After months of hard work, we are changing our name from ETAC Solutions to LeanTeams. You can now find us at www.leanteams.com
Why? Because our new company name reflects our shift in emphasis toward developing your teams to be better and more effective at what they do.
Our philosophy remains the same. Our team provide business process improvements that have been shown to be effective in both service and manufacturing organisations. We continue to provide 1:1 mentoring to assist your team in implementing Lean process improvements in your company. We’re still the same Lean experts; we just have a new name that more accurately describes what we do.
Our current range of training programmes include:
Lean Introduction for Leaders
This programme introduces the Lean business approach and, more specifically, the leadership role within that approach. The leadership approach is based on the principles associated with Shigeo Shingo’s Toyota Production System. This programme is designed for management teams who want to learn about Lean business thinking. Read more about this programme here
Lean Leadership
Lean Leadership is designed for corporate leaders and senior decision makers. The programme focuses on the role of the leadership team in the business approach.
LeanTeams’ Lean business simulation will provide an understanding of Lean Tools. The Shingo Model serves as a framework for the role of leader. This begins with a clear business direction that can be translated into meaningful and measurable goals for the organisation. Each participant will define their role in the lean approach and how it differs from traditional management styles.
The overarching goal is to build capability and capacity within your organisation, and we will investigate the challenges and potential solutions to achieve employee engagement. Following the identification of critical success factors, the homework and mentor sessions will assist each business with its local challenges in implementing lean thinking in their business and achieving improvements on these key factors. Learn more here
Lean Teams
Team-based games are the most effective way for companies to understand and experience the power of Lean. These learning experiences not only teach the concepts of Lean, but they also allow team members to directly experience the teamwork and human factors aspects of making work processes more effective. You can read more here
Lean Tools
Lean Business Tools
Lean Business Tools implements Lean Business in a company by delivering quality process improvements. Above all, this programme teaches each participant how to use Lean improvement tools effectively. The course is project-based, and each participant will present a practical process improvement in his or her own company.
Lean Business Tools is a 12-week program that includes 10 online training sessions and 8 expert 1:1 mentor visits.
Six Sigma Green Belt
Six Sigma Green Belt is concerned with process variation. Through the use of a structured methodology, this approach seeks to develop predictable processes.
In a nutshell, this course is designed to help businesses save money. The program leads to the ASQ (American Society for Quality) Green Belt certification. Learn more about Six Sigma Green Belt
Kaizen
Kaizen is a business philosophy that promotes continuous, incremental changes in all aspects of a company in order to improve the entire organisation. All business functions, from operations to management, are improved. Kaizen is a process in which everyone in the company participates, from the shop floor to senior management.
You make small changes to your processes by challenging the status quo. These small changes add up over time to have a big impact on your team and the overall organisation.
Kaizen is based on the Shewhart cycle, the Deming cycle, or the PDCA cycle. It provides your teams with a structured approach to problem solving, with the goal of improving standard work. This training programme is intended to provide participants with the skills and knowledge required to carry out a Kaizen Event in your organisation. Read about Kaizen training programme
Value Stream Mapping
The Value Stream Mapping tool is critical in the Lean process. It is the movement of materials and information through a process in order to provide a product or service to a customer. The technique of value stream mapping is used to describe how all of the company’s activities interact to produce a product or service for the customer.
This is an excellent tool for getting started on the Lean journey. It is a snapshot of a process that includes all time, material, and communication data to help understand what is currently happening. The goal is to create a future state map to predict process improvements using various Lean tools such as Kanban, SMED, and problem-solving. This results in an easy-to-understand strategy for the team.
This course will teach you how to map processes in your organisation. This activity will confirm whether your organisation can meet demand for your product or service, identify any process steps that may be a bottleneck, and highlight opportunities to eliminate waste, improve lead times, and improve the customer experience. Read more about this training programme here
Asset Care
Asset Care/TPM is a new approach to maintenance. Employees use TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) to perform much of the general maintenance. TPM can be thought of as “deterioration prevention” rather than “process repair.” As a result, the traditional maintenance team’s efforts can be directed toward improving process design in order to improve reliability and performance.
This course describes the typical downtime losses associated with machinery, systems, or services, as well as the steps necessary to transition to autonomous maintenance. Participants will be able to adapt this program to their own organisations after completing this course.
TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) engages front-line teams in routine improvement activities using data or equipment to ensure effective operation. This method is not to be confused with routine maintenance, and the routines developed are constantly evolving as part of the organisation’s continuous improvement program. Learn more about Asset Care here
SMED
SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die) and Managing the Critical Window is a methodology that provides a quick and efficient way of transitioning a process from one item to the next. As a result, rapid changeover is critical to reducing batch sizes and improving workflow.
Toyota reworked fixtures and components over several years to maximise common parts, minimise and standardise assembly tools and steps, and use common tooling. Where the tooling could not be common, steps were taken to make the tooling changeable quickly.
In a nutshell, this workshop introduces the concept of SMED and how it can be used to reduce changeover times and allow for shorter runs. The methodology can also be used to reduce the amount of time spent in ‘critical windows’ in any operation.
SMED is a methodology developed to reduce the time required in a manufacturing process to transition from running the current product to running the next product. This rapid transition can reduce production lot sizes, as well as uneven flow, production loss, and output variability.
This methodology can be used in service functions or organisations to shorten critical time windows – the amount of time it takes to respond to a request or order. Read more about this training programme here
5S Workplace Organisation
The 5S Workplace Organisation principle is the waste elimination principle in business. It is a combination of the Japanese words seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. These words can be translated as sort, straighten, scrub, systematise, and standardise.
How much time is squandered in business planning? What must be done at the appropriate time? Have errors occurred as a result of this? To be more specific, this system focuses on putting everything back where it belongs and keeping the workplace clean, which allows people to do their jobs without wasting time or risking injury.
5S is a workplace organisation method that identifies and stores used items, maintains the area and items, and sustains the new organisational system to increase efficiency and effectiveness. The decision-making process is usually preceded by a discussion about standardisation, which helps employees understand how they should do their jobs. The methodology is also applicable in a virtual working environment. Read more about 5S Workplace Organisation
Kanban & Pull Systems
A signal is used in Kanban and Pull Systems to initiate the movement, production, or supply of a unit of material or information. It is a workflow management tool that helps with visualising work, increasing efficiency, and being agile.
Kanban is a Japanese word that means “billboard” or “signboard.” The approach implies that production is based on customer demand, as opposed to the standard push practice of producing goods and pushing them to the market.
Kanban’s primary goal is to reduce waste without sacrificing productivity. The primary goal is to provide more value to the customer while incurring no additional costs. Kanban (meaning signal) is a straightforward scheduling system. Toyota created Kanban to ensure a consistent supply of parts to the manufacturing process and to eliminate material downtime. Learn more about Kanban here
We can also advise you on what financial supports are available to support your Lean journey. These include financial supports from Enterprise Ireland, IDA, Local Enterprise Offices, Bord Bia and Skillnet Ireland.
We will be constantly updating our content with helpful information, videos and articles. For any questions, suggestions, feedback or comments, please reach out to us.
If you need help implementing Lean in your organisation or need a fresh approach, you can book a free consultation here