Episode 84 is audio from Video Podcast #10 (available onYouTube). This is a conversation with Karl Wadensten, President of VIBCO, a manufacturer in Wyoming, R.I. Here, we talk about his radio show, “The Lean Nation,” which airs on AM 790 in Rhode Island and streams live on the web everyday weekday at 4 PM eastern — www.790business.com (the show is now defunct).
I've been able to get from Boston to VIBCO twice now and I've been impressed with what I've seen on my gemba walks each time. I'll blog about this in more detail in the future, but it's great seeing the pride on their employees faces when they describe and show you the improvements they've made on the shopfloor. I've seen this first hand:
Under Karl's leadership, VIBCO is now a high performing business culture where lead times for over 1,300 SKUs have dropped from 4-6 weeks to “same day, next day”, inventory has been reduced by more than 50%, over 10,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing floor space is now freed up to accept future growth, and sales are well above industry trends. These impressive improvements are the result of a workforce that is empowered to improve every day and understands the power of Lean Thinking.
Here are links for more about their “True North” and Lean journey.
This is also available as Video Podcast #10.
For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.
If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the “Lean Line” at (817) 993-0630 or contact me via Skype id “mgraban”. Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.
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[…] everyday weekday at 4 PM eastern – http://www.790business.com. This is the same discussion as the audio LeanBlog Podcast episode #84. For more info about Karl and VIBCO, visit that […]
[…] friend of mine and of this blog – Karl Wadensten, the President of VIBCO. You can watch or listen to a podcast I did with Karl a few years back or listen to a public radio story about […]