we continue our focus on the basics of lean implementation.

Announcements

On May 5th in Orange, CA , we are offering a training workshop that covers many of the fundamentals of implementing lean manufacturing and continuous improvement, "Kaizen Events: 5S, Visual Controls, and Mistake Proofing." This course will teach you how to properly plan and execute a kaizen improvement event (sometimes called a "kaizen blitz"). It will include a team exercise in which the participants will analyze and critique a kaizen activity. The course will then cover some fundamental kaizen tools: 5S, visual controls, and mistake proofing. To learn more and/or register, click here. Following is a list of all remaining scheduled public workshops in the Spring of 2005. Each of them is in Orange, CA. We can also bring any of these courses to your facility.

Course (click on date to register/read more)	Date
Material Flow and Kanban (purchased parts)	Apr 14, 2005
Kaizen Events: 5S, Visual Controls, and Mistake Proofing	May 5, 2005

Click here for details on all of our training offerings, both on-site at your facility and public.

Implementing Lean

Last month we covered creating continuous flow and load-leveling, two key elements of the Toyota Production system. This month we will cover one of the most important tools to implement improvements, the kaizen event.

This month we feature three articles that should help you understand more about kaizen events. Firstly, we give you an article that discusses the secret ingredient to effective kaizen events. Our second article talks about planning and implementing kaizen events. In our third article, we talk about implementing one of the basic tools of kaizen, 5S.

The materials referenced in this newsletter will teach you more about implementing lean effectively. If the articles, links, and books to the left have piqued your interest and you would like to learn more, feel free to call us at 866-559-5598 or visit our website and click on "Contact Us."

To subscribe to this newsletter, visit http://www.emsstrategies.com/newslettersignup.htm. Please feel free to forward Learning to Lean to colleagues or use it in your publication. We only ask that you do so in its entirety.

EMS Consulting Group, Inc. - 7040 Avenida Encinas, Suite 104-189 - Carlsbad, CA 92011